Born in New Orleans in 1949, Johnny Vidacovich started playing drums at ten and was working professionally by the late 1960s, beginning with the Ronnie Dupont Quartet. He spent time with Al Hirt, then built a reputation as the drummer other musicians called when the music had to swing hard and feel unmistakably like New Orleans.
In 1978 he co-founded Astral Project with Tony Dagradi, James Singleton, and Dave Torkanowsky — Steve Masakowski joined in 1987 — a group built on forward-leaning improvisation that became one of the city's landmark modern jazz bands. His drumming is also on Professor Longhair's Crawfish Fiesta and James Booker's Classified, two touchstones of the New Orleans canon.
Vidacovich has served on the faculties of Loyola University New Orleans and the University of New Orleans, and leads workshops across the country. With Herlin Riley he co-authored the widely used method book New Orleans and Second Line Drumming. OffBeat honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, and he has been voted Best Drummer in the magazine's readers' poll a dozen times. According to WWOZ, he has played every New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
