The RayJohnson Combo
The Ray Johnson Combo carried New Orleans R&B piano out to the West Coast, where Ray Johnson became a prolific session player after cutting his teeth in the clubs of his hometown.
The Ray Johnson Combo carried New Orleans R&B piano out to the West Coast, where Ray Johnson became a prolific session player after cutting his teeth in the clubs of his hometown.
Biography
Ray Johnson was a New Orleans-born pianist and singer from a deeply musical Creole family — his brother Plas Johnson became one of the most recorded saxophonists in Los Angeles session history, and cousin Renald Richard co-wrote Ray Charles's "I Got a Woman." Ray and Plas started out as teenagers playing New Orleans clubs, including the storied Dew Drop Inn, as the Johnson Brothers Combo. After studying music at Dillard University and a stint in the Army, Ray cut a handful of blues and R&B sides for Mercury in the early 1950s before following his brother out to Los Angeles in 1954, where he became an in-demand session pianist, recording as the Ray Johnson Combo for Flip Records and working alongside Earl Palmer on countless West Coast dates. He never had a major hit of his own, but his singles from the mid-1950s remain prized artifacts of New Orleans-rooted rhythm and blues carried west. Johnson stayed active as a working musician into his later years, releasing a comeback blues album in 2000, and passed away in 2013 at age 82.
Discography
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