Chicago bluesman Jimmy Johnson, whose blistering performances were matched by his wide-ranging musical knowledge and meticulous attention to detail onstage and in the recording studio, has died.
He died Monday at his home in Harvey, according to his label, Delmark Records. He was 93.
“Jimmy Johnson was one of those great musicians whom you could identify by hearing just one note of his voice or one note of his guitar,” said Bruce Iglauer, founder of Alligator Records, another label for which he’d recorded.
“Jimmy was one of the most talented and passionate bluesmen ever to come out of Chicago,” Iglauer said. “His passionate, high tenor voice and elegant, minor-key guitar string bending were instantly recognizable. He was not only a searing guitar player and intense, distinctive singer, but his music had the deep emotional impact of the best blues.”
More than 80,000 people watched Delmark’s live broadcast honoring Mr. Johnson on his 92nd birthday celebration, said Elbio Barilari, artistic director for the label and the producer of his last record, “Every Day of Your Life.”
Mr. Johnson always kept up with technology. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, he did a Facebook livestream every Saturday from his home.
“He had an audience from all over the world, and people from 50 or 60 countries were watching,” said Julia Miller, Delmark president.
As recently as two weeks ago, he did a short broadcast from home. In 2019, he played Chicago Blues Fest.
Miller said his legacy is “leadership, charisma, refinement, education.”
Born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, he was one of 10 children born to Verlie and Sam Thompson, according to his official biography.
Mr. Johnson studied music at the Boston Conservatory.
In Chicago, he worked as a welder before devoting himself to music. He told the Sun-Times the career pivot helped extend his life.
“I would’ve done [welding] for 20 more years, I wouldn’t have lived to get this old,” he said in the 2020 interview. “I wouldn’t have lived past 75.”
The Chicago musicians who mentored him included Jimmy Dawkins, Freddie King and Otis Rush. He also was a member of the Junior Wells band, according to Delmark.
His music education and experience made him versatile, Barilari said.
“He played blues but he also played other types of jazz. He even recorded ‘Take Five,’ “ popularized by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. in his live performances would play song for my father by otis silver and his records with his brother were more funky and electronic with syl johnson…he can play soul, he can play blues he can play jazz….In 2021, Mr. Johnson — who also played piano — was named “Blues Artist of the Year” by Living Blues Magazine’s critics poll.
The year before, the magazine named him “Best Blues Guitar Player.”
He’d been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis, Tenn., in 2016.
Barilari said Mr. Johnson always appreciated how much music had done for him. He said he’d tell people, “Music gave me everything.”
