Jimmy "Flim" Johnson

[jacko]

Front row seats for JT and Bonnie in Glasgow this July     This time we'll be accompanied by our drummer (who'd normally see bands like Saxon or the Dead Daisies)  and I believe one of my guitarists will also be in the audience somewhere.  Looking forward to it.  In fact I'm looking forward to anything to do with summer as we're currently under a foot of snow.
We'll give you a wave.  last time, Kate, Andrea and Arnold came out front for a dance.  Maybe the whole band could join them in a wireless conga. Hah!

Graeme 

[JimmyJ]

Good deal Graeme, we're looking forward to it too.  Hope it isn't too mellow for your bandmates.  Ha! 

Jimmy J

[edwin]

Edwin, yes, that's around the time I was playing with Allan.  Metal Fatigue album was '85 and Atavachron '86...

OK, well, I have an interesting story about that band. That was right after I graduated from Berklee and one of the professors convinced me that taxi driving was the best profession for a musician just getting off the ground, since you can make your own hours, make decent money etc. One random Tuesday night, I was down by Faneuil Hall and got flagged down by a bunch of guys and it turned out to be Allan and his band. Chad sat up front with me. Once everyone was situated, they said "Take us where the action is!" It being Boston and a Tuesday night and around midnight, there was no action. Unless you count the Combat Zone, but I wasn't about to do that to the band. So, I drove off to Harvard Square to the Wursthaus, because I knew they had a million beers and they were open really late every night of the week.

Well, that would be a nice anecdote on its own, but fast forward to 1998 and I'm in Boulder Colorado, playing a gig with guitarist Bill Kopper and the subject of Allan Holdsworth comes up. I relate my story and he just looks at me in disbelief and cracks up. He, too, had recently gone to Berklee back then and the job he got was waiting tables at the Wursthaus. Apparently you all went straight from my cab to his table! I guess waiting tables isn't really his strong suit (although he's a fantastic guitar player), things didn't go well, and it was decided later that night that he should part ways with the establishment.

I hope you guys had an enjoyable time!

What are the odds?!

[JimmyJ]

Wow Edwin, what a crazy series of coincidences.  And that was also probably as close as any of us got to a Berklee education.  HA! 

You made me look it up ... we played twice in Boston in '86, once in mid-April and once in late October - where I had written in "the Old Oyster House" although I can't remember if that was the gig.  We also played in September of '87, possibly at the Paradise?

I can't guarantee I was actually in your cab that night, it may not have been my night to hang.  We had 2 crew guys with us and I think Paul Williams the singer was still there (the tall PW, not the short one).  So it could have been any combination of those 6 cats.  But yes indeed, that sounds like a Holdsworth request: "take us to the ALE".  Thanks for taking care of the band!

And thank Mr. Kopper for us if you have the chance.  I hope his departure from that job wasn't OUR fault!  I also hope we tipped both you guys adequately!    HA!!! 

Jimmy J

[David Houck]

 

[chuckc]

Hi Jimmy. So I was at a wedding a few weeks ago here in Houston and ran in to an old friend from the neighborhood when I was a kid growing up all the way thought college. He's in the music business and we got to talking about bass guitar players. Your name came up as someone who I respected as a player. He says to me "Oh I know Jimmy" I just saw him a few weeks ago. He spoke very highly of you not only as a musician but as a person. His name was Barry Leff of Beaver Productions in Memphis. When I told him of the forum connection he wanted me to tell you hello. So, hello Jimmy from Barry !!

[JimmyJ]

Hey Chuck,

Thanks for relaying the message and it's cool that you know Barry.  The music biz is after all a pretty small world.  He and his partner Don are great folks and their company always does at least a portion of the JT tours.  I expect to see those guys at some point this summer too.

Thanks,
Jimmy J

[eddievig]

Jimmy ,

So the fam and I are sitting around the TV this morning, looking at various Joan Rivers clips on You Tube...this was prompted by a Bianca Del Rio comedy show that we attended last night (local girl made good, and a huge Joan Rivers fan). I remember you and plenty of other great musos made up the "Party Boys and the Tramp"

Would you care to share any memories of the gig? It sure looks like it would have been a gas!

Best,

Ed V

[JimmyJ]

Hey Ed,

Yeah, that was an interesting experience.  It was an excellent band that could literally play any kind of music.  But aside from musical guests the most we got to do was a couple minutes at a time during commercial breaks - which was surprisingly frustrating.  Mark Hudson comes off as kind of a goofy character but he's a smart producer who knew who to call to organize the band and the music.  I think Randy Waldman was the original "musical" leader.

It was a great gig for all of us too.  We looked real good on paper at that moment so almost everybody in the band bought houses.  Ha!  The banks saw the steady paycheck from FOX and I guess they didn't take into consideration how fickle TV can be as it didn't last very long.  Plus, we were allowed to sub out which meant we were available for other projects.  That's an ideal setup! 


It was a pretty tense scene though.  TV can be that way with so much money involved.  The Kimmel show seems to be the most relaxed of all of them.



Thanks for asking.
Jimmy J

[edwardofhuncote]

Thanks for that Gregory.  That is a great song isn't it?   
 
It's also an example of how the bass parts are already written and played by JT on most of his tunes.  I don't know of anybody who plays guitar quite like him ... and those bass lines come with the package.  All I do is pick and choose how much of what he's already playing should be doubled an octave lower.
 
That clip is from around '92 and is probably my recording bass - an '87 series II.  Great to see Don Grolnick and Carlos Vega and remember that happy time.  We miss those guys.
 
Jimmy J

Hey Jimmy J... just wanted you to know, four years later "Frozen Man" is now in regular rotation on my alternate Thursday night gig. Brian, the guitarist I'm playing with, is one of those guys... if he's going to play it, it's absolutely going to be right or he's not doing it. Anyway, I took your sage advice when learning it, and just chose which of the guitar notes to double or octave on.  So, belated Thanks for that! 

[Pindy]

Hey Jimmy,

It's been a few years! But I did get to see you perform at the Bass Player Live event at SIR last year with our mutual friend Mr Babko. I also got to meet that lovely Bob Glaub that night—what a nice fellow. Coming across this thread (and listening to some of my favorite JJ tracks—like Devil Take the Hindmost) inspired me to give my '93 Series I bass a setup and some attention, and I'm falling in love with that instrument all over again. It's a great feeling.

This inspiration marks a happy development: I finally conquered my one bugbear with this bass, and it turns out it was my style of playing the whole time. I like really low action, but sometimes I get excited and dig in, and I find this bass in particular has a serious tendency to "clank" loudly as the plucked string bounces off the frets, which has caused me trouble when recording over the years. This time, I turned the bass up way louder than usual and started playing very softly and this glorious, magic tone I had never before achieved came out, clean and clank-free. The notes were just bigger, deeper and had real power—why had I not thought of this before? Onlyafter 25 years of playing this bass did I learn how to get the sound I was after! Never too late, I guess.

Hope to catch you round town sometime,

Dan Pinder

[JimmyJ]

Hey Dan,

Thanks for posting.  Glad to hear you're playing your Series I again and enjoying the fine tones.  Everybody has their own playing style and different ways they prefer to set up their instruments.  And everybody also makes their own sound, regardless of the instrument.  (Think McCoy Tyner followed by George Shearing on the same piano).

I like a pretty low action too.  When it's just right I can get some fret rattle when playing hard but also a completely pure sound with a lighter touch.  I like your solution - just turn the bass up! 

I'll see you around!
Jimmy J


PS: Greg, great to hear that you're playing the Frozen Man.  Some great JT songwriting right there..

[jacko]

nice (albeit brief) interview with JJ on the JT website this morning  here.. http://www.jamestaylor.com/jimmy-johnson/

Graeme

[David Houck]

Thanks, Graeme!

An umbrella??

[jacko]

He definitely needed it last July in Washington DC.  The show was delayed for around an hour due to torrential rain (outdoors in the nationals baseball park) and at one point we thought it was going to be cancelled which would have meant a wasted journey from Scotland 

Graeme