James Price Johnson (1894-1955)
Last updated: 09.08.25
According to the Internet source given below, James Price Johnson was an American composer and pianist. Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, he was taught by his mother studying classics and ragtime and was apprenticed to one Bruto Giannini, local piano teacher, at the age of nine. At just thirteen he began playing professionally in sporting houses progressing to rent parties, bars, and vaudeville. When World War I started he had a small band with which went touring and eventually toured England and Europe with two shows, "Dudley's Smart Set" and "Plantation Days". An important transitional figure between ragtime and jazz piano styles along with such musicians as Ferdinand Morton, Art Tatum and Thomas Waller. His style evolving from rags, stomps, and set dances became known as Harlem Stride or Shout Piano earning him the sobriquet as being the father of both.The composer of the jazz classic Charleston, he had a huge influence amongst his contemporaries such as Fats Waller, Count Basie, Art Tatum George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. All of them called him simply James considering him to be the best of them all.
| Websites: | |||
 |
James P. Johnson | Biography by wikipedia.org. |
| Title | Co-Author(s) | Sequencer |
|---|
| Title (Release Year) | Composer | Performers | Issue |
|---|
| as Performer | ||||
 |
Bleeding Hearted Blues (1923) | L. Austin | J.P. Johnson | Victor: B-28197 |
| Performer | CD Title | Supplier |
|---|
| Brass Music CDs: | |||
 |
Canadian Brass | Ain't Misbehavin' and Other Fats Waller Hits |     |
|
Canadian Brass | Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)    |
| Jazz Music CDs: | |||
|
Kenny Ball | The Very Best of Kenny Ball | |
|
Black Swan Classic Jazz Band | Ragtime Revelry | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Sidney Bechet | The Creole Prodigy | |
|
Thomas Waller | At the Piano | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | Career Perspective 1922-1943 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | Centennial Collection | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | Classic Jazz from Rare Piano Rolls | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | Fats & His Buddies | |
|
⇑Thomas Waller | Fats at the Organ | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | Fats Waller - Greatest Hits | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | Fats Waller at the Organ, Vol. 3: 1926-1929 [Brown Cover] | |
|
Thomas Waller | Fats Waller: 1922-26 | |
|
Thomas Waller | Fats Waller: 1926-27 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | Fats Waller: 1927-29 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | Fats Waller: 1941 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | Fats Waller: Portrait Vol.2 | |
|
Thomas Waller | Handful of Fats | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | The Indispensable Fats Waller Vol. 9-10 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | Joint Is Jumpin' | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
⇑Thomas Waller | New York to Camden to Los Angeles: 1929-1943 [LIVE] | |
|
Thomas Waller | The Very Best of Fats Waller | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Thomas Waller | You Rascal You | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
| Ragtime Music CDs: | |||
|
James Price Johnson | The Best of Scott Joplin and Other Rag Classics | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
James Price Johnson | Carolina Shout | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
James Price Johnson | Carolina Shout | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
James Price Johnson | Father of the Stride Piano | |
|
James Price Johnson | Harlem Stride Piano | |
|
James Price Johnson | Harlem Stride Piano 1921-1929 | |
|
James Price Johnson | Hot Piano | |
|
James Price Johnson | James P. Johnson & Coleman Hawkins | |
|
⇑James Price Johnson | James P. Johnson 1921-28 | |
|
James Price Johnson | James P. Johnson 1921-44 | |
|
James Price Johnson | James P. Johnson 1928-38 | |
|
James Price Johnson | James P. Johnson 1938-42 | |
|
James Price Johnson | James P. Johnson 1943-44 | |
|
James Price Johnson | James P. Johnson 1944 | |
|
James Price Johnson | James P. Johnson 1944 Vol. 2 | |
|
James Price Johnson | James P. Johnson 1944-45 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
James Price Johnson | James P. Johnson 1945-47 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
James Price Johnson | King of Stride Piano 1918-1944 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
James Price Johnson | The Original James P. Johnson 1942-1945 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
⇑James Price Johnson | Parlor Piano Solos from Rare Piano Rolls | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
James Price Johnson | Ragtime | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
James Price Johnson | Runnin' Wild (1921-1926) | |
|
James Price Johnson | Snowy Morning Blues | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Various Artists | Boogie Woogie Blues | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Various Artists | Down Peacock Alley | |
|
Various Artists | From Ragtime to Jazz Vol. 3: 1902-1923 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Various Artists | The Gods Are in the House | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Various Artists | Early Ragtime Piano: 1910-1930 | |
|
Various Artists | The Greatest Jazz, Blues and Ragtime of the Century | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Various Artists | The Greatest Ragtime of the Century | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
⇑Various Artists | Ragtime | |
|
Various Artists | Spirit of Ragtime | |
|
Various Artists | That Devilin' Tune | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Claude Bolling | Original Ragtime | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Claude Bolling | Original Ragtime/Original Boogie Woogie/Original Piano Blues | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Claude Bolling | Ragtime Bolling & Boogie | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Paul Asaro | Parlor Piano Solos | |
|
Charles Thompson | The Neglected Professor | |
|
Dave Tucker | Meadow Lark | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Marcus Roberts | If I Could Be With You | |
|
Mimi Blais | Once Upon a Rag Time | |
|
⇑John Roache | Syncopated Odyssey | |
|
Brent Watkins | The Heroes of Parlor Town - Volume 1 | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Palm Court Theatre Orchestra | Down Peacock Alley | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Terry Waldo | Ragtime Classics Vol. 2 | |
|
Sue Keller | I Got What It Takes | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Sue Keller | Kellerized | |
|
Sue Keller | Live in Kalamazoo | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Sue Keller | Those Irresistible Blues | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
William Albright | Ragtime Back to Back | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Peter Muir | Spontaneous Ragtime | |
|
Scott Kirby | Some Assembly Required | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
⇑Butch Thompson | Bethlehem After Dark | CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) |
|
Butch Thompson | Butch & Doc | |
|
Butch Thompson | The Butch Thompson Trio Plays Favorites | |
|
Butch Thompson | Good Old New York 88's | |
|
Frederick Hodges | Kitten on the Keys: Ragtime, Novelty & Stride Classics | |
|
Max Morath | Real American Folk Songs | |
|
Bill Edwards | A Ragtime Sampler |
| Title | Attribution | Instruments | Source | Remarks |
|---|
 |
My Headache | J.P. Johnson (music) Andy Razaf (words) Don Redman (perf.) |
Piano, Voice | Sheet Music Singer |  |
|
Worried and Lonesome Blues (1923) | J.P. Johnson (w&m) | Piano, Voice | Sheet Music Singer | |
This list is arranged in chronological order and contains 70 works by James Price Johnson (1894-1955).
It does not claim to be complete and represents only the number of items located. Keys: ER
| Title | Year | Attribution | Remarks |
|---|
| Over the Bars | 1912 | also: Steeplechase Rag | |
| Twilight Rag | 1912 | ||
| Mule Walk | 1913 | ||
| Caprice Rag | 1914 | |
|
| Carolina Shout | 1914 | Pub.  |
|
| Daintiness Rag | 1916 | Pub. | |
| Mama and Papa Blues | 1916 | |
|
| Harlem Strut | 1917 | Pub. | |
| Mama's Blues | 1917 | W. Farrell (co-author) | Pub. |
| Steeplechase Rag | 1917 | ||
| Stop It Joe | 1917 | William Farrell (words) Sophie Tucker (perf.) |
Pub. |
| ⇑ Innovation | 1917c | ||
| Eccentricity | 1918 | Pub. | |
| It Takes Love to Cure the Heart's Disease | 1921 | only exists as a piano roll | |
| Ivy, Cling to Me | 1922 | Isham Jones (co-author) Alex Rogers (words) |
|
| After Hours | 1923 | Pub. | |
| Old Fashioned Love | 1923 | Cecil Mack (words) | |
| Open Your Heart | 1923 | Cecil Mack (co-author) | |
| Scouting Around | 1923 | |
|
| Weeping Blues | 1923 |
| Title | Year | Attribution | Remarks |
|---|
| Worried and Lonesome Blues | 1923 | |
|
| You Can't Do What My Last Man Did | 1923 | Allie Moore (words) | |
| Jungle Nymphs | 1924 | |
|
| I Need Lovin' | 1926 | Henry Creamer (words) | |
| If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight | 1926 | |
|
| Jingles | 1926 | |
|
| Keep Off the Grass | 1926 | Pub. | |
| Scalin the Blues | 1926 | Pub. | |
| Snowy Morning Blues | 1927 | Pub. | |
| Toddlin' | 1927 | Pub. | |
| Ebony Dreams | 1928 | ||
| ⇑ Sppi | 1928 | ||
| Yamekraw | 1928 | A Negro Rhapsody | |
| Feeling Blue | 1929 | ||
| Modernistic | 1929 | |
|
| Riffs | 1929 | ||
| Slippery Hips | 1930 | Andy Razaf (words) | |
| You've Got to be Modernistic | 1930 | or Modernistic | Pub. |
| Aintcha Got Music | 1932 | Andy Razaf (words) | |
| Harlem Symphony | 1932 | I Subway Journey, II Song of Harlem, III Night Club, IV Baptist Mission | |
| Title | Year | Attribution | Remarks |
|---|
| I Was So Weak, Love Was So Strong | 1932 | Razaf (words) | |
| My Headache | 1932 | Andy Razaf (words) Don Redman (perf.) |
|
| High Brown | 1934 | ||
| Jasmine | 1935 | Jazz-O-Mine | |
| Harlem Woogie | 1939 | Louis Douglass (words) | |
| De Organizer | 1940 | an opera lyrics by Langston Hughes1 (co-author) | |
| Just Before Daybreak | 1942 | Pub. |
|
| 12th Avenue | 1943 | |
|
| Boogie Dreams | 1943 | |
|
| There's No Two Ways About Love | 1943 | Irving Mills (co-author) Ted Koehler (words) |
|
| Carolina Balmoral | 1943c | ||
| ⇑ Gut Stomp | 1943c | Willie "The Lion" Smith (words) | |
| Jersey Sweet | 1945c | ||
| Keep Movin' | 1945c | ||
| Impressions | 1947 | |
|
| Blues For Fats | 1948 | ||
| I Don't Want Any Labor in My Job | 1949 | Flournoy E Miller (words) | |
| Peace, Sister, Peace | 1949 | Flournoy E. Miller (words) | |
| You Can't Lose a Broken Heart | 1949 | Flournoy Miller (words) | |
| Blueberry Rhyme | ? |
| Title | Year | Attribution | Remarks |
|---|
| Doctor Jazzes Raz-Ma-Taz | ? | ||
| Harlem Hotcha | ? | Andy Razaf (words) | |
| Jungle Drums | ? | ||
| Keep Shufflin | ? | Thomas Waller (co-author) | |
| Lock and Key | ? | Henry Creamer (words) | |
| Porter's Love Song to a Chambermaid, A | ? | Andy Razaf (words) | |
| Stop That Dog | ? | Andy Razafl (words) | |
| Suite in Sonata Form on the St. Louis Blues | ? | W.C. Handy (co-author) | |
| Symphony in Brown | ? | ||
| When It's Cherry Time in Tokio | ? |
| Composer | Title | Performer |
|---|