Bunk Johnson (1889 - 1949)
Bunk Johnson confused Jazz historians for years by lying
about almost everything, but never the less he was an
early Jazz pioneer who apparently played in bands lead
by Buddy Bolden. He definitely played in The Eagle
Band, The Superior Orchestra, and with Clarence
Williams. He left New Orleans in 1915 and played in
minstrel shows, theatre orchestras and circus bands, and
with the Black Eagle Band. While playing with the Black
Eagles in 1930 the band's other trumpet player Evan
Thomas was stabbed to death on the bandstand. A fight
broke out and Bunk's instrument was damaged. After this
incident Bunk continued to play a from time to time, using
a borrowed trumpet, but his heart was not in it any longer.
His teeth were also starting to give him troubles and in
1931 he had pretty much retired from music. He worked as a truck driver, labourer,
and as a WPA funded childrens music teacher. In 1938 Bill Russell and Fredric
Ramsey started to write their book, "Jazzmen". After interviewing several Jazz
musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Bunk's name kept coming up as one of the
early influential jazz musicans in New Orleans. They managed to track Bunk down in
New Iberia, Louisiana where he was living, and interviewed him for the book. Bunk
lied about a great many things, including his birth date, so that it would look like he
had been one of the first Jazz musicans. It took years until other historians figured out
that Bunk was shall we say, "full of bunk" . Despite all that, Bunk's colorful stories
contributed to the success of the book, and the authors took up a collection among
musicians and record collectors to fix Bunk's teeth and buy him a new horn. He made
his first recordings in 1942, and became a popular fixture of the Dixieland revial of
the 1940's.
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