Late piano legend shares the stage one last time
By Kevin Belford
For the St. Louis American
On Friday, April 22, the Ronald L. Jones Funeral Home was transformed into a nightclub for a music festival. The occasion was a wake for legendary
pianist Johnnie Johnson, who passed away at his home in Florissant on April
13.
As a testament to the legacy of Johnson, it was a celebration. With the deceased lying in state on the left side of the room, an endless ad hoc band formed and performed on the right side of the parlor.
Hundreds of family, friends, fans, dignitaries, luminaries and fellow musicians flowed in throughout the day. Funeral home director Ronald Jones, in a yellow suit and jewel-encrusted glasses, became host, doorman and concierge.
Quiet as he had been in life, Johnnie Johnson was present, although not participating, as if still uninterested in being the man in the spotlight.
Outside the funeral home, local media had set up camps. Roving reporters cornered people on their way into the wake.
Henry Townsend, who has been a part of every decade of music
since jazz and blues were born, rolled by in his wheelchair. Mark O’Shaughnessy of BBs Jazz Blues and Soups, Joe Edwards of Blueberry Hill, Jeff Alexander of Cousin Moe Music and John May of the St. Louis Blues Society were interviewed.
Generations of protégés and admirers, like the sideman’s sideman, Tom
Maloney, put on brave faces.
Jimmy Hinds, Marsha Evans, John Hicks, Doña Oxford, Tony T, Stewart Williams and Eric McSpadden filed past floral arrangements signed with names such as Aerosmith, Styx, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy and The Grateful Dead. A card signed simply “E.C.” was said to have been from Eric Clapton.
Little Milton Campbell paid a visit without performing. Silvercloud and Bennie Smith also took audience seats. St. Louis legends like “Chuck” Tillman, Bill Tucker, Bob Kuban and Gaslight Square crooner Gene Lynn paid their respects.
As the room filled and conversations grew noisier, the soft piano music
was joined by a trumpet. And then a singer. And then bass and drums.
Before long, Rondo and Patti Thomas were shouting the first cover of the
song “Johnny B. Goode” with top-of-the-lungs audience participation on
the refrain: “Go, Johnny, go!”
Musicians passed through the parlor door and into the band like a
conga line. Performers included: Jeanne Trevor, St. Louis saxophone legend Peanuts Whalen, Oliver Johnson and Gus Thornton from Albert King’s band when Johnson was with him, former Ink Spot Earl ‘The Pearl’ Gibbons, Pauline Starks, James Thomas, Jimmy Jones, Mae Wheeler, Keith “Little Man” Robinson, David Krull, Mike Saffron, Butch Wax & the Hollywoods, Jack Kent, Jim Rossi, Stacey Johnson, Erma Whiteside, Big George, Marcel
Strong and Kelley Hunt.
Johnson shared the stage one last time with every musician. Literally. And, as always, his presence was felt behind every performance.
During a grouping of Beau Shelby on guitar, Frank Dunbar on harmonica, Tom Maloney on bass and Johnson’s student, Daryl Davis, on keyboards, a feeling came over the gathering that this was no ordinary piano playing. Some later said that Davis must have been channeling the spirit of his teacher.
Before sundown, Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead showed. Mayor Francis Slay came and went without hearing the Dead’s guitarist play “Little Red Rooster.” In the wee wee hours, Kim Massie wowed the room with a spine-tingling rendition of “At Last.”
Fontella Bass and the Bosman Twins were reserved for the funeral on Friday, where they performed “Amazing Grace” and “A Closer Walk With Thee.” Kelley Hunt also performed.
Weir stayed in town overnight for the funeral, and Freeman Bosley Sr.
attended, among other local public figures. Tributes from Keith Richards and others were read.
Frances Johnson, Johnnie’s widow, was kept busy with hugs, conversation and condolences.
“What can I cry about?” she said. “Look at all this! I’m so blessed.”
She seemed overwhelmed at the last respects paid to her late husband.
“I had no idea. I never knew that so many loved him,” she said. “And Johnnie knew even less.”
But perhaps Johnnie did know. His last words to his wife before he went to sleep for the last time were “I feel really good.”
Many people coming from miles around
To hear you play your music when the sun go down
Maybe some day your name will be in lights
Saying, “Johnny B. Goode tonight.”
Go, Johnnie, go.
On Friday, April 29 The Pageant will host a Johnnie Johnson Memorial Concert to benefit Frances Johnson and family, with Chuck Berry, Henry Townsend and many others.
