ArtistInfo

Bill Johnson & His Musical Notes

Band,
Blues and Pop
A.k.a. William Luther Johnson

William Luther Johnson was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1912. He came to New York in 1935 and spent a few months each with Baron Lee's Blue Rhythm Band and Tiny Bradshaw's Band. Joining the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra in 1936 as a clarinetist and alto sax player, he also stood out as an arranger. Along with Hawkins and tenor saxman Julian Dash, he wrote the music to "Tuxedo Junction" in 1939 (words were added by Buddy Feyne). As of 1952, ASCAP also credited him with writing "Dolomite" (which also had lyrics by Buddy Feyne), "Swingin' On Lenox Avenue," "Uptown Shuffle," and "Weddin' Blues." There's a record on Alert from around mid-1946 by "Bill Johnson and Orchestra," which is the beginning of the Musical Notes. The Musical Notes hooked up with Joe Glaser's Associated Booking Corp., and stayed with them for their entire career. They were not only booked by ABC, but managed by them too. The Musical Notes first recorded for J. Mayo Williams' Harlem label. The two songs that they did were "Don't You Think I Oughta Know" with Gus in the lead and the instrumental, "Stuff In D Flat." Recorded at an unknown date, they were released in March 1947. Also in March (on the 5th), they held their first session for RCA Victor. It was a double one, with eight songs recorded: "Pretty Eyed Baby" (led by Bill), "Don't You Think I Oughta Know" (Gus), "That Night We Said Goodbye" (Gus), "You Didn't Have To Say I Love You" (Gus), "Shorty's Got To Go" (Bill), "Half A Love" (Gus), "Leave It To Fate, Gate" (Bill), and the instrumental "Sharkie's Boogie." By late 1950, there was a big shakeup in the group. By the time the dust had settled, guitarist Skeeter Best had left. He'd been drifting more and more into jazz and wanted to go back to Juliard to study. Bassist Jimmy Robinson wandered away for a while, and pianist Lonnie Slappey was gone too. Now, the Musical Notes consisted of Bill Johnson (vocals and alto sax), Gus Gordon (vocals and drums), soprano Shirley Moore (vocals and piano), and alto Eileen "Bassy" Chance (vocals and bass; she'd been in Tiny Davis' Hell-Divers and her voice sounded a lot like Gus'). A December 1950 ad has them at the Rose Room of the Majestic Hotel in Cleveland. They were back there in May 1951, by which time they'd been all over the country, as well as having had a month-long engagement in Hamilton, Ontario. For a listing of their photos, appearances, record ads, and discography see; https://www.vocalgroupharmony.com/GUS/MusNotes.htm

Members

	William Johnson sax, voc 1912-1960 US
	Gus Gordon voc US