Allyn Johnson

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Review:

This is the hundredth and twentieth in a series of special Jazz on the Tube reviews of live stream performances.

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A Washington D.C. legend, pianist Allyn Johnson began playing when he was five and soon became the pianist in his uncle’s church.

A professor and director of the jazz program at UDC, he has worked and recorded with saxophonists Hamiet Bluitt, Paul Carr, Andrew White, Anthony Nelson, Christian Winther and Jordan Dixon, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, drummer Ulysses Owens, singers Sunny Sumter, Karen Francis, Sandra Y. Johnson, Lori Williams, and trumpeters Thad Wilson and Marcus Printup.

On this fascinating LiveStream from July 13, 2020 (which shows the pianist’s hands throughout but never his face), Allyn Johnson improvises what starts out sounding like a standard before the music heads in other unexpected directions.

– Scott Yanow