Accessibility links
James P. Johnson James P. Johnson artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

James P. Johnson
Treasures In The Attic: Finding A Jazz Master's Lost Orchestral Music

Stride piano pioneer James P. Johnson had dreams of becoming a successful symphonic composer. William Gottlieb hide caption

toggle caption
William Gottlieb

Deceptive Cadence

Treasures In The Attic: Finding A Jazz Master's Lost Orchestral Music

The man who wrote "The Charleston" also had orchestral music played at Carnegie Hall. Baltimore Symphony conductor Marin Alsop retraces her detective work in uncovering lost symphonic works by jazz piano pioneer James P. Johnson.

Treasures In The Attic: Finding A Jazz Master's Lost Orchestral Music

Listen · 9:25
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/170864270/170923258" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Review

Basic Jazz Record Library

James P. Johnson: 'The Original James P. Johnson, 1942-1945 Piano Solos'

James P. Johnson was sometimes called the "perfecter" of stride piano, the difficult piano form where the left hand "strides" up and down between bass notes and chords, while the right hand plays the melody. This album captures his agility with the technique.

James P. Johnson: 'The Original James P. Johnson, 1942-1945 Piano Solos'

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4541412/150768726" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Stride Piano: Bottom-End Jazz

Fats Waller seemed to pack 10 lifetimes of fun into his 39 years on the planet. Evening Standard/Hulton Archive hide caption

toggle caption
Evening Standard/Hulton Archive

Take Five: By Instrument

Stride Piano: Bottom-End Jazz

Jazz24

Born out of Harlem in the 1920s, stride pianists took the basic left-hand "oompah" rhythm of ragtime, but played it with more swing and complexity, while the right hand played the melody and the ever-increasing improvisations upon it. Read and hear a five-song introduction to a style that travels great distances up and down the keyboard.

Browse archive or search npr.org