Search - Henry Johnson, Nancy Wilson :: Organic

The REAL Henry Johnson

Chester Avnu | Long Island, NY | 10/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You know that feeling of disappointment when you buy a new CD and after listening to the first two tracks you keeping hitting the "Forward" button looking for something better? I assure you that you will not have that problem with Organic! This is an instant "top ten" for your collection, especially if it is a collection long overdue for a fine B-3/jazz guitar sound. It's all good; smoking guitar lines augmentment by driving sax and Henry's best vocals ever (those years with Joe Williams really paid off.) Nancy Wilson adds that rare "touch of class" or perhaps I should say a "touch of classic" to this musical experience. Jazz does not get any better than this."

Hammond Organ back in a swing mode

Anders Jonasson | Bankeryd Sweden | 12/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had to review the new CD of one of my fave guitarplayers
Here Henry have used his normal working band.THE ORGAN EXPRESSHenry Johnson Guitar
Peter Roothaan Sax
Chris Foreman Hammond B3
Greg Rockingham Drumsand it is a very tight unit that swings heavily,,there is so much wonderful music to dig into here,,,like Henrys wonderful octave runs on the bossa "Know it all" (Wes did it on one of
his last albums)or his "Bensonish" single string runs that are
allover the place and fits so well into the concept or his
comping on the old standard "The More I see you" it has
that "bounce" that makes the music so appealing
I also like the blind hammond player Chris Foremans very tasty McDuff inspired playing..he has a tremendous time.
On top of this the whole thing is spiced up with legendary
singer Nancy Wilson..she sings duets with Henry. I had no idea
that he was a singer of this caliber.
Finally to quote George Bensons ,liner notes "Henry is always
ready to swing you into bad health"
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!"

Sorry for the ignorance, HJ

Jazzboy | Los Angeles, CA United States | 06/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I usually don't look at a lot reviews of Henry's recordings, but some of the younger great jazz guitarists whom I can call friends were pretty upset with this uninformed review Mr. Biringvad wrote about Mr. Johnson and this particular recording. I will start off saying to Mr. Biringvad that we get it; you don't like contemporary jazz, and that's what those recordings HJ made were, but they are not "smooth jazz" because there is a big difference between the two genres that escapes you. If you really heard the difference, you would have known this from the very beginning. HJ doesn't play "smooth jazz" and has stated the he doesn't care for it. The difference between the two is, contemporary jazz was based on the marriage of jazz improvisations on top of of contemporary grooves, and the other has no jazz improvisations. Contemporary jazz hasn't been played on the radio for over 15 years. Based on your standards, Wes' "Bumpin' On Sunset", or Stanley Turrentine's "Sanctified Sister" would be considered "smooth jazz" to you. Yet, here we have a person trying to sit in judgment of a style of music he doesn't like, or even know about.



The other things that Mr. Biringvad said were totally out of ignorance and downright insulting. What does the word, "friendly" have to do with jazz? As if there's some "unfriendly" jazz. This is a statement made out of ignorance and maybe because Mr. Biringvad is from Oslo, Norway, but we don't refer to jazz in the US in that way. Then, to call a totally straight ahead jazz recording a "smooth jazz" is a true sign of idiocy. It makes no logical sense in any way, form, or fashion. Still, one of the most offensive of Mr. Biringvad's comments were, "Johnson is a guitarist with interesting jazz chops, runs and technique, but in the end of the day he lacks a personal jazz touch and quality like you find among the top league jazz guitarists today." Here we have a complete neophyte making statements about an artist who has a personal sound identifiable enough for artists like George Benson, Dizzy Gillespie, Lonnie Smith, and Joey DeFrancesco to recognize, but because he hasn't listened to HJ's music enough, he fails to hear his personal qualities. And his ignorance about this is supposed to be HJ's problem? Unbelievable.



And last, Mr. Biringvad has never seen or heard HJ in person, yet here he is telling people about HJ's roots in jazz. Mr. Biringvad, HJ's roots started in jazz over 35 years ago. He began his career by playing with Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, Don Patterson, Shirley Scott, Trudy Pitts, Leon Spencer, and Groove Holmes. Oh yeah, I just saw him play with Lonnie Smith last month, does that count? Those are just the organists HJ played with. There are far too many others to list here, but this is to show that you don't have the slightest clue as to what HJ's roots are and you sure don't have the credentials to judge him as an artist.



I would suggest to Mr. Biringvad that the next time he gets the urge to write a review of someone's music, at least have the common sense to limit it to what you know because what you don't know can make you look like an idiot, and an offensive jerk, which it has. How can a guy who has an organ in his living room, doesn't play for a living, and has no musical accomplishments to speak of, decide that he can sit in judgment of others who are actively contributing to an art form? This is true arrogance indeed."