James P. Johnson: A Composer Rescued By Leslie Stifelman

Abstract

The "greatest hit" of 20th century popular music was not the creation of Michael Jackson, the Bee Gees or even the Beatles. Anyone with a sense of history will realize that the once-ubiquitous dance tune called the "Charleston" fueled a craze that has never been matched. The creator of this one-tune soundtrack to the roaring twenties was a man named James P. Johnson. Johnson was no mere tunesmith but rather a creative genius who gave birth to a keyboard-bending genre known as "stride piano." But Johnson's story didn't end there. Later in his career, he created full-scale symphonic works of jazz, the first orchestral pieces created by an African-American. But this achievement did not bring Johnson lasting fame, partially because he hid the scores to these compositions, and until recently they had been neither seen nor performed since the 1940s.

In February, 1992, Manhattan's Concordia Chamber Symphony made history by performing several of these works for the first time in nearly 50 years. Last summer, Concordia released a compact disk of James P. Johnson's symphonic works, "Victory Stride," a recording that sounds like a time capsule from the genesis of the Big Band era. Conductor Marin Alsop's unmatched prowess in the production of string jazz brings Johnson's music to life, but on the other side of the podium is an even more exciting story. The concert and the compact disk, both milestones of American musical history, would never have happened without the extraordinary efforts of Concordia's pianist, Leslie Stifleman. In the program of the 1992 concert, she told the story of her musical treasure hunt, one of the most intriguing and rewarding research experiences that any scholar could hope to undertake. The following is a reprint of Sifleman's personal account, prepared for the February 21st, 1992 concert in Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. 2

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Reference: Columbia Journal of American Studies. 1:1 (1995).

TITLE: Columbia Journal of American Studies. 2:1 (1996)
PUBLISHED: New York: Columbia University, 1995-.
OTHER AUTHORS: Columbia University in the City of New York.
ABBREV. TITLE: CJAS.
ISSUE: Volume 1, Number 1. (Spring, 1995).
ON-LINE ED.: Columbia Journal of American Studies (cjas@columbia.edu).

© copyright 1996 by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.