Johnson, William Manuel

William Manuel Johnson (banjo) with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band (1923). Courtesy Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University.
William Manuel Johnson (banjo) with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band (1923). Courtesy Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University.

Multi-instrumentalist William Manuel “Bill” Johnson enjoyed a very long and active musical career living to age 103 (b. 1872, d. 1975). Early on William performed on guitar and bass in district bagnios and at the Basin Street Cafe. He worked with the Excelsior, Uptown, Eagle, and Peerless brass bands. He invited King Oliver to front a band he began at the Royal Garden. (Check out his page at the Red Hot Jazz website and see Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album, p. 62)

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