Johnson, Keg (Frederic H.)
Johnson, Keg (Frederic H.)
Johnson, Keg (Frederic H.), jazz trombonist; brother of Budd Johnson; b. Dallas, Tex., Nov. 19, 1908; d. Chicago, Nov. 8, 1967. Johnson’s first lessons were from his father, a cornetist. He later studied with Booker Pittman’s mother (Portia Pittman, daughter of Booker T. Washington). He did day work in a local Studebaker car factory and gigged on various instruments until specializing on trombone from 1927. From 1929-30, he worked with various local bands and on the road, until settling in Chicago. He worked in revues and bands in Chicago, including recording and touring with Louis Armstrong from early 1932-July 1933. He moved to N.Y., and worked with Fletcher Henderson for a year in 1934, and then joined Cab Calloway in January 1935 and remained wtih him until the summer of 1948 (except for brief absence early in 1940). From 1948-50, he worked with Lucky Millinder, and then moved to Calif, in late 1951. He worked with Benny Carter (1952) and briefly with Duke Ellington (1953), then left full-time music to work as a house decorator. He continued to do regular gigs (some on guitar), however, with various leaders. He moved back to N.Y. in late 1950s, working with various bands. In 1961, he joined vocalist Ray Charles’s Orch., and remained in that band for six years, dying suddenly while on tour.
—John Chilton/Lewis Porter