David Earle Johnson was a percussionist, a composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and a music producer.

Career

Percussionist David Earle Johnson performed on albums by a number of jazz artists in the seventies before releasing a few of his own albums in the late seventies and early eighties. He appeared on numerous albums: Billy Cobham

Billy Cobham

William C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s....

's Total Eclipse and Clive Stevens' Voyage to Uranus (1974); Jan Hammer

Jan Hammer

Jan Hammer is a composer, pianist and keyboardist. He first gained his most visible audience while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s, as well as his film scores for television and film including "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", from the popular 1980s...

's First Seven Days (1975); Lenny White

Lenny White

Leonard White III, better known as Lenny White is an American jazz fusion drummer, who is best known for playing in Chick Corea's Return to Forever.-Biography:...

's Big City and Miroslav Vitouš

Miroslav Vitouš

Miroslav Ladislav Vitouš , is a Czech jazz bassist.-Biography:Born in Prague, he began the violin at age six, and started playing the piano at age ten, and bass at fourteen. As a young man in Europe, Vitouš was a competitive swimmer. One of his early music groups was the Junior Trio with his...

' Majesty Music (1977); Jaroslav Jakubovic's Checkin' In, Mark Moogy Klingman's Moogy II, the Players Association's Born to Dance, and Josh White Jr.'s self-titled album (1978); and others.

Johnson's solo debut came in 1978 with Time Is Free, recorded for Vanguard

Vanguard Records

Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...

. His relationship with that label proved short-lived, however, and he began recording albums for other labels in subsequent years before his recording career simmered following his 1983 album, The Midweek Blues.

Jan Hammer produced and performed on most of these releases along with John Abercrombie

John Abercrombie (guitarist)

John Abercrombie is an American jazz guitarist, whose work often explores jazz fusion and post bop. Abercrombie has played with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker...

, Jeremy Steig

Jeremy Steig

-Biography:Steig is the son of New Yorker cartoonist William Steig,At age 19 Steig was involved in a motorcycle accident which left him paralyzed on one side...

, Col.Bruce Hampton, Allen Sloan, Dan Wall, Ben 'Pops' Thornton, Billy McPherson and Gary Campbell.

David was against the use of "sampled sounds", as Hammer used samples of David's rare Nigerian Log Drums on the Miami Vice soundtrack without David's permission. This resulted in a lawsuit which David ultimately lost.

David Earle Johnson died from cancer in 1998.

Discography

• 1978 - "Time Is Free"
• 1979 - "Skin Deep - Yeah !"
• 1980 - "Hip Address"
• 1981 - "Route Two"
• 1983 - "Midweek Blues"
• 1986 - "The Feeling's mutual"
• 1993 - "White Latening"

Discography for other artists' albums

• Aurora Aurora (2000) Producer
• Bob Belden Ensemble Straight to My Heart: The Music of (1989) Percussion, Conga
• Blast Blast (1980) Percussion, Vocals
• Billy Cobham Total Eclipse (1974) Conga
• Billy Cobham Rudiments: The Billy Cobham... (2001) Conga
• Jan Hammer Early Years (1974) Percussion, Conga
• Jan Hammer First Seven Days (1975) Percussion, Conga
• Col. Bruce Hampton & The... Outside Looking Out (1980) Percussion
• Jaroslav Jakubovic Checkin' In (1978) Percussion
• Klemperer/Reiner Gerald McBoing Boing & Others (1990) Percussion
• Mark Moogy Klingman Moogy II (1978) Conga
• Taj Mahal Like Never Before (1991) Percussion, Go Go Bell
• Oregon Friends (1977) Conga, Timbales
• Oregon Essential (1987) Conga
• Oregon Vanguard Sessions: Best of the... (2000) Conga, Timbales
• The Players Association Born to Dance (1978) Percussion, Conga, Timbales
• Players Association Players Association/Turn the Music (1998) Percussion, Conga
• Sea Level Best of Sea Level (1977) Percussion, Conga
• Sea Level Long Walk on a Short Pier (1979) Percussion, Conga
• Clive Stevens Voyage to Uranus (1974) Percussion, Conga, Timbales
• Swamp Dogg Swamp Dogg (Rat On) (1971) Engineer
• Swamp Dogg Cuffed, Collared and Tagged (1972) Engineer
• Swamp Dogg Have You Heard This Story? (1974) Whistle (Human)
• George Tandy Urban Jazz (1992) Drums, Drums
• Nestor Torres Morning Ride (1989) Synthesizer, Percussion, Drums, Sound Effects, Timbales, Producer
• Miroslav Vitous Majesty Music (1977) Percussion, Conga
• Josh White, Jr. Josh White Jr. (1978) Percussion
• Lenny White Big City (1977) Conga
• John Williams Empire Strikes Back [Original... (1980) Percussion
• Betty Wright Passion & Compassion (1990) Cymbals, Drums
• Various Artists Cool Fever: From Disco Jazz to... (1997) Percussion, Conga, Timbales
• Various Artists Vanguard Collector's Edition (1997) Percussion, Conga, Timbales
• Various Artists World of Drums And Percussion, Vol... (2000) Performer
• Jan Hammer Early Years
• Jan Hammer Oh Yeah?
  Oh Yeah?
  Oh Yeah? is an album recorded by jazz fusion musician Jan Hammer in 1976.-Track listing:# Magical Dog - Hammer # One to One - Hammer, Smith # Evolove - Rick Laird # Oh, Yeah? - Hammer, Saunders...
  
  
• Various Artists World of Drums And Percussion, Vol. 2

Personal life

He was married with artist-painter Evelyne Morisot with whom he had four children. He died in 1998.

External links

• a two pages tribute