Editing Bunk Johnson (section)

==Biography==

=== Birth ===
Johnson gave the year of his birth as 1879, although Johnson stated on his 1937 application for [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] that he was born on December 27, 1889<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tomko |first=Gene |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZKzDwAAQBAJ |title=Encyclopedia of Louisiana Musicians: Jazz, Blues, Cajun, Creole, Zydeco, Swamp Pop, and Gospel |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0807169322 |location=Baton Rouge |pages=136–137}}</ref> and there is speculation that he may have been younger by as much as a decade. According to jazz critic [[Scott Yanow]], Johnson was probably born at the 1889 date.<ref name=":2" />

Johnson was the youngest of 14 children. He had been schooled in sight reading and improvisation by the time he began playing professionally with the Superior Orchestra and the [[The Eagle Band|Eagle Band]] in 1910. He claimed to have attended [[New Orleans University]], although no diploma from the college survives.<ref name=":2" />

===Education and early musical career===
Johnson received lessons from Adam Olivier and began playing professionally in Olivier's orchestra. Johnson probably played a few adolescent jobs with [[Buddy Bolden]], but was not a regular member of Bolden's Band (contrary to Johnson's claim). Johnson was regarded as one of the leading trumpeters in New Orleans in the years 1905–1915,<ref name="LarkinGE"/> in between repeatedly leaving the city to tour with [[minstrel show]]s and circus bands.

After he failed to appear for a [[New Orleans Mardi Gras]] parade job in 1915, he learned that [[krewe]] members intended to do him bodily harm. So he left town, touring with shows and then by the early 1920s settling in [[New Iberia, Louisiana]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.knowlouisiana.org/entry/bunk-johnson|title=Bunk Johnson|work=Know Louisiana|access-date=2017-10-17|publisher=Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities at Turners' Hall|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017154333/http://www.knowlouisiana.org/entry/bunk-johnson|url-status=dead}}</ref> While living in New Iberia, Johnson worked in rice mills and the public school system, and continued playing jazz, but with local groups such as the Black Eagle Band from [[Crowley, Louisiana|Crowley]] and the Banner Orchestra.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Le Menestrel |first=Sara |date=Sep 2007 |title=The Color of Music: Social Boundaries and Stereotypes in Southwest Louisiana French Music |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/220580 |journal=Southern Cultures |language=en |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=87–105 |doi=10.1353/scu.2007.0032 |issn=1534-1488}}</ref>

In 1931, he lost his trumpet and front teeth when a fight broke out at a dance in [[Rayne, Louisiana]], putting an end to his playing.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> He thereafter worked in manual labor, occasionally giving music lessons.

===Career revival and first recordings===
In 1938 and 1939, the writers of an early jazz history book, ''[[Jazzmen]]'', interviewed several prominent musicians of the time, including [[Louis Armstrong]], [[Sidney Bechet]], and [[Clarence Williams (musician)|Clarence Williams]], who spoke highly of Johnson in the old days in New Orleans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.redhotjazz.com/bunk.html|title=Bunk Johnson|website=Red Hot Jazz Archive|access-date=2017-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014115013/http://www.redhotjazz.com/bunk.html|archive-date=2017-10-14|url-status=dead}}</ref> The writers tracked down Johnson's address, and traded several letters with him, where he recalled (and possibly embellished) his early career.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Johnson stated that he could play again if he only had new teeth and a new trumpet.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> A collection was taken up by writers and musicians, and he was fitted with a set of dentures by Bechet's dentist brother, Leonard, and given a new trumpet.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/early-jazz-trumpet-bunk-johnson|title=An early jazz trumpet, Bunk Johnson|website=African American Registry|language=en|access-date=2017-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017145707/http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/early-jazz-trumpet-bunk-johnson|archive-date=2017-10-17|url-status=dead}}</ref> He made his first recordings in 1942, for [[Jazz Man Records]].<ref name="LarkinGE"/>

[[File:SuperiorOch1910.jpg|right|thumb|The Superior Orchestra, 1910]]

===Later touring career===
These first recordings propelled Johnson (along with clarinetist [[George Lewis (clarinetist)|George Lewis]]) into public attention.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Johnson and his band played in New Orleans, [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], [[Boston]], and [[New York City]] and made many more recordings. Johnson's work in the 1940s shows why he was well regarded by his fellow musicians.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> On his best days he played with great imagination, subtlety, and beauty, as well as suggesting why he had not gained prominence earlier, for he was unpredictable, temperamental, with a [[passive-aggressive]] streak and a fondness for drinking alcohol to the point of impairment.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-12 |title=Bunk Johnson Rare & Unissued Masters 1943-46 - The Syncopated Times |url=https://syncopatedtimes.com/bunk-johnson-rare-unissued-masters-1943-46/ |access-date=2024-02-05 |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Death===
Johnson suffered from a [[stroke]] in late 1948 and died in [[New Iberia]] the following year.<ref name=":0" />