Sy Johnson

Johnson continues to work with Sue Mingus arranging charts for all the Mingus repertory ensembles—the Mingus Big Band, the Mingus Orchestra and the Mingus Dynasty. His other collaborations in the music world have been with Joe Williams, Frank Sinatra, Wes Montgomery, Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Quincy Jones, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Mel Torme, Terry Gibbs, and Sarah Vaughan among others. He has also worked on Broadway and in films such as The Cotton Club (1984). Sy Johnson is also a jazz photographer, writer, pianist, singer and teacher.

He is known for his work on The Cotton Club (1984), Ruth Brown: Better Late Than Never (2005) and The Jazz Loft According to W.

On February 3, 1973 Johnson performed "We Did It" on Soul Train.

In 1971, eleven years later, Mingus climbed the stairs to Emile Charlap’s copying office, home to many great arrangers, and before he left, he gave Johnson Let My Children Hear Music to arrange, which featured two Mingus pieces, "Shoes of the Fisherman’s Wife (Are Some Jiveass Slippers)" and "Don’t Be Afraid, the Clowns Afraid Too". The album's emergence was heralded with a live concert, Mingus And Friends At Philharmonic Hall, also arranged by Johnson and released as an album. Johnson continued to work with Mingus until his death from Lou Gehrig’s disease in 1979. Mingus recorded two of Johnson’s compositions, "Wee" and "For Harry Carney", and nominated Johnson for a Guggenheim award following his own in Jazz composition.

Sy Johnson was born on April 15, 1930 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.