J.C. at the piano, 1940s

J.C. Johnson

J.C. JOHNSON (1896-1981) was a central member of the Harlem Renaissance whose work is woven into the fabric of American musical history.

He began his career around 1920, when he moved from his birthplace of Chicago to New York City and became a session pianist for singer Ethel Waters. In 1923, she was the first to record one of his songs, ultimately following with 10 more of his pieces including the premiere recording of TRAV’LIN ALL ALONE, subsequently covered by dozens of artists.

His most productive association with a singer came with Bessie Smith, for whom he wrote more than 10 hit releases. Best known is the classic EMPTY BED BLUES, which has had over 100 recordings.

By the mid-'20s, he had moved into professional songwriting on a regular basis. He wrote or cowrote hundreds of songs for artists such as Billie Holiday (legend has it she performed TRAV’LIN ALL ALONE at her first singing audition), Duke Ellington, Connee Boswell, Bing Crosby and the first three songs recorded by a young Ella Fitzgerald.

His many writing collaborators included Fats Waller (“The Joint Is Jumpin” and dozens more), Andy Razaf, George Whiting, Nat Schwartz, Claude Hopkins, Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson.

In late 20s and early 30s, J.C. wrote for numerous reviews and shows on Broadway and on tour, including material for Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson. He also co-wrote the theme song for the 1934 NAACP convention.

In 1929, he took part as a musician in a collaboration between Italian-American guitarist Eddie Lang and the blues guitarist Lonnie Johnson together with King Oliver and Hoagy Carmichael. The group took the name "Blind Willie Dunn & His Gin Bottle Four" in order to camouflage its inter-racial nature.

Around this period, he briefly had his own band, J.C. Johnson and his Five Hot Sparks, and frequently played piano on other artists’ recordings. Later he wrote for the famed Ink Spots and for a time acted as their manager.

During World War II, J.C. volunteered as an ambulance driver. With Andy Razaf he wrote YANKEE DOODLE TAN honoring African American soldiers, performed in the movie HIT PARADE OF 1943.

In 1953, J.C. collaborated on the revue JAZZ TRAIN. The show ran in New York and London’s West End, where it gave two command performances for Queen Elizabeth II, and then toured Europe for three years.

More recently, J.C.’s songs have enjoyed renewed interest, appearing in a number of movies and Broadway revues (AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’, ME AND BESSIE, BUBBLIN’ BROWN SUGAR, the West End’s RENT PARTY and COTTON CLUB). Many modern artists have also recorded his work, including Bette Midler, Bobby Short and Della Reese to name a few.

J.C.’s “TRAV’LIN” Friends

Roll over artist’s description to learn more about his career.

Fats Waller

Fats Waller

Fats Waller

Fats Waller, a vibrant entertainer and a master of the stride piano, was highly popular as both a songwriter and a performer. AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’, a revue of his songs, triggered a major revival of his music when it arrived on Broadway in 1978 and has become a staple of regional theatres across the country.

Fats and J.C. met in the 1920s and became great friends and collaborators. J.C. would often accompany Fats on all night jam sessions at Small’s Paradise and other clubs, always remaining quietly in the background while Fats took center stage.

In 1927 they wrote their first song together, I’M GOIN’ HUNTING, performed by Louis Armstrong and his band. Many others followed, including YACHT CLUB SWING, HOW YA BABY, WHAT’S YOUR NAME, HOLD MY HAND and THE SPIDER AND THE FLY (the last three of which appear in TRAV’LIN). Fats also recorded a number of J.C.’s songs written with others, most notably BELIEVE IT BELOVED, RHYTHM AND ROMANCE and YOU CAN”T DO WHAT MY LAST MAN DID.

An iconic 20th century musician and entertainer (more)
Andy Razaf

Andy Razaf

Andy Razaf

Andy Razaf worked with many different composers, often with Fats Waller and J.C. as well as with Eubie Blake and Don Redman, among others. His many classic lyrics include BLACK AND BLUE, AIN’T MISBEHAVIN and HONEYSUCKLE ROSE, to name a few.

Andy and J.C. wrote together frequently in the 1930s and had their own radio show for a time. Songs they wrote together include LOUISIANA (used in TRAV’LIN), GUESS WHO’S IN TOWN and LONESOME SWALLOW. They also collaborated as a pair with Fats, most famously on THE JOINT IS JUMPIN’.

Their last collaboration, YANKEE DOODLE TAN, was written in the early 1940s as a salute to the African American members of the military and was included in the movie HIT PARADE OF 1943.

Among the most prolific and highly regarded lyricists of his time (more)
Chick Webb

Chick Webb

Chick Webb

Chick Webb was a standard bandleader at the Savoy Ballroom, sometimes competing with groups headed by stars such as Benny Goodman and Count Basie in the ballroom’s “Battles of the Bands.” In 1935, he began featuring a teen-age singer named Ella Fitzgerald in his performances.

Chick wrote the music to J.C.’s lyrics for SPINNIN’ THE WEB (used in TRAV’LIN). While only an occasional collaborator with J.C., he performed many of J.C.’s songs as part of his big band repertoire, most famously LOUSIANA.

Great drummer and bandleader of the swing era (more)
Claude Hopkins

Claude Hopkins

Claude Hopkins

Claude Hopkins spent most of his career as a band leader and piano player. The 1930s featured long residencies at the Savoy and Roseland ballrooms and at the Cotton Club. Although more notable as a performer than as a composer, the songs he did write have a very syncopated and stride piano feel. Of his few tunes with J.C.’s lyrics, the finest example is VAMPIN A COED (used in TRAV’LIN).

Popular Harlem jazz band leader of the 1930s (more)
Fletcher Henderson

Fletcher Henderson

Fletcher Henderson

Fletcher Henderson formed his own band in 1922, which became resident at Roseland. Members over the years included Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Doc Cheatham and Roy Eldridge as well as Don Redman and Benny Carter, the latter two also acting as arrangers. Fletcher later provided many arrangements for the Benny Goodman orchestra.

Fletcher wrote a few numbers with J.C., most notably the music for WHAT’S YOUR STORY, WHAT’S YOUR JIVE (used in TRAV’LIN).

Influential jazz band leader and arranger (more)

George Whiting

George Whiting

George Whiting was a former vaudeville song and dance man who wrote popular song lyrics from the 1900s through the 1930s. He became a friend of J.C.’s and they wrote many songs together, including for the last two Texas Guinan revues and BELIEVE IT, BELOVED, J.C.’s favorite music he wrote for someone else’s lyrics.

Lyricist for "My Blue Heaven" (more)

Nat Schwartz

Nat Schwartz

Nat Schwartz became George Whiting’s collaborator on many songs. He is best known for the lyrics he wrote for THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER under the professional name of Nat Burton.

The trio collaborated on three songs that appear in Trav’lin (SOMEBODY LOSES, SOMEBODY WINS, YOU STAYED AWAY TOO LONG and THE MONSTER).

Lyricist for "The White Cliffs of Dover" (more)

J.C., “TRAV’LIN” and Me

0266

A Brief History by Gary Holmes

I was a ten year old kid playing in the basement of the bank branch my Dad managed in Wurtsboro, NY when he called me upstairs to his office. There stood J.C. Johnson, a slight and quiet gentleman who was, Dad explained, a composer and piano player from New York recently retired to our village.

We hit it off immediately. Learning I had just started piano lessons, Mr. Johnson encouraged me and wished me well. An hour or so later, he returned and presented me with a copy of the sheet music for his popular 1930s song, “Believe It, Beloved,” inscribed, “To Gary, Young man, if you develop the feel, hearing, and appreciation of good AMERICAN MUSIC, you should succeed.”

Thus began a close friendship/mentorship that lasted until his passing in 1981. Over the years, I would
regularly visit J.C. and bug him to tell me stories of Jazz Age Harlem and the people he knew there, famous and otherwise.

The seed for TRAV’LIN was planted one day when he remarked that as much as he liked having his songs in
Broadway revues such as ME AND BESSIE and AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’, he preferred book musicals with a full plot and characters. He also indicated that, were such a project done, he would like me to do it.

At J.C.’s wake, his widow Julie gave me permission to go forward with the project . I took J.C.’s 500 songs,
literally spread them out on the floor and selected about 40 best suited for a book musical. I realized they told
three distinct love stories, each set at a different stage of life.

It was a given that the show would take place in J.C.’s beloved Harlem and in the 1930s, the era when most of the songs were written. Simultaneously, all the stories J.C. had told me were swirling around in my head,
inspiring the characters and feel for the musical.

One conversation with J.C. proved particularly influential: In my late teens J.C. first told me about the hurtful
racism he had experienced downtown. Shocked, I commented that he and his friends back in Harlem must have complained bitterly about their treatment in Manhattan.

“No, Gary,” he assured me. Once uptown, he said, he and his associates, particularly his best buddy Fats Waller, simply enjoyed themselves, playing the clubs, partying, enjoying life. “Back in Harlem,” he emphasized, “we were home.” That one remark provided the emotional touchstone for the script.

So…out of J.C.’s songs and stories, TRAV’LIN was born. The project has taken many turns since then. Along the way, I earned my M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from N.Y.U.’s Tisch School of the Arts. Allan Shapiro, then a music and Broadway attorney, came on board in 1984, eventually becoming a co-author.

The first public reading of TRAV’LIN was at the York Theater in 2009, directed by the iconic Micki Grant
(Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope). Its first full mounting was a sold out, acclaimed run in 2010 at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Since then it has enjoyed five successful regional productions, enthusiastically received by both audiences and reviewers.

Remarkably, although the show has changed in many ways, its basic characters, plot structure and score remain very similar and faithful to the original 1981 concept. Most importantly, the show continues true to the gentle spirit of J.C. Johnson and his romantic vision of the Harlem he cherished.