Willie "Bunk" Johnson

Interview with the artist: Willie “Bunk” Johnson

I.P: And we are back from that little five minute break. Today we have a special guest named Mr. Johnson, Mr. Willie “Bunk” Johnson! Please give him a round of applause!

Mr. Johnson: Well now it’s very nice to be here (said with exaggeration)!

I.P: Well Mr. Johnson if I may call you Mr. Johnson, what events in your early childhood life made you get interested into the arts ? You seemed to have a bit of a tango with the world ? You know what it was like to enter such a creative field?

Mr. J: Well miss…

I.P: Just call me Miss please.

Mr. J: Yes well miss ,my ma Theresa was a cook and also a former slave, so was my father but these were hard times and money didn’t grow off of tree’s nor did it come flying out of their pockets like water, I was only fourteen years old when I got my first trumpet and I thank my mama for getting me that trumpet with the little we had. “Kernteld, Barry, The New Grove Dictionary Of jazz. volume 2. 2nd ed. 419-20. Print. (Kernteld 419-20).”

I.P: With the little that you did have, what else was a reason for you to even get interested into the field of jazz let alone play the trumpet?

Mr. J: With all the chaos going on, citizens rioting, there is was not much for a little guy like myself to do much out in the Big N’awlins without getting into trouble, so mama thought it would be a good idea for me to get involved in something that was good, you know to put me under a good influence. I liked music, so it was no big deal but my first mentor later introduced me into how to play the darn thing. Hahaha, an got me started on what was later to come if I put the effort into it.

I.P: Sounds like you had an interesting start, how did it feel to you to know that your mother and father were slaves?

Mr. J: It felt very sad I was not devastated but I was just astonished at how much they were put through and still managed to have a healthy child trying to live a happy life with the best intensions. Ma never really had no money to just spend wastelessly. Apparently, I was born right in the midst of the opening scene of jazz. And to see my parents work so hard day after day after day it would be a good thing for me to do the same.

I.P: That is a very good response I feel like I can relate to that in some way no one can just slack off every day of their life and maintain a good attitude and just to be there for your child is a very good starting point so that they know that you were there luckily and thankfully your parents encouraged you to do very well and I have to say every bull has its day.

I.P: So Mr. Johnson, now I know you had to at least know someone who knew the basics about playing such an instrument in this complex uprising of jazz?

Mr. J: Yes I did matter of fact I think I remember his name hmm, Adam was it oh wait, no his name was Wallace …Wallace Cutchey. Umhmm, yupp, that was him. He was a professor at N.O.U ( New Orleans University), a music teacher. I tell you if I hadn’t learned something from him I wouldn’t have ever known how to first begin playing the trumpet nor would I have met and seen different people and places in my times. See playin that trumpet meant something to me it gave me. The strength I longed for. Not only that but in time I still remember the times he would give me hope to saying I would become more than a decent player. Haha, its good enough for me. In time I learned to put my own swang into it make it mines, own it. “Slonimsky, Nicholas. Baker's Biographical Dictionary Of Musicians. Centemial Edition. 3rd ed. 1761. Print.(Slonimsky 1761)”

I.P: So in these times what was the world of art in your particular field you entered like?

Mr. J: Miss all I can say is this it was not EASY at all, I tell ya. Many other musicians like myself were already up above me, some not welcoming me with open arms. Others very nice and concerned, like this admirable fella I knew named Buddy Bolden. He was a college of mines I played with. Come to think of it there was another nice fella named Adam?..Adamm? Oh yes Adam Oliver, he had an orchestra band in 1904, 1905 one of those two. Haha, but ughh yea he gave me my first job though it was nice of him to do so. I had even played with the famous Eagle Band in parades. We were fantastic!! I tell you people cheering and yelling all the screaming children of happiness and joy jumping up and down! Yupp nice ragtime band. Umhm in my time I even got to tour and played in a circus in Mexico with P.G. Loral’s Circus Band even traveled with McCabe’s Minstrels.

Thing was that everything wasn’t always as it seems. Other youngins took my place after I was let off ..by the band, but I was okay. I found myself helpin some of them, teachin the things I learned to them. Growin up into that competitive place was the answer but doin the best you could came first.

I.P: Well Mr. Bunk these did sound like difficult days to overcome with all the hardships and family friends and work, how did the major cultural, economic and political situations of the time impact your work?

Mr. J: Well during these times there was a lot of economic things going on first of all. Let me get a drink of water…ahem..hem... well now in the cultural issues there were lots of , how would I put this ,unwanted things going on that shouldn’t have been necessary, like riots in New Iberia, I couldn believe what was going on I literally got my teeth knocked out of me.. I’ll tell you about that later, but during the 1800’s around the time I was born into my later life, the government of Louisiana wanted to enforce, tried to enforce racial segregation but no one wanted such atrocity to happen I mean would you want to be separated from a good community just cause of you race financial problems or even just cause you isn’t a certain color to what the people with power want you to be? "Encyclopædia Britannica." Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 24 Feb 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/305283/Bunk-Johnson>.

I.P: “Yes I would feel very dissatisfied”

Mr. J: Dissatisfied. No. No, I think you would be much more than that. I think you would be infuriated. As of then, people would not take to that obligation so instead more trouble arose. In my childhood days in the 1900’s businessmen had used posters and such to say they would pass out firearms to the ‘Colored population for self defense’ Now what in the world would that have meant? What would that make people say to themselves? “Gates Jr., Henry. African American National Biography. 4rth ed. 1751. Print.(Gates Jr. 1751)”

I mean all this happened over a riot. Now New Orleans is not peachy clean all of a turkey perfect society, but you know how many folks can be. They turn it into something that they want it to be, then can’t find a way to put an end to it . Let me just say that how could I focus on music when if things weren’t right in the area. If I played during a controversy of many then things would have fell back on me people had no time to worry about music. We as a whole were too focused on the task at hand, calming down Louisiana. You know making things safer.

I.P: So what your saying is that in the cultural times, many took it as a bad thing and by that others wanted to take charge of the situation but instead, to you, made things seem much more chaotic and that if you were to put a lot of work into playing during such a big time that most likely little would have paid attention not because they don’t like it but because other things that were going on seemed much more like a big deal much, much, more important?

Mr. J: Yes. I felt that music brang hope later when everyone was stressed I was stressed playing. Music gave me a sense of faith and security and I have no doubt at all that’s what it did for many others like myself.

I.P: Well what about the economic problems? Did that affect any of your work?

Mr. J: “Hm financially, I would, ughh, want to say ‘no comment’ but, things for me were a tad bit of a turkey. See money was not so important that it controlled my life but in the 1900’s I was touring and visited Mexico doing gigs. After a while I went to (you can already tell I had some money in ma ol pocket) Mandeville ,Louisiana to play in various bands in places like Lake Charles Let’s just say I did travel a lot and it was amazing how I got around from place to place. Friends were like family to me so I was much okay economically. “Radioswissjazz.com. Wikipedia Encyclopedia, 02.11.2010 Web. 24 Feb 2011.<http://www.radioswissjazz.ch/cgibin/pip/html.cgi?lang=en&m=entity&v=b&w=Bunk+Johnson>.("Radioswissjazz.com)”

I.P: What about political situations?

Mr. J: Now didn’t I just tell you what happened?

I.P:No sir, well you kind of did but I am so interested I want to know more.

Mr. J: Well then I have to say politically things were, let me say hardcore,interesting. Most of the police and government officials did not want to do anything about what was going on in Louisiana meaning that they did not want to help out they cared but they sure showed it in one heck of a way for all citizens.

I.P: That’s not good. Why do you think that they ‘kind of cared’?

Mr. J: Because all the money in the world was for them to pay other people who have riches not to pay people like myself for doing bottom low down work if they cared the least bit which some there did they should have at least stopped so much of the hatred that was being portrayed in the government’s actions I would even ask myself sometimes why are they trying so hard to start something they might not be able to fix later. Everyone has their own opinion so you never know what would happen.

I.P: That sounds very true and I understand how you feel. How do you think others felt?

Mr. J: I think others felt somewhat of how I felt. I don’t know. I’m not them but they are all like family no matter who they are now. I don’t put all my trust into random ole’ people but I do feel the sense of security of those who stand up in my life. I feel like they would feel as I would feel if not worse about the situations everyone was involved in.

I.P: What were some major accomplishments in your methods you used in your art?

Mr. J: Haha! Take a look in my world sweet heart. Playing good doesn’t just come from practice but it comes also from the soul. When I put my mouth up to the brass I just want to hear it sing I want to as you would maybe say in this generation ‘rock out’. I want to feel the importance of music in life and that’s exactly what I feel when I play. Now here is a big secret, I play what I feel and what I hear not always what is written down on paper.

I.P: Ooh lala! That is a big secret!

Mr. J: Haha umhm sure is. When somebody puts a sheet of music in front of ya and ya say “I’m not playin that” you had better know how to play along with the music at least or you out.

I.P: What about the opportunities that were in front of your face or given to you. How do you think they affected your life now?

Mr. J: Let me get a sip of water real quick ma’am...ahem. Well now, I have to say I did try to take all opportunities to make something good of myself. That’s why I traveled so much. See when I traveled I met and seen and was taught a lot of things by other people. Meaning that when your poor you want to do something more with your life.You want to go see the world and go places. See more of what else is going on. Meeting new people were really nice. Playing with different people was also a challenge because other people will always have great predictions about how well you play let alone if you can play at all.

I.P: “ hear you loud and clear Mr. Johnson, I’m thinking it must have been a sight to see everyone doing what they have to do?

Mr. J: Yes ma’am indeed it was.

I.P: Here is my all time favorite question: what personal choices did you have to make to become successful?

Mr. J: Tis a good question, a very good one. There wasn’t many but there wasn’t a lot I faced so many mental awareness issues ,that I could say I can go crazy now. Haha! You know when you’re put up on the spot light? Everyone already is saying that you should be good no matter how you look. You have to maintain a nice respectful image and sometimes that was not the case. All people cant be perfectly in-tact I mean looking at the places around me there was not much I had wanted more to do then give people the chance to hear how good I was and could become. No one could possibly take that away. Honestly, it took time to get used to the new m,e meaning that once I entered the world of jazz there is no way out.

You can find yourself making rhythm where ever you go. No matter what you just had the taste to do what you do best and my heart and soul was put into that all the way. I have to admit I did wing it a lot but I took chances and taking chances is a very good thing when you want to have a stable mind and body. I needed to be physically working my body to cooperate with my trumpet. It wasn’t just like I could blow air. I was getting old I had to do something to get into the feeling.

I.P: I see what you are saying! Haha! Well definitely the part about you blowing air. You do have to learn to cooperate with your body and mind to physically do what you need to do to focus with other things as well.

I.P: What about those bricks in the walls that could have kept you from dong your work?

Mr. J: Now the thing about the hardships was that everything was always involved with my life. Haha! No seriously it was i mean that so many things were interfering with my work. A lot had to do with the fact that when you want your voice to be heard sometimes people can’t hear it quite clear or people just don’t want to listen at all to anything that you do. Finding people for my own band was not easy. It was on and off all day,24/7. Some people could play but they ‘didn’t feel like it’. Some wanted big cash but from who, me? I would pay some but not thousands of dollars even if I had it. You play first then you get paid not the other way round cause I’m not going to be doing such things for people who don’t have some heart to think that maybe they could just be in it for the fun of playing music.

Sometimes I could just sit and say “do you want to get noticed?”Well how about this put some effort into it like you care not just because you felt like coming and just felt like watching other people take time out of their day to help out the soul of music.

I.P: Mhm! I can definitely tell that from what you told me before you must have mentally grown out of the stage where you thought every thing is turning away from you.

Mr. J: It was but it was in a different way. People were turning away because of their own problems and not just because of how they saw you. Maybe there were some that saw it that way but others just wanted to see hope and to not hear you play it wasn’t thought of that maybe music can also be happy. I lost my teeth because of pyorrhea (infection of the ligaments and bones that support teeth). I took on other jobs like care-taking, driving truck-and-trailer for sugar and rice companies jus’ so I could get back on my feet.

I.P: What limits did you feel as you were becoming a true artist and finding yourself as a person in the arts?

Mr. J: I felt that at first in general society itself was holding me back. I felt scared in a way because when you are new you don’t know how everyone would look at you and the point was, was that I could not stop how others felt but I could not prevent my emotions from coming out. Riots stopped me from playing once because I got hurt but it’s all about the way you handle things how much you can take before you just want to give in. I didn’t give in at all though I jus continued to do as I was doing to get things done.

Critics is what I would call them. There are just so many in the world that you just really want to say to them all until you know how it feels to play what it was like don’t just go off of a degree you got sitting behind a desk watching others who really went through it to succeed. Ya know?

I.P: Would you please tell me some stories Mr. Johnson that best illustrates about how you became successful in the arts?

Mr. J: Why yes. I think that my life was based on faith and the willingness to become strong and much more aware that hard work and effort and help makes a big difference to me. Through hard times, there is never a such thing as a bad rehearsal, just a wrong note because everything you do counts and it matters if you want to be the one who stands out to make a difference. What you feel you need to do and blend in to what others are trying so hard to do (because personal work is not just enough) you have to dig deep down inside to feel sure that this is what you want to do. No matter what gets in your way of trying you have to be mentally strong to overcome it and to overcome it you have to believe that you can first. “Andreas Viklund, Andreas . "Died On This Date (July 7, 1949) Bunk Johnson / New Olreans Jazz Musician." "The Musics Over But The Songs Live On". WordPress.com., July 7, 2010. Web. 24 Feb 2011. <http://themusicsover.wordpress.com/tag/bunk-johnson/>.”

I.P: I have to thank you for your time that you spent here talking with me about your life experiences and I honor the respect and honor you showed in this interview. Let’s give Mr. Johnson one more round of applause!!

Willie "Bunk" Johnson

Friday, April 15, 2011

Judging

Differences

Similarities

Friday, April 8, 2011

The Interview

Monday, March 21, 2011

Artifacts Of Willie "Bunk" Johnson