Johnson Ink Musick [the long story]
Johnson (or Jay, as he is called by many) started playing music at a very young age, but didn’t become serious about the craft until he began playing the saxophone in the concert band at his middle school in 1985. In 1988, Jay started high school and had the good fortune of having a band director who exposed him to jazz. During his time in high school, Jay would perform with various school bands all over Dallas-Fort Worth, including a halftime performance at Texas Stadium and a jazz performance at The Caravan Of Dreams. It is also during this time period that Dewayne Washington and Jay first started working together on music and performances.
In 1992, Jay graduated from high school and moved to Virginia to attend Hampton University. While he continued to perform in school bands, it was at this time that Jay became more interested in some of the non-performance aspects of music (like arranging, composing, and production). Even though he was a history major, Jay took a number of music courses that would allow him to have access to the campus’ recording facilities. While performing with the school bands, Jay was fortunate enough to perform at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C., The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ., and The RCA Dome in Indianapolis.
When Jay returned to Fort Worth in 1999 (after creating a family and living briefly in Philadelphia), he began writing alone and with a number of friends from his youth. Jay also started working at The Caravan Of Dreams, which gave him the opportunity to see and speak with a number of his jazz “heroes”.
The opportunity to open for Larry Carlton at the Caravan was presented to Jay…if he could create a band in time. Jay called Dewayne, who had created a band called Faces The Band, and began to work on a presentation. The show was a success, and Jay joined the band. Shortly thereafter, the plan for the CD was put into motion and on May 15th, 2002 "Speak To My Heart" was released. Since then, Jay has performed with Faces during shows with Gerald Albright, Will Downing, Spyro Gyra, Joseph Vincelli, Richard Elliot, Peter White, Kem, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and Norman Brown.
In 2004, Jay made Johnson Ink Musick official, which allowed him the opportunity to focus on the aspects of music he learned to love in Virginia (arranging, composing, and production). One week later, they released their first project titled "Johnson Ink. Presents The Handshake", which focuses on the company's style of songwriting and Jay's ability with the saxophone.
Almost by accident, the creation of Johnson Ink Musick helped Jay gain more exposure as a saxophonist as well. In 2004, Jay was called upon to create his own musical unit for smaller performances, like Christmas parties, birthday celebrations, weddings, and things of that nature. The creation of Johnson & Friends gave Jay the opportunity to perform at the big festival in Grapevine, Texas...which led to the opportunity to perform before 40,000 music fans in Fort Worth as an opener for the Guitars and Saxes, which featured Warren Hill, Wayman Tisdale, Mindi Abair, and Jeff Golub.
A number of people believed this was the end of Jay's association with Faces The Band. He would soon prove them wrong by performing with the band in Arlington less than three weeks after Guitars and Saxes. When asked about the decision to stay with Faces, Jay simply replied "I've invested too much in this to not see it through".
On July 8th, 2006, Faces returned to Bass Hall to headline on the main stage...which was a big deal. Whereas Faces had performed at Bass Hall a number of times, this would be the first time Faces would headline. Because this would be one of those "special" perfomances, Jay decided this would be the perfect opportunity to play his favorite smooth jazz song..."Silhouette" by Kenny G. he started in the crowd and eventually made his way onstage. When the song ended, the response was incredible.
After a long break from performing on stage, Jay turned his attention to creating the first gospel event organized by Johnson Ink Musick. On July 1st, 2007, members of the Carter Metropolitan Mass Choir, Daymond Callahan, Marcus Rockwell, Dewayne Washington, and Chan Horton joined Jay in presenting [a joyful noise]. The event was wonderful; all involved added something different and something special to evening.
What most people didn't know at the time was Jay was already in the planning stages for his first solo concert. In order to make the event a big deal, the decision was made to release a new CD on the same evening. December 2007, Jay (along with Daymond, Chan, Kevin & Jon) presented some original pieces and some covers to a nice crowd. Outside, copies of "Victor Rasputin Presents The Journey" were being sold for the first time.
At some point, Jay worked with Daymond on two tracks on his CD titled "Music Society". Because of all Jay learned from Daymond during the recording process...and because of all of the fun they had, the plan to work together on another CD & a new live show. "Music Inspired By The Life" was released during the Fall of 2008.
After months of wandering around aimlessly, Victor Rasputin presented a CD that, in the opinion of all connected to Johnson Ink Musick, is the best collection of music the crew has released. In October 2009, "The Journey 2" was released.
To date, Johnson Ink Musick has released four projects, while members of the crew have been featured on other CDs and demos. At this point, we are eagerly awaiting the project being created by Musikal Legendz member, Lyric.