13 Facts About Bunk Johnson

Willie Gary "Bunk" Johnson was an American prominent jazz trumpeter from New Orleans.

Johnson gave the year of his birth as 1879, although Johnson stated on his 1937 application for Social Security that he was born on December 27,1889 and there is speculation that he may have been younger by as much as a decade.

Bunk Johnson had been schooled in sight reading and improvisation by the time he began playing professionally with the Superior Orchestra and the Eagle Band in 1910.

Bunk Johnson claimed to have attended New Orleans University, although no diploma from the college survives.

Bunk Johnson received lessons from Adam Olivier and began playing professionally in Olivier's orchestra.

Bunk Johnson probably played a few adolescent jobs with Buddy Bolden, but was not a regular member of Bolden's Band.

Bunk Johnson thereafter worked in manual labor, occasionally giving music lessons.

Bunk Johnson stated that he could play again if he only had new teeth and a new trumpet.

Bunk Johnson made his first recordings in 1942, for Jazz Man Records.

Bunk Johnson suffered from a stroke in late 1948 and died in New Iberia the following year.

Bunk Johnson was a Catholic, and as of 2019 an annual Jazz Mass and procession was conducted in his hometown of New Iberia, beginning at St Edward Catholic Church and ending at Bunk Johnson's gravesite.

Bunk Johnson recorded for Good Time Jazz with the Yerba Buena Jazz Band in early 1944.

Bunk Johnson recorded for Blue Note in March, 1945, and for Decca and RCA Victor in late 1945.