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Ellen Johnson

Ellen Johnson’s knowledge of the jazz world is a result of her decades of experience and devotion to music as a professional jazz recording artist, educator, songwriter, author, and publicist.

About Me

Ellen Johnson’s knowledge of the jazz world is a result of her decades of experience and devotion to music as a professional jazz recording artist, educator, songwriter, author, and publicist. Johnson has performed, recorded and studied with many exceptional musicians including; Charles McPherson, Louie Bellson, Bobby McFerrin, Sheila Jordan, Jay Clayton, Don Braden, Willie Pickens, Roy McCurdy, Billy Drummond, Cameron Brown, John Stowell, Larry Koonse, Rick Helzer, John Clayton, Gene Aitken, and Marni Nixon.

Described by Jazz Journal International Magazine as “superior jazz singing by an artist of the highest quality,” Johnson has four solo jazz CD’s that include: Form and formless, These Days, Chinchilla Serenade and Too Good To Title. These Days, called “one of the best albums to be heard from a no-nonsense jazz singer” (Downbeat) and a “sophisticated and successful album that raises the standard of modern jazz singing by at least one notch” (All About Jazz), features a duet with legendary vocalist Sheila Jordan. Her last solo recording project, Form and formless, focused on free improvisation and the concept of the creative process or being in the moment and featured renowned guitarists Larry Koonse and John Stowell. Her concerts and clinics on the vocal music of Charles Mingus have been received with enthusiasm having been performed at various locations (several with Stanley Dance as guest speaker) including the California Jazz Conservatory and during the 2011 Ojai Music Festival activities. She is currently a guest singer and lyricist on a Brazilian project featuring the compositions of Luiz Millan produced by Arnaldo DeSouteiro to be released in May 2023.

In the 1980’s Johnson formed the company Vocal Visions Records promoting and producing jazz recordings and music instructional products, including her own educational publications, The Warm Up CD, Vocal Builders and You Sing Jazz. She has published lyrics to the Sonny Rollins well known composition, “St. Thomas” and three Charles Mingus compositions: “Peggy’s Blue Skylight,” “Nostalgia In Times Square” “Slippers,” “Noddin Ya Head Blues, and “Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk.” In 2002 Johnson received a best jazz composition award from Just Plain Folks out of 100,000 songs submitted for her original wordless composition “Chinchilla Serenade.” That same year she co-founded and became the president of the Jazz Vocal Coalition (JZVOC), the first jazz singers collective non-profit organization that provided promotion, education, support and social networking to jazz singers throughout the United States with chapters in Los Angeles, New York and Minnesota.

Her other professional ventures include recording for jingles, film scores, and other projects not to mention collaborating with the highly respected songwriter, Hugh Martin, who wrote, “I’m at a loss for words to praise your voice. It deserves adjectives that haven’t been invented yet regarding its beauty of tone, range, and perfect intonation.” She has been a featured soloist for many performances of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts filling the shoes of soloist Alice Babs so well that even the late Stanley Dance wrote how good her renditions were in comparison. Johnson’s vocal versatility contributed to her winning a finalist slot in the American Traditions Vocal Competition where she performed jazz, musical theater and classical renditions of songs for a prestigious panel of judges that included Della Reese, Charles Strouse, William Warfield, George Shirley and others.

Johnson has worked within the music industry as a publicist and promoter through her company, Sound Visions Media, where she has gained visibility for artists, authors, businesses and non-profit organizations. Serving as the jazz editor for Singer and Musician Magazine she wrote articles and interviews that included jazz luminaries like Nancy Wilson, Alan Paul and Andy Bey. Johnson is the author of Sheila Jordan’s biography entitled, Jazz Child: Portrait of Sheila Jordan published by Rowman and Littlefield and was one of three books nominated for the Jazz Journalists Association award.

Johnson’s own education includes a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from San Diego State University, BM in Vocal Performance from the American Conservatory of Music, UCLA Extension Music Business Certificate Program and she has been on the voice faculties of the many colleges including the University of San Diego, the Old Globe Theatre’s MFA program, California Polytechnic University Pomona and has given master classes in vocal jazz at the University of Southern California as well as many other colleges. Johnson was the moderator of a panel at the 2004 IAJE Conference in New York entitled, “The Evolution of Solo Vocal Jazz Singing: Where are We Headed?” which featured Jay Clayton, Kurt Elling, Jon Hendricks, Sheila Jordan, Kitty Margolis and Mark Murphy. She was a keynote speaker on the “Art Song of Duke Ellington” and “The Art Song of Jazz” for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) international conferences, past president of the San Diego Chapter of NATS, and the California vocal jazz representative for the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE). She currently teaches jazz vocal performance classes, improvisation and various workshops for the Jazzschool at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, California and her own studio online at VocalVisons.net.

Johnson’s own research and studies on music healing, creativity and expressive arts therapy inspired her to complete advanced training in Frequency Medicine, Sonic Science & Cymatics with John Stuart Reid, completed Integral Studies in Music Therapy at the University of Humanistic Studies, with certificates in Expressive Arts Therapy (1998) with Jane Goldberg, and Creativity Coaching training with Eric Maisel. Ellen’s additional studies and workshops with many pioneers in the field include; Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, Jonathan Goldman, Dr. John Beaulieu, Eileen McKusick, Elias Mohan (William David), Fabien Mamamand with Eric Maisel to become a Creativity Consultant teaching workshops on “Using Vocal Improvisation To Encourage Creativity.”

Johnson is a member of BMI, Jazz Journalists Association (JJA), IAMM (International Association for Music & Medicine), SHA (Sound Healers Association), and the Creativity Coaching Association (CCA). She currently resides in the Northern California area area with her husband (videographer, animation specialist and author) Jeff Foster and their dog, Halona and Palomino horse, Mysty. She can be contacted at: [email protected] or www.ellenjohnson.net.

My House Concert Story

I hosted a wonderful house concert on January 27, 2019 with NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan, Joe Gilman (piano) and Peter Barshay (bass). Many local musicians attended as well as jazz fans and the feedback was incredible. Since that time I have hosted house concerts throughout 2019 until the pandemic. Unfortunately the house concerts are on hold until it's safe to have them publicly.