American drummer, born 5th December 1944 in Oakland, CA, died 6th March 2002 in Paris, France.
The Oliver Johnson's encounter with music takes place with instruments different from the one that will make him famous. In fact, as a young man he learned to play the trumpet and in his free time he sang in one of the many religious choirs in his city. The turning point came by chance between 1962 and 1963 when during his military service he learned the technique of percussion and especially drums. In 1964 he played in various Latin American groups and the following year, having met Don Raphael Garrett, he decided to dedicate himself to jazz, working in the recording studio with pianist Denny Zeitlin and playing with Bobby Hutcherson, Dewey Redman, Sam Rivers, Johnny Griffin , Dexter Gordon, Andrew Hill and others. At the end of the Sixties, following in the footsteps of many other jazz musicians, he left the States and moved to Europe, where he played and recorded, among others, with Alan Silva in 1970, Jean-Luc Ponty in 1971, Anthony Braxton in 1972, Gato Barbieri , Eje Thelin, Rolf and Joachim Kuhn, David Murray and many others. Since 1977 he has been a regular member of Steve Lacy's group with which he recorded half a dozen records for various labels. At the same time, with Takashi Kako and Kent Carter he created the TOK trio, with which he recorded three albums. On March 26, 2002, Johnson was found lifeless on a bench on Rue Pierre Lescot in Paris. The police investigations lead nowhere. His killer will go unpunished.