John Sansone (born September 27, 1957), also known as Jumpin' Johnny Sansone, is an American

electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...

singer, songwriter, harmonicist, accordionist, guitarist and piano player. He was nominated for seven music awards in 2012, including a

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

which he won. To date, he has been involved in the release of twelve original albums.

Early life and education

Born in

Orange, New Jersey The City of Orange (known simply as Orange) is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 34,447, an increase o ...

, Sansone was raised in nearby West Orange, and attended West Orange High School, where he took up swimming. His father had played the saxophone in

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

's band during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and by the time he was age 12, his son had learned to play the saxophone, guitar and harmonica and seen

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into electric Chica ...

in concert. He later studied blues harmonica playing by studying both

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr.; December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song " Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album '' Hoodoo Man Blues ...

and

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

. He left New Jersey in 1975 on a swimming scholarship at a college in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Career

Sansone toured in the 1980s supporting Robert Lockwood, Jr.,

David "Honeyboy" Edwards David "Honeyboy" Edwards (June 28, 1915 – August 29, 2011) was an American delta blues guitarist and singer from Mississippi. Biography Edwards was born in Shaw, Mississippi.

and

Jimmy Rogers Jay or James Arthur "Jimmy" Rogers (June 3, 1924December 19, 1997) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and ...

. Sansone moved between Colorado,

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, Florida, Chicago, and

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

, before settling in 1990 in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, which has been his home base ever since. His original touring band, known as Jumpin' Johnny & the Blues Party, recorded their debut album, ''Where Y'at'' in 1987, which was released by the

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

, Kingsnake Records, based in

Sanford, Florida Sanford is a city and the county seat of Seminole County, Florida, United States. It is located in Central Florida and its population was 61,051 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metropolitan Statistical ...

. ''Mr. Good Thing'' (1991) followed, before Sansone got inspired to try his hand at playing the accordion after attending the funeral of

Clifton Chenier Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 – December 12, 1987), was an American musician known as a pioneer of zydeco, a style of music that arose from Creole music, with R&B, blues, and Cajun influences. He sang and played the accordion. Chenier won ...

. By the second half of the 1990s, Sansone had embraced

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the US state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states. Whi ...

Southern soul Southern soul or country soul is a type of soul and country music that emerged from the Southern United States. The music originated from a combination of styles, including blues (both 12 bar and jump), country, early R&B, and a strong gospel ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...

into his style and songwriting. The resultant recording, ''Crescent City Moon'' (1997), was mainly his own work; although it included a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Ted Hawkins Ted Hawkins (October 28, 1936 – January 1, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter born in Biloxi, Mississippi. He split his time between his adopted hometown of Venice Beach, California, where he was a mostly anonymous street performer, ...

' "Sweet Baby", which featured

Sonny Landreth Clide Vernon "Sonny" Landreth (born February 1, 1951) is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, and settled in Lafayette, Louisiana. He lives in Br ...

playing slide guitar. The collection included liner notes from

Greg "Fingers" Taylor Greg "Fingers" Taylor (June 3, 1952 – November 23, 2023) was an American harmonica player, best known for his work with Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. Career Greg Taylor was born in Wichita, Kansas, on June 3, 1952, where he attended Wich ...

. It received widespread critical approval and several awards, including scooping several '' Offbeat'' magazine's 'Best of the Beat' accolades.

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by A ...

subsidiary label, Bullseye Blues, issued ''Waternelon Patch'' (1999), which saw guest appearances by

Jon Cleary Jon Stephen Cleary (22 November 191719 July 2010) was an Australian writer and novelist. He wrote numerous books, including '' The Sundowners'' (1951), a portrait of a rural family in the 1920s as they move from one job to the next, and '' The ...

(piano) and Joe Krown (organ). Sansone lost momentum in the early 2000s, although he continued to perform in various musical ensembles, as well as working during the week in construction. He started to play in a trio with Joe Krown and John Fohl. They played traditional blues with Krown on piano, and Fohl and Sansone sharing the vocal duties. This trio Sansone, Krown & Fohl released a self-titled album from Sansone's label ShortStack Records in 2004. In 2005, Sansone joined the Voice of the Wetlands Allstars (which variously incorporated

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. His music combined New Orleans blues, jazz, R&B, soul and funk. Active as a session mus ...

Cyril Neville Cyril Garrett Neville (born October 10, 1948) is an American percussionist and vocalist who first came to prominence as a member of his brother Art Neville's funky New Orleans–based band, The Meters. He joined Art in the Neville Brothers band u ...

, Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Vidacovich, Anders Osborne, George Porter Jr., Waylon Thibodeaux, and

Tab Benoit Tab Benoit (born November 17, 1967) is an American blues guitarist, musician, and singer. His playing combines a number of blues styles, primarily Delta blues. He plays a stock 1972 Fender Telecaster Thinline electric guitar and writes his own ...

), who were interested in promoting local environmental issues. The band became a regular feature at the

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New ...

. Having to vacate his home in the legacy of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

, Sansone continued to tour and perform with the Voice of the Wetlands Allstars, wherein he befriended Anders Osborne. ''Poor Man's Paradise'' (2007) was Sansone's first solo album for eight years and was produced by Osborne who also played

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

and slide guitar on two of the tracks. Joe Krown also contributed on the electric organ. In 2009, Sansone played the accordion on

Mike Zito Mike Zito (born November 19, 1970) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer, and songwriter from St. Louis, Missouri, United States. He is a co-founder of Royal Southern Brotherhood that features Cyril Neville, Devon Allman, Charlie Wooto ...

's album, ''Pearl River''. By then playing in another acoustic trio setting, this time with Osborne and Fohl, Sansone was inspired to write the track, "The Lord Is Waiting and The Devil Is Too". It turned in to the title track of his 2011 album, and won the 'Song of the Year' title at the 2012

s. It provided a release from the stresses of a marital break-up, and the record's producer Osborn pushed Sansone's music towards a more commercial, rock influenced, direction. In October 2012, Sansone performed at the

Voodoo Experience The Voodoo Music + Arts Experience (formerly The Voodoo Music Experience), commonly referred to as Voodoo or Voodoo Fest, was a multi-day music and arts festival held in City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana. First started in 1999, it was last hel ...

in New Orleans, and in December that year, Sansone appeared at the inaugural Bradenton Blues Festival. After a couple of live album releases, Sansone's next studio based creation was ''Once It Gets Started'' (2013). Sansone then gave "one of the best individual performances of the 2014 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival," according to '' Offbeat'' magazine. A later issue, ''Lady on the Levee'' (2015), was another Osborne production and included a guest appearance from Monk Boudreaux.

Influences

Sansone's major influence was his fellow

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

musician and songwriter,

Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with a wide variety of audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby Wha ...

Discography

Albums

References

External links

Official websiteHarmonica Man Johnny Sansone Returns To Jazz Fest (2014 article)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sansone, Johnny 1957 births Living people 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers American blues singers American blues harmonica players American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues pianists American male pianists Songwriters from New Jersey Musicians from Orange, New Jersey Musicians from West Orange, New Jersey West Orange High School (New Jersey) alumni 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists Guitarists from New Jersey 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American accordionists 21st-century American pianists American male songwriters