'Prof' teaches life lessons
Conrad Johnson uses foundation to mold youths

By CYNTHIA COLEMAN FRANKLIN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

RESOURCES

CONRAD JOHNSON SR.

• Age : 89
• Family : Married the late Birdie Wilson-Johnson and had four children, three of whom are living.
• Honors: Include membership in the Texas Bandmaster's Hall of Fame.
• Innovations: Holds patents for a ligature he designed to hold reeds in place on an instrument.

Conrad Johnson Sr. adjusted his lapel and gently picked up his best friend, a saxophone he fondly calls "She."

The rich notes that flowed from it are the latest in a career spanning more than 60 years. While his performances are fewer than during his heyday as founder and director of the Kashmere Stage Band in the 1960s and '70s, "Prof" is still going strong.

Johnson, 89, now focuses much of his energy on teaching the next generation of musicians through the Conrad O. Johnson Music and Fine Arts Foundation.

"It's my belief that the arts are the one thing that we live for," he said. "If you have one part of the arts in you, you can develop things for others to enjoy."

The nonprofit foundation provides educational and scholarship opportunities to Houston area high school music students. It has awarded $40,000 in scholarships since 2002 to high school seniors and for other costs such as music workshops.

Each scholarship is worth $1,000. The foundation seeks to encourage students to use the discipline they develop as musicians to further personal goals.

"I want to develop all arts — music, painting, drama and dance," Johnson said.

He said those involved in the arts lead fuller lives.

"A child studying the arts, developing something within himself, can pick up an instrument and console himself even under extreme circumstances," Johnson said.

Jazz Programs

The foundation's programs include the COJ Jazz Workshop and Competition, Houston Regional Youth Jazz Orchestra and the COJ Summer Jazz Institute.

Johnson reflected on a performance he gave in February at Port Houston Elementary for a group of pupils that included many whose first language was Spanish. The music overcame any language barriers, he said.

"I talked to the kids, and my band talked to the kids," he said.

Johnson used his teaching approach — instructing and treating students as if they were professional musicians — to lead the Kashmere Stage Band on tours throughout the United States, Europe and Japan.

Johnson initially taught jazz and big-band music. Ever the maverick and keeping abreast of changes in music, he added funk rhythms to his combinations, which his students loved.

Under his leadership, the band won 42 out of 46 international contests and recorded eight albums featuring more than 20 original compositions by Johnson.

The foundation's president, Artie Onayemi, wants to establish a museum and music hall honoring Johnson, who gives private lessons to her 20-year-old son.

In 1997, while waiting for her son to complete a lesson with Johnson, Onayemi looked with amazement at the awards covering the walls of Johnson's home. She said she was inspired to ask Johnson about his plans.

"He said he wanted to do something. He wanted to leave a tangible legacy," Onayemi said.

Onayemi and a group of supporters worked two years and established the foundation in 1999.

Building The Future

Johnson helped launch dozens of professional careers. He has taught and influenced some of the greatest musicians in the country, said Crestmont Park resident Barrie Lee Hall Jr., conductor for Duke Ellington Orchestra.

The orchestra was started by the legendary bandleader for who it is named and is based in New York City.

"Conrad is one of the greatest teachers I've heard of," Hall said.

Hall, 55, said he wasn't one of Johnson's students but knew about him since age 5.

"When I was a little boy, my father told me that one day I would play with Conrad," Hall said.

Hall taught himself to play a trumpet his parents bought when he was 11. His father's prediction came true in 1986, when Hall played with Johnson at shows.

"It's a feat of magic, what he could get out of the kids. He would get a professional sound out of a group of children. That's not easy," Hall said.

Teaching More Than Music

Charles Wilson, 60, a nephew and former student of Johnson's who is on the foundation's board, said Johnson always showed concern about how students handled themselves in everyday life.

"Throughout my high school career, he would pick up students who didn't have a way (to school or rehearsals) and he would take them home," Wilson said.

He said Johnson went out of his way to take care of students who were in need.

When Clarisa Robinson, 20, was 14, her father asked Johnson to mentor her.

"He's a darn good musician and for him to be his age, he can still get it going, get it kicking," said Robinson, who plays the flute and lead guitar.

"I like the fact that he is patient. That stands out more to me than anything."

She said Johnson told her to do what's in her heart and to commit to a practice schedule.

"Stick with it, practice and feel it," was Johnson's message, Robinson said.

Johnson hopes to rerelease his music on CD some day.

He also still teaches private lessons in the music studio he built in his home.

"I teach improvisation, creating your own music off of an existing melody," he said.

A native of Victoria, Johnson was as boy when his family moved to San Antonio. He fondly recalls that his father, Charles Johnson, took him to many musical events in San Antonio and Houston, where they relocated.

One trip was to see Marian Anderson, the first black person to sing at the White House and at New York's Metropolitan Opera.

Johnson said his father, one of the first practicing dentists in Houston, was a flutist, singer and trumpet player.

"I was born to do this. I had to be," Johnson said.

A 1933 Yates High School graduate, Johnson attended Houston College for Negroes, which later became Texas Southern University, and Wiley College in Marshall, where he earned a degree in music and English in 1938.

Johnson began his teaching career as a band instructor in Karnack and Denison and served as band director at Yates High School during the 1940s. He also taught at Booker T. Washington and Kashmere high schools, all the while developing the approach to teaching that he used with the Kashmere Stage Band.

Johnson stressed how study of the arts can lead to success in unexpected ways.

"One of my students never said a word in class, and I never would have thought he would be a great musician," Johnson said.

"He ended up opening a recording studio," Johnson said.

Those wishing to make a donation to the foundation or apply for a scholarship may contact Charles Wilson at 281-725-3922.

cynthia.franklin@chron.com