09/13/2026
Had an interesting discussion with Marc Petrulis, a great bass player I know, about hanging out with George Johnson and his brother Louis in 1975 on the Cool Jazz Festival. I had been hanging with George and then he disappeared for about 10 minutes. Then all of a sudden he pulls up in a golf cart and tells me to get on with him. I said where are we going, and he said we have to go pick up Dionne Warwick at her dressing room, which was half way around the stadium, bc she was going on soon.
Surprisingly, Marc was blown away and I was shocked bc he said Louis Johnson, George’s brother, was the bass player that made him want to play bass. I don’t think Louis invented the slap bass, but he was very instrumental in making the technique popular back then. Anyway, does anyone else remember the Brothers Johnson (Strawberry 23 & Stomp). They worked with Quincy a lot at that time, esp when Michael Jackson was doing “Off The Wall.” I truly did not think very many people remembered that far back.
Anybody else remember those days.
