James P. Johnson

James P. Johnson (born February 1, 1894, New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.—died November 17, 1955, New York, New York) was a highly influential American jazz pianist who also wrote popular songs and composed classical works. A founder of the stride piano idiom, he was a crucial figure in the transition from ragtime to jazz. In his youth Johnson studied classical and ragtime piano techniques, and by his late teens he was performing in saloons, in...