Who Was Al Johnson? (!!!)

Al Johnson is given photography credits for a number of jazz albums, yet his biography and full professional history are hard to find. He provided the images for multiple Prestige covers in the first half of the 1970s, after which time his name seems to disappear from the jazz catalog. So with that in mind, this time around we offer a visual essay for our blog post. In order to narrow our selections, we chose album titles that were so emphatic, they needed an exclamation point! (For a short history of Prestige Records, see this excellent article from London Jazz Collector.)

Houston Person, Goodness!, 1969, Prestige Records

Houston Person, Person to Person!, 1970, Prestige Records

Charles Earland, Black Talk!, 1970, Prestige Records

Harold Mabern, Greasy Kid Stuff!, 1970, Prestige Records

Leon Spencer Jr., Sneak Preview!, 1971, Prestige Records

Idris Muhammad, Black Rhythm Revolution!, 1971, Prestige Records (BGP Records version shown here)

Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, You Talk That Talk!, 1971, Prestige Records

Charles Earland, Living Black!, 1971, Prestige Records

Bernard Purdie, Purdie Good!, 1971, Prestige Records