Johnny Otis

American rhythm-and-blues and jazz composer, singer, drummer, and pianist

• Born: December 28, 1921
• Birthplace: Vallejo, California
• Died: January 17, 2012

Otis’s commitment to rhythm and blues during the 1960’s—as a performer and as a producer—helped maintain the music’s cultural relevance despite the growing popularity of British-influenced rock and psychedelic music.

Member of Johnny Otis and His Orchestra

The Life

Johnny Otis was born John Alexander Veliotis to Greek American parents on December 28, 1921, in Vallejo, California. He was raised in a predominantly African American suburb of West Berkeley, California, and that shaped his musical and cultural interests. He began playing jazz percussion professionally with the local Count Otis Matthew’s West Oakland House Rockers in 1935, and later, on the recommendation of Nat King Cole, he moved to Los Angeles to join Harlan Leonard’s Kansas City Rockets. By the mid-1940’s, he was directing his own band; the 1945 hit, “Harlem Nocturne,” inaugurated a succession of swing and rhythm-and-blues hits that lasted until 1952. While working as a producer and talent scout for King Records during the 1950’s, Otis discovered Hank Ballard, Etta James, Willa Mae (“Big Mama”) Thornton, and Esther Phillips, among others. He fostered their careers on his eponymous popular radio show, which later became a television variety program that ran for eight years.

After two unsuccessful bids for the California Assembly in the 1960’s, Otis joined the staff of Democratic Congressman Mervin Dymally and deepened his personal commitment to fighting for racial equality through political action. During the 1970’s, he became an ordained minister, organized the Landmark Community Church, founded an organic farm in Sebastopol, California, and added his son, guitarist Shuggie Otis, to his band’s touring lineup. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 2000.

The Music

While Otis began his career as percussionist, he made significant contributions to U.S. popular music as a producer, bandleader, songwriter, and session musician. His style changed with post-World War II popular music trends, evolving from big band swing to jump blues, from doo-wop to rhythm and blues and 1960’s soul.

“Harlem Nocturne.” This release was Otis’s first major commercial success with Savoy Records in 1945. Composer Earle Hagen wrote the Duke Ellington-inspired song in 1940, and it soon became a favorite of jazz saxophonists across the country. Under Otis’s direction, the tune becomes markedly slower than the well-known Randy Brooks’s version, an approach that would shape the song’s best-known cover by the Viscounts. Rene Bloch provided the noteworthy saxophone solos.

“Hound Dog.” This “Big Mama” Thornton recording, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, represents Otis’s most recognizable effort as a producer. Otis played drums and received a writing credit on the 1952 original and on five subsequent covers of Peacock Records’ 1953 pressings. The Thornton version occupied the number-one position on the Billboard rhythm-and-blues charts for seven weeks. “Hound Dog” later became a hit for singer Elvis Presley, which prompted Leiber and Stoller to successfully sue Otis for the rights to the song.

“Every Beat of My Heart.” Otis originally recorded his best-known composition with doo-wop group the Royals (later Hank Ballard and the Midnighters). It is a slow ballad with a strong backbeat emphasis, a style that became standard for love songs of the period. While the Royals’ version had little success, the 1961 Gladys Knight and the Pips version achieved the number-one position on the Billboard rhythm-and-blues chart and number six on the Billboard Top 100.

“Willie and the Hand Jive.” During the 1950’s, music executives worked to strengthen distribution in their overseas markets. Otis composed “Willie and the Hand Jive” in response to British skiffle, a rhythmically driven, folk-inspired precursor of rock and roll. The hand jive is a dance that couples intricate hand gestures with percussive claps and slaps on the arms, legs, or torso. Its likely origin is the African-derived practice of “patting juba.” Otis’s version features the three-two clave or hambone rhythm, which was widely popularized by Bo Diddley’s eponymous hit in 1955. Otis’s 1958 version sold more than 1.5 million copies, reached the number-three position on the Billboard rhythm-and-blues chart, and became an important popular music standard.

The Essential Recordings. This nine-track album, released in 2001, represents a compilation of urban blues, rhythm-and-blues, and swing band styles, and it spans more than fifteen years of Otis’s early musical career. It exhibits his mastery of a variety of vernacular music. He is not an accomplished vocalist, but his rhythmic inventiveness, persistent swing, and masterful percussion playing make tracks such as “Country Girl” and “Barrelhouse Blues” compelling. Noteworthy also is the inclusion of a 1969 release, “The Signifying Monkey,” a traditional African American toast whose irreverent language prohibited the song’s widespread radio distribution.

Musical Legacy

Otis’s musical influence as songwriter, performer, and producer has been far reaching. The appearance of his touring revue at the 1970 Monterrey Festival, featuring prominent 1950’s rhythm-and-blues and blues artists, fueled a resurgence of interest in American roots music.

Principal Works

songs: “The Beat of My Heart,” 1952; “Willie and the Hand Jive,” 1958.

Principal Recordings

singles (with Johnny Otis and His Orchestra): “Harlem Nocturne,” 1945; “’Round the Clock,” 1945; “Ain’t Nothin’ Shakin’,” 1947; “Get Together Blues,” 1947; “Midnight in the Barrelhouse,” 1947; “Boogie Guitar,” 1949; “Cupid’s Boogie,” 1949; “Double Crossing Blues,” 1949; “Going to See My Baby,” 1949; “If I Didn’t Love You So,” 1949; “Mistrustin’ Blues,” 1949; “Rain in Your Eyes,” 1949; “Ain’t No Use Beggin’,” 1950; “Beer Bottle Boogie,” 1950 (with Marilyn Scott); “Cool and Easy,” 1950; “Just Can’t Get Free,” 1950 (with Little Esther); “Mistrustin’ Blues,” 1950; “The Turkey Hop,” 1950; “All Nite Long,” 1951; “Because I Love My Baby So,” 1951; “Gee Baby,” 1951; “I’ll Ask My Heart,” 1951; “Mambo Boogie,” 1951; “Three Magic Words,” 1951; “Call Operator 210,” 1952; “Sunset to Dawn,” 1952.

writings of interest: Listen to the Lambs, 1968 (autobiography).

Bibliography

Brackett, David. “On the Bandstand with Johnny Otis and Wynonie Harris.” In The Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader: Histories and Debates. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. This collection describes several aspects of U.S. popular music, including artistic creation, public reception, industry manipulation, and economic expectations.

Lipsitz, George. “How Johnny Veliotes Became Johnny Otis.” Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora 33, no. 1 (2007): 81. This essay examines Otis’s Greek origins and his transformation into a rhythm-and-blues artist and accepted member of the African American musical elite.

Otis, Johnny. Listen to the Lambs. New York: W. W. Norton, 1968. This book is part autobiography and part a response to the 1968 race riots in Watts, an African American neighborhood. Otis champions the rhythm-and-blues and jazz talents of the West Coast, and he offers an analysis of the racial discord and the anger in the wake of the Civil Rights movement.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Upside Your Head! Rhythm and Blues on Central Avenue. Hanover, N.H.: Wesleyan University Press, 1992. Otis weaves his artistic perspective with his views on civil rights, his experiences in the entertainment industry, and his anecdotal accounts of friendships and working relationships with prominent African American musicians. He roots his examination in the social history of Los Angeles and offers a musicological retrospective on interactions between music and politics in the wake of the Watts riots.

Otis, Johnny, Lee Hildebrand, and Mary Lovelace O’Neal. Colors and Chords: The Art of Johnny Otis. San Francisco: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995. This is an introduction to Otis’s work as a graphic artist, and it compares his sonic and his visual compositions. Included are a bibliographic essay by Hildebrand, several photographs of Otis’s life and works, and a comprehensive discography.

Walser, Robert, ed. “Johnny Otis Remembers Lester Young.” In Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. This study examines jazz as an art form and as a cultural practice, and it charts the way shifts in values and social meaning have shaped the music.