Johnny has been a member of the New York music community since 2006, and currently works in a variety of areas including jazz, free improvisation, avant-rock, dance, indie-rock, and others.

Born in Seattle on Thanksgiving Day 1983, Johnny first started exploring music on the piano at the age of six, and took up the alto saxophone at the age of seven. Johnny’s eclectic music education began during the heyday of Seattle rock n’ roll, when Johnny initiated his own personal investigation into his parents’ record collection, taking special interest in the music of Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok, J.S. Bach, and most notably, John Coltrane. At the age of eleven, Johnny played his first gig with the multifaceted jazz ensemble, the Blue News, who have now morphed into the national act, Pistol-Star (www.pistol-star.net), By the seventh grade, Johnny knew that he wanted to devote his life to playing music, and sought out to distinguish himself as an artist by being in an environment that would nurture his growth as a musician. At twelve, Johnny was accepted by teacher and author Dan Greenblatt, now Dean of Studies at the New School Jazz and Contemporary Music Program, making Johnny one of Dan’s youngest and most eager pupils. Johnny continued his music education playing with the Roosevelt High School Jazz Ensemble in Seattle, where he stood out among his peers by receiving numerous awards in festivals and competitions, such as Outstanding Tenor Saxophone Soloist in the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, and Outstanding Musicianship in many other festivals including the Reno, Mt. Hood, Clark College, and Bellevue Jazz Festivals. In 2002, Johnny was awarded the 1st Place trophy with the Roosevelt Jazz Ensemble in Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival, the premier high school jazz competition in the world, after placing 2nd and 3rd the two previous years. During his time in Seattle, Johnny performed with a plethora of notable musicians and bands throughout the Seattle area, including stints with Michael Shreve, Sara Gazarek, Reggie Watts, Bebop and Destruction, Aaron Parks, Denny Goodhew, Dan Greenblatt, the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, Jay Thomas and the Friendly Fire Big Band, Hipnotize, the Hear and Now, Trination, Revolution Void, and Marc Seales’ New Stories Jazz Trio. In 2001, Johnny independently recorded and released his first full length album, A Return to Vitality Lost, featuring all original compositions and arrangements performed with local cohorts D’Vonne Lewis on drums, Andrew Pulkrabeck on bass (of The Senate, www.sentatemusic.com), and Brian Kinsella on piano (Bad Dream, Good Breakfast, www.baddreamgoodbreakfast.com).

At the age of 18, Johnny moved to Ohio to study under the rigorous tutelage of saxophonist Gary Bartz, Marcus Belgrave, Robyn Eubanks, Billy Hart, Wendell Logan and avant-garde classical composer Randolph Coleman at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Johnny was quickly selected to perform with the Oberlin Jazz Septet, an ensemble that represents the most outstanding student performers, arrangers, and composers in the Oberlin Conservatory. With OJS, Johnny toured the nation, including performances at Emilio’s Jazz Restaurant in Richmond, Twins Jazz on U Street in Washington, DC, Ortlieb’s Jazzhaus in Philadelphia, The Jazz Factory in Louisville, Café Bolero in Jacksonville, The Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, and at the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center in Washington DC. While in conservatory, Johnny continued to compose music and perform professionally in the greater Cleveland area as a band leader with the Johnny 5!?! and newmusic trio, Stratis, and as a sideman with artists such as Dan Wall, Roscoe Mitchell, Marcus Belgrave, Sea Lion, and Doc Cheatham’s grandson, Theodore Croker, in many venues including The Bob Stop, the Cleveland Ingenuity Festival, the Arts Renaissance Tremont Concert Series, and Oberlin Music Cafe. In response to the continuing war in Iraq, Johnny composed and debuted his fiery politically inspired suite entitled “LIBERATION,” named after the so-called “peoples liberation of Iraq.” Johnny orchestrated the piece for trombone, two french horns, flute, two tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, piano, two basses, and drums, and debuted it in March 2005. After the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, Johnny produced several concerts to raise money to help rebuild lives and communities in and around New Orleans, and composed the song “Katrina” as a reflection and homage to the city and people affected by the disaster. During his junior year, Johnny was selected by the Jazz Studies and Composition departments for honors, and performed in the prestigious Honors Concert in Finney Chapel, Oberlin. The next year the Oberlin Review wrote the following about Johnny’s senior recital:

“If the music had a top that was keeping everything inside, Butler took it off and released whatever was contained therein. Freedom is the word for such a sensation — the understanding of possibility, the sweet universal union of the out and the in, the exterior and the interior, the avant-garde and tradition.” (March 2006)

He now lives and plays music in New York. Current/recent collaborators and appearances include: Avant rock group Scurvy, singer-songerwriter Indra Raj, Ryan's Snow's electric-Miles ensemble Pull, Michael Case Jazz Quartet, indie-rock group The Skeletons and Kings of All Cities, the New York Soundpainting Orchestra, electric-bop ensemble MAF!, the Mike McGibbon ensemble, the Stumble Bums, and others. Johnny also recently recorded on experimental rock group Capillary Action's newest album, So Embarrasing, and is a frequent collaborator in the Raw and the Cooked, a monthly forum/performance for improvised music, dance, and multi-media.

For more information, email Johnny.