 VINNIE JOHNSON Vinnie Johnson was born in Boston, in 1937. His father, a military man with a knack for the drums, "was more of a mentor than an instructor," Vinnie remembers. "One day, out of nature, it just happened," he states, of his first encounter with the instrument that would come to define his life. "I just picked up some sticks, and started tapping a little bit." Shortly thereafter, he would study with famed educator George Lawrence Stone, and join the drum corps. His time in the corps honed his chops, and defined his sound. "With the drum corps, it's very disciplined - I didn't mind that," Vinnie states. "As time went on, I saw it was a good way to have gone." Johnson attended the Lieutenant Norman Prince Drum Corps before enrolling at the Berklee School of Music, previously known as the Schilinger House, in the late 50s. He studied drums, vibes and "a little bit of writing" with Alan Dawson. In his off time, he listened to jazz radio stations, marveling at selections played by DJs like Symphony Sid. He was drafted into the army in 1961 but luckily he shipped off to Fort Sill, Oklahoma to play in the 77th army band after basic training. Nine years in the drum corps ensured that Vinnie was a league ahead of his military instructors, and he emerged from the army - in Boston again - a veritable drumming machine. In Boston and on the road, he played straight ahead jazz with a group lead by organist Ernie Goldsmith, and for a time, backed singer Tommy Hunt. After a brief departure for New York City, he returned yet again to Boston and signed on to back singer Mamie Lee with a pianist named Carl Schroeder and a bass player named Phil Morrison. "Phil was playing upright; we got along rhythmically," Vinnie fondly recalls. "Monty and Phil knew each other, so when Monty started writing stuff, he said to Phil, 'Do you know any drummers?' Phil is the one who brought me into Stark Reality." His first recording with the Reality would be the theme to Say Brother, on which he played thumb piano and tambourine. The record hinted at the direction that Stark - and frequent collaborator Morrison - were leading the group. "Some of it was gonna be funk, so I had to get it together," Vinnie states. "Doing some 'shedding helped me, and going to hear groups." Though Vinnie was an accomplished jazz drummer, attending concerts by the likes of Wilson Pickett and James Brown (with the mighty JBs) helped inform Vinnie's developing funky drumming. By the time the group recorded their six song album-demo, Vinnie was ready to tie together Stark's outward-leaning compositions with a heavy backbeat just begging to be hugged by Morrison's slippery bass lines. "That's the beauty of Stark Reality, we took a lot of the shit that was around at the time and made it ours," Vinnie argues. "People like to categorize things. But they couldn't categorize what Stark Reality was doing. A vibes player, from Oklahoma - with that twang - playing with some funk oriented shit. It was great!"  music.msn.com Credits Lullaby Of The Leaves - The Tal Farlow Quartet with James Williams and Gary Mazzaroppi 
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