Plas Johnson

Plas John Johnson Jr. was born on July 21, 1931, in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, a small town on the banks of the Mississippi River west of New Orleans. His parents were Grace and Plas Johnson Sr. His father played banjo and later saxophone professionally, and his mother was an entertainer who played piano and sang. Plas was singing harmonies with his siblings in the family group from about the age of four.

His father bought him a soprano saxophone, and he taught himself largely by ear, picking up his early phrasing by copying his father's tone. He switched to alto and eventually settled on the tenor saxophone. When the family moved to New Orleans he began playing clubs with his older brother Ray, a pianist, as the Johnson Brothers Combo.

Johnson was largely self-taught. In 1951, aged 19, he toured for about six months with the blues singer and pianist Charles Brown before a draft notice took him into the U.S. Army during the Korean War era. After his service he enrolled at the Westlake School of Music in Los Angeles, a school founded in 1945 for GI Bill veterans that focused on commercial arranging and playing. According to the jazz writer Marc Myers, he did not complete the course because his Hollywood recording schedule grew so quickly.

Johnson and his brother recorded in New Orleans at the end of the 1940s, including sides for DeLuxe Records. In 1954 he settled in Los Angeles, where fellow New Orleans musicians such as Earl Palmer welcomed him into the studio fraternity. Johnny Otis, the saxophonist and Modern Records producer Maxwell Davis, and Capitol Records executive Dave Cavanaugh all championed him, and he was soon working two sessions a day on records, film soundtracks and television.

His credits from this period include the Platters' "The Great Pretender" (1955), Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin" (on piccolo), Larry Williams's "Bony Moronie," Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away," Les Baxter's exotica albums, Ella Fitzgerald's songbook albums, and records by Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Glen Gray, Ray Anthony, Duane Eddy, Ricky Nelson and Bobby Vee. Arrangers Nelson Riddle and Billy May favoured him, which is why his 16-bar tenor solo appears on Frank Sinatra's 1961 recording of "Blue Moon." He also played in studio groups that existed in name only, such as B. Bumble and the Stingers and The Marketts. He was one of the first Black musicians to break into the Hollywood studio scene.

He was a regular member of Henry Mancini's studio orchestra, soloing on Peter Gunn music such as "Spook!" (1959). Brian Wilson's official account noted that he was all over the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, on tenor saxophone, clarinet, alto flute and percussion. In 1970 he joined the studio band on The Merv Griffin Show, where he stayed for about 15 years. In the 1970s and 1980s he played on Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On, Steely Dan's The Royal Scam, Boz Scaggs's Silk Degrees, Tom Waits's Heartattack and Vine, and albums by Bette Midler, Carole King, Etta James, Minnie Riperton and Rod Stewart. He was the featured soloist on Linda Ronstadt's Nelson Riddle albums What's New, Lush Life and For Sentimental Reasons, including "Little Girl Blue" and "Sophisticated Lady."

In 1963 Henry Mancini wrote the theme for Blake Edwards's comedy The Pink Panther, starring David Niven and Peter Sellers, with Johnson's sound in mind. "I had a specific saxophone player in mind," Mancini wrote in his autobiography. "I nearly always pre-cast my players and write for them and around them, and Plas had the sound and the style I wanted." According to the Guardian, Johnson was the only Black musician among the 20 players at the session.

Johnson recalled: "We only did two takes, I think. When we finished, everyone applauded, even the string players. And that's saying something. They never applaud for anything." The Pink Panther score won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for best original score, and the American Film Institute ranked it 20th among the greatest film scores. Johnson was not pleased when Mancini later recorded music for subsequent Pink Panther films in London, with the English saxophonist Tony Coe replicating his interpretation. In 1983 Johnson reprised the solo with Mancini on television, on Steve Allen's Music Room.

Johnson made rock and roll and R&B singles for Capitol in the 1950s, including "Downstairs," and showed his jazz skills on This Must Be the Plas! (1959) and Mood for the Blues. For the CRC Charter label he recorded Sax 5th Ave. (1962) and On the Scene (1963) under the pseudonym Johnny Beecher to avoid contractual disputes.

The demands of studio work kept him from a top-tier jazz reputation until later in life. A contract with Concord brought The Blues (1975) and Positively (1976), both well received, followed by records on his own label, direct-to-disc sessions with Lincoln Mayorga for Sheffield Lab, work with the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut and the Gene Harris All Star Big Band, and a 1990 tour with the Gene Harris Superband. He played clubs and jazz festivals around the world, including the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague in 1988, and later recorded Keep That Groove Going! with Red Holloway (2001) and All Blues with Ernie Watts (2008). He also played on Joni Mitchell's Travelogue (2002).

Johnson's first marriage, to Elizabeth Blinkenberg, ended in divorce; they had two daughters and a son. He later married Carol, and they had two sons and a daughter, according to the Guardian. NPR reported that he was survived by seven children. He had eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. He lived for decades in the Los Angeles area and died in Granada Hills. His brother Ray Johnson, a pianist, was his first musical partner.

Johnson saw his studio work as an extension of his roots in jazz and blues rather than a separate craft. "You don't improve your jazz in the studio," he said. "You're in the studio because of the jazz and blues that you know." He took pride in lifting a record in a few bars: "My solos always seemed to bring the record up another notch. I could do that in eight bars, I could do that in 12 bars." In 2005 he told the Long Beach Press-Telegram: "I'd just go in and do what they asked for. It was easy for me, and they liked what I played. You just have to know when to start and when to stop." He cited Earl Bostic, Louis Jordan and Illinois Jacquet as his inspirations.

Johnson's tenor on "The Pink Panther Theme" became cultural shorthand for sly jazz cool, and his uncredited work on hundreds of records means many listeners heard him for decades without knowing his name. The actor Michael McKean told NPR: "We realized this guy played the saxophone for all of our teen years. He was the guy we were hearing." Wrecking Crew director Denny Tedesco said today's players may not know they are influenced by Plas, because the musicians he influenced shaped the next generation. His hometown memorialises him in the Jazz Plaza along Railroad Avenue in downtown Donaldsonville.

Johnson's playing is heard on countless film and television soundtracks, including Mancini scores such as Peter Gunn, The Pink Panther and The Party (1968), and Lalo Schifrin's More Mission: Impossible and Mannix albums. He spent about 15 years in the studio band of The Merv Griffin Show from 1970. He appeared in Denny Tedesco's 2008 documentary The Wrecking Crew about Los Angeles session musicians, and he recorded an oral history with Monk Rowe for the Fillius Jazz Archive at Hamilton College in 1996.

Plas Johnson died on July 15, 2026, in Granada Hills, Los Angeles, six days before his 95th birthday. His death was reported by his hometown newspaper, the Donaldsonville Chief, and the Los Angeles jazz station KKJZ, which devoted a four-hour tribute hosted by Rhonda Hamilton to his music on July 21. No cause of death was made public. Obituaries followed in the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, Rolling Stone, NPR and PBS NewsHour, and Brian Wilson's official account paid tribute to his work on Pet Sounds.