Famous Saxophone Players
Plas Johnson
Famous Saxophone Players Details Name: 'Plas' John Johnson Born: July 21st 1931 Place: Donaldsonville, Louisiana, U.S.A. Saxophone Type: Tenor Saxophone Make: Yanigasawa Plas Johnson is undoubtebly high in the ranks of famous sax players and certainly one of the most famous tenor saxophone players. Not least for his smoky, dulcet tones on the intro to Henry Mancini's 'Pink Panther'An irrepressible tune that has been around since the debut of the Pink Panther film in 1963 and will probably still be going long after many of us are gone. Plas' real playing career started way back in the 1940's when he started playing with his brother Ray, a piano player, as the Johonson brothers, out of New Orleans. He moved on to start playing with Charles Browns band in the early 50's before going on to work with Maxwell Davis.
His dulcet tones can be heard on many tunes including songs by Marvin Gaye and The Beach Boys. More suprisingly he also known for the 'robin' playing part on the Bobby Day hit 'Rockin Robin' later covered by Michael Jackson. No it wasn't a saxophone, it was a piccalo. In the 70's he joined the Merv Griffin show.
Plas is still playing today, preferring to use a choice of two Yanigasawa's with a Berg Larsen mouthpiece. I suspect the main reason why I have a Yanigasawa (sadly not silver) with a Berg Larsen mouthpiece is all thanks to Plas. As famous sax players go Plas is amongst the most well known. Long live Plas!
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