Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Floyd “Candy” Johnson was born on May 1, 1922 in Madison, Illinois and started on drums before moving to saxophone, with Ben Webster being his biggest influence. His professional career began in St. Louis, Missouri where he was a member of a group led by Chuck Finney. He attended Wilberforce University until the draft intervened but after his service, he played in bands led by Ernie Fields, Tiny Bradshaw, and Andy Kirk. With the Kirk orchestra he recorded for Decca Records.

Johnson preferred candy to alcohol, so a band member started calling him Candy, and the moniker stuck. In Detroit he started a band called the Peppermint Sticks. One musician recalled that the band dressed in candy-striped suits, and sometimes Johnson tossed peppermint sticks to the crowd.

1951 saw him as a member of the Count Basie Orchestra, recording with Basie for Clef Records before working in more of a rhythm and blues vein with Bill Doggett. The band had hits with Blip Blop, Honky Tonk, and Night Train. Leaving Doggett in the 1960s he went on to study music at Bowling Green State University.

By 1974, Candy was playing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, and his friend Clark Terry. During a visit to New York City, he recorded with Helen Humes and Roy Eldridge. A year later, he accompanied the New McKinney’s Cotton Pickers at the Bix Beiderbecke Festival in Iowa.

Saxophonist Candy Johnson, who retired from performing, moved to Toledo, Ohio and taught at local schools, passed away on June 28, 1981 in Framingham, Massachusetts.