Suburban Soundtrack: Oxon Hill jazz musician keeps busy loving life
Marcus Johnson to perform at Saturday's festival
When asked to describe his mind state, Marcus Johnson has two words: "Loving life."
Not content with business and musical success, Marcus gives back to the community on the boards of nonprofits such as YMCA and the Boys & Girls Club. And his MBA and law degree from Georgetown aren't just for business, but for teaching business, too.
"I'm an adjunct at Bowie State — I'm not doing it for the money," Johnson, 38, says in his studio's lounge, the Silver Spring skyline looming in the background. "It is essential to connect to the community. [That] is the key to making it."
That lifelong community connection — he moved to Silver Spring at the age of 2 — is the reason one of the country's most successful jazz musicians stayed home.
"The thing about Los Angeles and New York is they are not what they seem to be. It's better to be a big fish in a new and up-and-coming pond. My goal wasn't just to be a musician. It was to use music and business to control my destiny," Johnson says.
Johnson recalls being a young boy playing under a bench, his mother's legs tapping the piano pedals as she played above him. He explains what Willa Mohamed, his mother, means to his motivation.
"She's a 20-year survivor of a massive stroke," Johnson said. "It should have killed her. When you see what she's gone through ... you think I'm going to let anything get in my way?"
Mohamed recalls moments when her son's path changed — his first synthesizer, jazz band, college graduations. But their mother-son bond? That stayed the same.
"He's the kind of [son] that will call me every day, just to say ‘I'm checking in.' I'm very appreciative of that," Mohamed says.
A career change for the better
Though Johnson released his first album in 1995, the turning point in his career came in 2004, when Johnson hooked up with manager Sedonia Walker-Bell of New Jersey.
At the time, Johnson was focusing on running his label — a period he says was characterized by "spending millions of dollars on people you believe in that didn't believe in themselves." Walker-Bell, who once managed Teddy Pendergrass, helped Johnson focus on his music.
"It's not really so much managing when you have an artist who has been around as long as Marcus. It's more counseling, advising, moving his career up nationally. Just giving a broader vision," Walker-Bell says.
Much of that vision is achieved through online networking. For example, Johnson says many gigs originate from online requests. He converses with the requester, and they work together to bring The Marcus Johnson Project to town.
"He insists on getting e-mail addresses everywhere he performs. He'll answer the e-mail. There's always a response back. I think his [Web presence] is one of the best," Walker-Bell says.
Considering Johnson's busy life answering e-mails, booking gigs, teaching, working with the community and cranking out albums, it seems like vacations would be plentiful. But that's just not the case.
"My staff needs me. My contractors need me," Johnson says, displaying the same spirit that convinced him to release albums as The Marcus Johnson Project rather than as Marcus Johnson, a way to acknowledge everyone's role in the music. "It's irresponsible for me to disconnect."
Johnson speaks intelligently on a myriad of topics, from increasing development in Prince George's (the county needs better public relations) to his target audience (he doesn't want you, he wants your parents). But one thing he says is unconvincing.
"Soon, I promise, I'm going to treat myself to six days off."
IF YOU GO
The Marcus Johnson Project at the Metropolitan International Jazz Festival
WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: National Harbor
TICKETS: $35 premium; $25 general admission
LISTEN: To The Marcus Johnson Project at www.myspace.com/marcusjohnsonproject.
E-mail John Burgess Everett at jeverett@gazette.net.
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