Sivert Bertil Johnson Jr.[1] (April 15, 1930 – July 26, 2022) was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist who worked with Charles Mingus in the 1960s and 1970s.
[6] He first performed with Charles Mingus in 1960 at the Showplace,[6] a jazz club on West 4th St., in the band that included Booker Ervin on tenor, Ted Curson on trumpet, Dannie Richmond on drums, and Mingus on bass, and on his first night with Mingus, Eric Dolphy performed on alto, bass clarinet and flute.
"[7] In 1971, eleven years later, Mingus climbed the stairs to Emile Charlap's copying office, home to many great arrangers, and before he left, he gave Johnson Let My Children Hear Music to arrange, which featured two Mingus pieces, "The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife (Are Some Jiveass Slippers)" and "Don't Be Afraid, the Clown's Afraid Too".
Johnson continued to work with Mingus until his death from Lou Gehrig's disease in 1979.
[6] His other collaborations in the music world have been with Joe Williams, Frank Sinatra, Wes Montgomery, Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Quincy Jones, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Mel Tormé, Terry Gibbs, and Sarah Vaughan among others.