PORT ANGELES — David Johnson, Port Angeles High School Class of 1966, has enjoyed an illustrious life of music-making.
Now he has something new among his credits: a Grammy Award.
At the 57th annual Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles two Sundays ago, Johnson, who plays drums and some highly nontraditional percussion instruments, received a Best Classical Compendium trophy for the album “Plectra & Percussion Dances.”
Johnson, 66, is a member of the Partch ensemble, inspired by the late composer and inventor Harry Partch.
Partch built an array of instruments, including the ones Johnson played on “Plectra”: cloud chamber bowls, modified glass bottles from a laboratory and a keyboard called the chromolodeon.
‘A big deal’
Winning the Grammy “is a big deal,” said Johnson, a well-seasoned musician who has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, toured with the late pianist Roger Williams and taught at the California Institute of the Arts for some 24 years.
During the pre-telecast ceremonies for the classical music Grammys, Partch co-founder John Schneider took the podium to accept the award, Johnson and a few of their bandmates beside him.
Johnson began playing the piano at age 4. At 15, he started to learn the drums with Ed Grier, then the music director at Port Angeles High.
He’s gone on to play xylophone, vibraphone and all manner of percussion pieces, from cymbals on up, though Johnson is not one to go on about himself.
His longtime friend Mark Pesola of Port Angeles will tell you, though: “He does it all,” adding that back in his high school days here, Johnson was part of a rock ‘n’ roll band, the Cavaliers.
His career since has included performing on around 40 movie soundtracks, composing for marimba, vibraphone and percussion, and teaching music at Cal Arts.
Johnson’s late parents are Clarence and Elisabeth; his brother, Ed Johnson, still lives in Port Angeles, where he is a piano tuner.
And the Grammy winner still comes back to visit whenever he can, to see family and friends including Grier, his first percussion teacher.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
