Keith Johnson was born in Chicago, IL in 1958. He developed a passion for music at a young age. The real began with the clarinet, which he received as a gift from his grandmother during his fourth grade year. He continues with the clarinet until someone stole the instrument in high school. At this point, he switched to an Alto saxophone. The Johnson then family moved to St. Louis in 1975 where Keith attended Vashon High School and played in the school band.

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Upon graduating from Vashon, Keith's grandmother bought him a tenor saxophone. In 1982, studied music theory and piano under Dr. Robert Hess while performing for a Jazz and Big band at Forest Park Community College. In 1984, he took private saxophone lessons at Casa Performing Arts School, however, shortly later that year Keith suffered an injury that would put a temporary stop to his music performing career. To make the most of his downtime, he starting taking music composition classes to prepare for music projects to come. Once healed, he promptly joined a local multi-genre band called Julian Avenue and continued to play with them for years to come- an experience that would inspire him to start composing entirely original multi-instrumental tracks at home.

 

Decades later, Keith further refined his composition writing skills with personal mentoring from Dr. Robert Ray in 2004. A few years later he would go on to form the Keith Johnson Trio to play local private events, eventually culminating into his latest solo works, The Johnson Project, where all music is written and performed by Keith himself.

"I've been all Jazz since I was a kid, and I've been inspired by everybody along the way."

                                                             - Keith Johnson