Johnny Case
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DESCRIPTIVE NOTES has new additions: See Entry No. 3 : MEMENTO SUITE, issued in 2022; Entry No. 4: Johnny Case and his Texas Swingtet featuring Billy Briggs, issued in 2016; Entry No. 5: LAST NITES by Johnny Case (solo piano recorded live at Sardines Ristorante Italiano). This was recorded September 19, 2001 - one week and one day after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. My notes, dated November 2001, address the circumstances which led me to make this record and how an unsavory business alliance brought about the demise of the original Sardines.

John Case Responds to The Questionaire - Cadence Magazine, March 1992

In Lieu of an Interview: Relic from many moons ago - John Case responds to The Questionaire.

The Questionaire ----- Compiled by Bob Rusch. Published on page 34 of the March 1992 issue of Cadence Magazine.

Subject: John Case's recordings have been covered in the 9/76 (p.11), 5/78 (p.28), 9/81 (p.31), and 8/85 (p.23), 9/89 (p.70) issues of Cadence.

Name, date & place of birth: completion date of questionnaire.  John Case; 8/24/47, Forth(sic) Worth, TX; 12/30/91

Cadence: Your most pertinent biographical facts or points of reference.   Case: I am a jazz musician with roots in country music. I am the second of two sons born to J.C. and Floy Case.

Cadence: Your most pertinent artistic facts or points of reference.   Case: Through my recordings I've presented a wide range of improvised music including avant garde, modern mainstream jazz and western swing.

Cadence: Your preferred venue for performance (clubs, concerts, recording studio, etc.).    Case: Any venue that offers me an in-tune piano and at least a few perceptive listeners.

Cadence: Your major artistic achievemnet.    Case: I've been playing jazz six nights a week for over eight years at Sardines Ristorante Italiano in Fort Worth.

Cadence: Future artistic goals.  Case: I hope to issue my newly recorded Jazz Song Adventure along with previously unissued free-jazz from the Creative Explosions session, and perhaps also issue one of my recent compositions for concrete sound.

Cadence: Your major turning point(s), personal and/or professional.    Case: My brother, guitarist Jerry Case, provided my first professional gig on 12/31/62. My personal life changed for the better when I met Kitty Keever in 1980.

Cadence: How do you relax?    Case: Spending free time with my wife Kitty, reading works by my favorite authors, listening to music, contemplating objects in which I find beauty.

Cadence: What is the best way to communicate with you?    Case: In person.

Cadence: Outside of music, what is your most major passion or interest?   Case: My wife, paintings by Georgio Morandi, prose works and plays by Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet, the poetry of Bill Knott.

Cadence: What is your major musical irritant?   Case: Out-of-tune pianos.

Cadence: Who are your heroes, or what are your major sources of stength or inspiration?    Case: Too numerous to mention, but the list includes well-known and obscure names in European music, modern jazz, and western swing.

Cadence: The artistic achievement you feel best about to date.   Case: The on-going documentation of honest music on my Priority/Anomaly label.

Cadence: What is most relevant to your artistry?   Case: Being true to myself in the music.

Cadence: What is the most neglected area in your business?   Case: Promotion and record distribution.                                

Cadence: What sustains you personally and/or artistically?    Case: My wife, my musical heritage, working regularly with empathetic musicians.

Cadence: What makes you feel good and/or successful?    Case: My commitment to pure musical expression.

Cadence: Preferred geographical place it live?   Case: Fort Worth.                             

Cadence: Do you feel you have power in your business? In what area?    Case: I have the power to maintain artistic integrity on my gig and on my recordings.

Cadence: Where is the power in your business most centered? Can you, or do you, reach it?    Case: Mass media. Since I'm not hungry for power or money, I make no attempt to reach what is most likely inaccessible to me.

Cadence: ​What would you like the public to most understand about you?   Case: With or without the support of the jazz community or any other external sources, I am documenting a broad spectrum of improvised music which, I am totally confident, has lasting value.

Johnny Case