Conrad Johnson is one of Houston’s unsung cultural heroes. He could have made anational name for himself with his two big bands. Instead he chose to devote his career to educating Houston’s future musicians.
- Rick Mitchell, Former Music Critic for the Houston Chronicle
Reflecting on his life, Conrad “Prof” O. Johnson was most proud of his accomplishments as a teacher and father, roles he valued more than his own reputation as a performer. “l had a chance to go on the road, but I didn’t. A couple of bands, including the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, came by and tried to get me to go on the road, but I was teaching. And I had a family – a wife and four children – and I didn’t feel like leaving them.”
Conrad first attended the Houston College for Negroes and later graduated from Wylie College in the east Texas town of Marshall. Johnson began teaching in public schools in 1941. His 37 years of classroom service were highlighted by a distinguished tenure as director of the Kashmere High School Stage Band, which won 42 out of 46 contests entered between 1969 and 1977, recorded eight albums featuring more than 20 original compositions by Johnson and traveled throughout Europe, Japan and the United States.
When inducted into the Texas bandmaster’s Hall of Fame, Conrad mentioned with deep respect the legendary teachers and musicians that came before him. But his greatest hope was for the future bandmasters and musicians, especially the Houston schoolchildren he still reached out to each year in summer workshops and private tutoring in his home. Conrad is a member of that extraordinary class of educators whose impact on their students far exceeds their particular discipline. Conrad was a mentor and father figure who in the words of former student Reggie Nelson, “didn’t just teach us the music. He taught us how to be men.”
Conrad O. Johnson died on February 3, 2008, less than a day after attending the second of two weekend reunion concerts featuring members of the Kashmere Stage Band.
“It was as if his journey ended after we played our last note,” said Craig Baldwin, who conducted the alumni band. “He’s passed the torch to us.”
Conrad Johnson Jr. said that his father’s reaction to the concert was, “I’ve done everything I could with these guys and for these guys, and they can do it. They can do it without me…Now I can go to sleep.”
Houston school superintendent Abelardo Saavedra, who sat with Johnson during the reunion band’s concert, said, “Though the news of his passing greatly saddens the HISD family, he clearly went out on a high note and had great timing right up to the very end.”
