Ellen Johnson

With a broad vocal span and a keen instinct for jazz improvisation, Ellen Johnson has earned recognition equally for her teaching and her performances. Her mother worked as a professional singer and pianist, while her uncle performed on clarinet in Glenn Miller’s Army Air Force Band. Raised in Chicago, Johnson took up guitar during high school yet initially intended to pursue a career as a stage actress. Voice lessons soon shifted her focus to music, revealing the strength of her instrument and drawing her into local band work as well as jazz studies with Willie Pickens at a conservatory. Residing in the San Diego area, she completed a master’s degree in vocal performance at San Diego State University. Johnson serves on the voice faculties of the University of San Diego and the Old Globe Theatre, has led voice clinics since the mid-1980s, and has presented dedicated concerts of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music. She contributed several tracks to Bob Willey’s Peace Pieces album and, in the mid-1990s, issued her first full-length recording, Too Good to Title.