Current Projects

Since moving back to the Bay after some years in NYC, Johnston has become both a leader and a member of several exciting projects, all while a few older ones remain active.

Standard Issue

Darren Johnston - Trumpet
Kai Lyons - guitar
Lorca Hart - drums
Marcus Shelby - bass

Since moving back to the Bay after some years in NYC, Johnston has founded what amounts to probably his most “straight-ahead” swinging project ever as a leader. They recently recorded a collection of underplayed “standards” by the likes of Thelonious Monk, Victor Jara, Sun Ra, McCoy Tyner, and more. Keep your eyes open for a new release coming soon!

Swerve Control

Darren Johnston - Trumpet
Kai Lyons - guitar
Dillon Vado - drums
Rob Ewing - electric bass

This composer’s collective begins somewhere in the realm of 60’s or 70’s Miles Davis, but explores all kinds of terrain, due in part to the uniqueness of each other’s compositional voices and approach to playing, and in part by individual group members' experiences with Brazilian, Cuban, and Balkan rhythms.

Larry Ochs’ Tale’s End

Larry Ochs - tenor and sopranino sax
Lisa Mezzacappa - bass
Darren Johnston - trumpet
Ben Davis - cello

Led by co-founding member of ROVA Saxophone Quartet Larry Ochs, Tale’s End plays entirely improvised music that really seems capable of going just about anywhere.

Darren Johnston - trumpet
Michael Bates - bass
Nick Fraser - drums

Drummer Nick Fraser is ubiquitous in the Toronto jazz and improvised music scenes, bassist Michael Bates leads multiple projects in Brooklyn, NY, while Johnston has recently relocated back to San Francisco after a stretch in Brooklyn himself. This composer’s collective, however, is all Canadian. With each having very different compositional approaches from one another, an emphasis on using composed material merely as a springboard for spontaneity and dialogue is the unifying factor. Their music can be swinging, grooving, and even rocking, or pivoting towards the subtle and atmospheric.

They have played as a trio but tend to play as a quartet with featured guest artists. Past guests have included Tony Malaby, Peter Hess, and Jon Irabagon, all on tenor sax, and Anna Webber (also a Canadian!) on tenor sax and flute. In the case of Irabagon and Webber, both guest artists were invited in recent years to bring their compositional voices into the group to explore over four-night runs at Toronto’s iconic Rex Hotel.

Johnston/Bates/Fraser Featuring…

Dave Rempis – alto and baritone sax
Larry Ochs – benor and sopranino sax
Darren Johnston – trumpet

This free-improvising trio came together in the fall of 2011. From the first few notes of their initial meeting, the music flowed comfortably, yet in totally unexpected ways, with all three making logical structural decisions that gave their improvisations the feel of through-composed pieces. They have remained intermittently active ever since, having toured across both Europe and the US, and recorded three releases for Rempis’ Aerophonic Records label. They’ve also collaborated with guest artists such as Sun Ra Arkestra bandleader Marshall Allen, Michael Zerang, and Hamid Drake.

Spectral

Johnston was fortunate enough to write and play for trumpeter Erik Jekabson’s Electric Squeezebox Orchestra way back when it had the less poetic but highly accurate name of “The Bay Area Jazz Composer’s Big Band.” The ESO became the ESO in 2014, beginning a historic three-year residency at Doc’s Lab in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. For three years, new pieces were played for eager audiences every Sunday night.

The band is still very active, and now that Johnston has moved back to the Bay Area, he’s thrilled and honored to be back in the fold.

The ESO has two releases for which Johnston penned the title tracks, Cheap Rent and The Falling Dream, a third release featuring vocalists and poets titled Matter Is, and a fourth release coming soon. Together, they have played at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Gualala Whale and Jazz Festival, SF Jazz, and elsewhere, and are currently enjoying a monthly residency at Berkeley’s Jazz School.