As a brown sugar toking D’Angelo fan who has been digging his sonic voodoo since seeing him jam live that memorably crazy night in 1995 when he played the Supper Club for his debut album release party, for me the release of Black Messiah on December 15 was an early Christmas present that stayed in constant rotation throughout my holiday season spent in Baltimore. “Don’t you want to listen to something else?” my Baltimore host (and former Village Voice jazz critic) Don Palmer asked.

Standing in the kitchen, I’d already played Black Messiah twice since arriving a few hours before. Looking at Don, I smiled and simply answered, “Nope.” I was thrilled that D’Angelo’s team was able to finally deliver Black Messiah to the world as the first Christmas miracle in centuries. It was an album as complexly layered, bugged-out and soulful as I’d hoped, but the Newport puffing southern man had also brought along guitarist/singer/producer Jesse Johnson for his magical mystery journey into sound.

Two months later, seeing Johnson performing alongside D’Angelo and his fellow Vanguard posse this past weekend on Saturday Night Live, especially on the second number “Charade,” where both he and D were able to get into some rock star guitar theatrics, was equally as special. All incognegro in his winter hat and shades, perhaps the getup was Johnson’s way of forging his own identity on stage or the set was really that brick. Regardless, his playing sounded splendid.

Back in 2011, I interviewed Jesse Johnson in Philadelphia on MLK Day in the living-room of our mutual friend and radio personality Dyana Williams. Over a light lunch and Perrier, the former pink suit wearing Johnson told me he was in the studio with D’Angelo. Although vague on exactly what kind of aural tests they were conducting in the lab, Johnson hinted modestly, “We’re just fooling around. I’m not really sure where D is going with it, but I love working with him.

“The only problem is I don’t smoke, but everything I take to the studio now smells like a cigarettes. We’ve played together on a bunch of stuff. He’ll play bass or drums or I’ll play bass. We just jam and record to get licks and things.” Thankfully for both the new jacks and the old heads fans, Johnson was willing to make the smoky sacrifice in the name of Black art, muddy soul, singing in tongues and a little brimstone thrown into the mix.

While neither D’Angelo nor Jesse has spoken publicly on the process of their years in the making collaboration, I assume D learned a few things from the man that the press still keeps referring to as guitarist for The Time as though he never released a few dope solo joints of his own beginning with his 1985 album Jesse Johnson Revue (the bridge between Ernie Isley and Vernon Reid) up to his underrated bluesy excursion Bare My Naked Soul in 1996 and the rock-soul militancy of Verbal Penetration in 2009.

I've been a Jesse fan since the Time's debut... he's the man!

re: Black Messiah..

Its cool that D'angelo fans got some new Music for 2015.

Hopefully it will inspire some other R&B 'artists' to actually..

learn, play, write & record with real instruments.

[Edited 2/4/15 12:30pm]

Verbal Penatration was 6 years ago? Whoa.......time does FLY.

jesse could do fine on his own or take a more active role wit the time and go back there if he wanna play back up to somebody else.im not feeling this dangelo thing if u gonna go and work for a prince clone why not work for the real deal

The Music industry is very unstable..

Maybe he's happy to have a well paid, high profile, gig

with an employer that respects the hell out of him?

cbarnes3121 said:

jesse could do fine on his own or take a more active role wit the time and go back there if he wanna play back up to somebody else.im not feeling this dangelo thing if u gonna go and work for a prince clone why not work for the real deal

[Edited 2/9/15 21:55pm]

Ego101 said:

The Music industry is very unstable..

Maybe he's happy to have a well paid, high profile, gig

with an employer that respects the hell out of him?

cbarnes3121 said:

jesse could do fine on his own or take a more active role wit the time and go back there if he wanna play back up to somebody else.im not feeling this dangelo thing if u gonna go and work for a prince clone why not work for the real deal

[Edited 2/9/15 21:55pm]

if u listen to how jesse talk prince repsected the hell out of him he said prince was like a brother 2 him and that he use 2 stay in prince house. let jesse tell it him and prince was the best of friends

Please Provide a link!

I've been following these dudes since about 1981 & i've never heard of Jesse Liking Prince!

cbarnes3121 said:

Ego101 said:

The Music industry is very unstable..

Maybe he's happy to have a well paid, high profile, gig

with an employer that respects the hell out of him?

[Edited 2/9/15 21:55pm]

if u listen to how jesse talk prince repsected the hell out of him he said prince was like a brother 2 him and that he use 2 stay in prince house. let jesse tell it him and prince was the best of friends

I was looking for a specific link...

Because im well aware that Jesse has 'started' publicly dicussing his past with Prince

in a positive way... this hasn't always been the case..

Sorry, I dont follow Prince associates on facebook.

cbarnes3121 said:

For somebody that claim to have been following him since 81 u must not be friends with him on Facebook and read all the status updates he been posting when he posted the demo of jungle love and other songs and spoke of his relationship with prince and Morris being the closest so umm u don't need a link cuZ u know him so well