As Seth Johnson drove across the Bay Bridge listening to Medeski, Martin and Wood's album "It's A Jungle In Here," the fog covered San Francisco like a blanket. The music matched the city and in his first visit, he knew this was where he wanted to live.

Johnson is a 23-year-old guitarist enrolled in the Bachelor's of Music Jazz Studies program at SF State. He is the first guitarist to be accepted into this program. Upon graduation, he will receive a professional performance degree in Jazz Studies.

Johnson grew up in Cleveland and began playing guitar at age 10 when he received a classical guitar from his aunt for Christmas. Five months and five dollars later he bought his first electric guitar.

Influenced early on by Jimi Hendrix, Johnson played his guitar left handed so the strings were in reverse order. This was a technique brought to life by Hendrix. Johnson also experiments with the volume knobs on his guitar, attempting to imitate the sound of an organ.

"Jimi Hendrix was the main guy who turned me on to playing guitar," Johnson said. "For me, being a brother, seeing him made me think it was OK."

Johnson played many different styles of music over the years including blues, rock, punk, ska and death metal.

Johnson began playing jazz guitar his senior year of high school when he played with his school's jazz band. He received little musical guidance from his band leader. Johnson didn't learn what jazz really was until he went to Ohio State School of Music after graduating from high school.

Wanting a change of scenery and worrying that he would die before he got to see the ocean prompted Johnson to leave Ohio. He saved up his money, got his job transferred and moved to San Diego.

"I didn't dig the music scene in San Diego," Johnson said. "No one liked you unless you were Blink 182."

Johnson saw a few good shows in Los Angeles, but just did not "dig" the city.

"The weather was nice, but I'd rather have shitty weather and nice people then vice versa," Johnson said.

One day, while still living in San Diego, Johnson received a call from a friend who found a place in San Francisco. The rent was cheaper than living in San Diego. In less than a month later, Johnson found himself moving to San Francisco.

He began taking classes at SF State last Spring and started playing music professionally in San Francisco this past summer with the Duane Oakley Blues Ensemble, a three-piece jazz group. The trio consists of an upright bass, a guitar and a trumpet.
Duane Oakley fronts the trio as the upright bass player and vocalist. He has been playing professionally for 30 years. He describes Johnson as a hard-working, upstanding young man who loves to play his guitar.

"Seth is an apprentice under me so to speak," Oakley said. "He has a spirit to work, the ability to do this day after day, and he adds a fresh spirit to it."

The trio plays about four times a month. Over the summer, they had an everyday gig at the Café Mocca, a small cafe near Union Square. Johnson made enough money to quit his day job.

"My new philosophy is to not have a job that I wouldn't do for free," Johnson said.

This was when Johnson flirted with the idea of dropping out of school to pursue music as a full-time career.

"There are things that you will learn in school that you won't learn elsewhere, like music theory," Johnson said. "If I wasn't in school I wouldn't have anyone to check my theory exercises, or a set time to practice each day. It's a security thing."

Johnson values his education and decided to come back to SF State this fall where he continues to study jazz guitar.

"For me, professionally, Seth being in school gets in the way," Oakley said. "But for Seth it completes something that he has to have."

Oakley also stated that Johnson is in a position right now where he's making money.

"He may not be making all the money he'd like, but he is working," Oakley said. "As a musician, this is more important than making money in many cases."

In a recent gig at the Rose Pistola, a restaurant in North Beach, the Duane Oakley Blues Ensemble played two sets. Their first set was played outside the restaurant where they had to battle the noise of passers-by, cars and buses. They later moved inside and played a second set filled with jazz standards by Miles Davis and John Coltrane, among others.

Johnson was playing an acoustic guitar the whole night, so he was playing especially hard just to be heard. His fingers danced up and down the neck of his guitar as he soloed away smoothly throughout each song.

Johnson said being in school and playing gigs professionally is rough-- he rarely gets a day off. If he doesn't have nighttime gig, he's playing at the Café Mocca with the Duane Oakley Blues Ensemble.

"It's hard to find time to do actual schoolwork like writing papers," Johnson said. "The first thing I usually lose is sleep."

Hafez Madirzadeh is an associate professor of Saxophone, Jazz and World Music at SF State. Johnson greatly admires Madirzadeh, citing his great ideas about composition and improvisation and different ways of approaching it. He dubbed Madirzadeh a "guru."

Madirzadeh first met Johnson when he auditioned for his creative world ensemble. Johnson impressed him in every way as a musician and a professional with a professional attitude. He describes Seth as having a clear idea of his direction.

"He has a very inquisitive mind," Madirzadeh said. "In my John Coltrane Seminar, he has been inspired by Coltrane to find and seek patterns inside of musical progression. On every level he's growing and showing a lot of promise."

Madirzadeh understands Johnson's frustrations with considering dropping out of school to pursue music full-time. However, he urges all of his students to finish and get their degrees because so many musicians never finish.

"I don't see Seth dropping out, he is very dedicated," Madirzadeh said. "Providing everything goes smoothly, he'll certainly be performing and recording with groups. Hopefully teaching, because through teaching we keep learning and we keep a human interaction going."

Ultimately, Johnson wants to play music that makes people feel something. He wants people to feel connected to his music.

One of his current ideas is to write a collection of songs based on a series of Salvador Dali paintings. He is also trying to gain more control over his instrument, so he will really be able to say something with it. His current favorite guitar player is Lenny Breau.

Johnson will continue his studies at SF State working towards a B.M. in Jazz Studies while at the same time playing with the Duane Oakley Blues Ensemble. He is also trying to put together another band where he can play his original compositions. He wants the music to be very free and improvised as well as somewhat experimental.

"I don't want to be just a jazz musician, I want to be a musician," Johnson said. "I just want to be a guitar player. I want to be a musician who happens to play guitar."