This artist, whose first name seems absolutely perfect for either beach music or surf- rock, has actually attracted attention as a possible influence on the great Rahsaan Roland Kirk in terms of crafting hybrid versions of reed instruments. Such status is no doubt something of a letdown to the myriads attracted solely and simply by the name Beach Johnson, who wonder through the night just how prevalent the use of the first name "Beach" is, or whether it is simply a stage name -- but an attractive one at that for a character who worked the society dance band circuit in Washington D.C. in the '40s and '50s. Did someone with the stage name of "Beach" actually influence someone with stage name of "Rahsaan"? This question lingers due to notes by producer Joe Davis in the early '50s regarding a session he produced for vocalist Betty Madigan. These notes are proof of one of the few instances when Johnson actually recorded something. Known as a clarinetist, Johnson also played an unknown saxophone of sorts on a track entitled "Blue Fog." Visibility must have been good despite the latter title, Davis scribbling a detailed description of a horn that sounded in range like an alto but had been straightened out, looking like a soprano saxophone with an enlarged prostate. The connection with a homemade horn Kirk called a "stritch" seems likely due to comments made by Kirk himself as well as by his early associates concerning hearing a "Washington dance band guy" playing some kind of straightened alto saxophone. Unfortunately for listeners eagerly stretching for said stritch, the Madigan recording session produced by Davis remains the most difficult material in Madigan's catalog to obtain, despite the high quality of a particularly swinging backing band. Davis did not release the recordings originally until 1953; Madigan went on to a hit career with both MGM and Coral. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide