Johnny Long

Johnny Long, known as "the Man Who's Long on Music," was one of those ubiquitous talents of the big-band era, leading a group that -- to his detriment in terms of long-term exposure -- fit comfortably neither into the "swing" (i.e., jazz) nor "sweet" (i.e., pop) category beginning at the end of the 1930s. Johnny Long was born in 1915 (some sources say 1916) in Newell, NC. He was raised on a farm and manifested a serious interest in music while still a young boy, taking up the violin at age six. Long was born right-handed, but at age seven he seriously injured two fingers on hi...