Researching John Doheny

Born in Seattle, Washington, Doheny studied with prominent Canadian saxophonist and bandleader Fraser MacPherson, whom he credits as a major influence. He spent his early career in the 1970s primarily in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, playing in local rhythm and blues bands and strip clubs, as well as spending large parts of each year on exhaustive road trips to taverns throughout rural British Columbia and Alberta. By the late 1970s and into the mid 1980s he was appearing as a sideman with artists such as Albert Collins, Doug and the Slugs, the Coasters, the Platters, the Temptations, and Buddy Knox. In the late 1980s he relocated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and then New York City, working with the bands of Lloyd Williams, Solomon Burke, Danny B, and Kenny Margolis. The 1990s saw Doheny doing extensive touring and studio work, both with jazz ensembles and pop groups, including Bell Biv Devoe.

He released his first CD as a leader One Up, Two Back in 2002, featuring his band the John Doheny Quintet, and vocalist Colleen Savage. In 2003 he relocated to New Orleans to pursue a master's degree in jazz history at Tulane University.

Doheny is noted as a colorful raconteur (no small accomplishment in a city like New Orleans). A 2002 interview with him can be found here, courtesy of smoothjazz.com, which includes an explanation of how he came to acquire the middle name "Pip", and an account of his early days as a struggling musician.

Doheny is also a jazz historian. He holds an MA in Jazz History from Tulane University, as well as a B.mus and B.ed from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He has written articles on Jelly Roll Morton in the popular press, and published in Tulane's Jazz Archivist. He has also achieved notoriety for transcribing the music of Charles Mingus from audio form into written musical scores. Having transcribed the music of Mingus, he adapted the scores to a series of performances entitled 'Mingus Mania,' parts of which appeared on the Bravo television network in the early 1990s as musical interludes. Doheny also composed and performed source music for the soundtrack for the 1998 Bruce Sweeney film Dirty, as well as appearing with his band in the 1997 Brian Dennehy TV movie A Father's Betrayal.

He is now a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana. While many New Orleans residents were displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Doheny was one of the first to return after the flood waters subsided, and was one of the most enthusiastic and vocal advocates for the rebuilding of New Orleans to its original form, history, and traditions.