Pete Johnson was a Boogie Woogie pianist; with the Boogie Woogie craze starting around 1938 and running roughly to 1953.

I don't know what his connection to Buffalo was, but he moved to Buffalo in 1950, on the downside of his popularity. He suffered a stroke in 1958, which left his left hand paralyzed, and died May 23,1967 at Meyer Memorial Hospital, the predecessor to ECMC.

Pete Johnson often paired with blues shouter Big Joe Turner; find "Roll 'Em Pete" if you can for one of the greatest examples of barrelhouse boogie woogie piano playing ever recorded.