St. Louis ? Hundreds of musicians and admirers paid respects to rock and boogie-woogie master Johnnie Johnson Thursday at a wake and jam session that featured the talents of many of those he inspired.

On one side of the north St. Louis funeral chapel, Johnson lay in his casket, surrounded by red and white bouquets and photographs of his performances. Only a few yards away, one after another, musician friends banged out blues, rock and boogie-woogie numbers, giving the wake a nightclub-like atmosphere.

St. Louis drummer Bob Kuban, blues and boogie-woogie pianist Kelley Hunt, one of the Ink Spots — Earl “The Pearl” Gibson — and 95-year-old bluesman Henry Townsend were among those attending and performing as the service promised to extend into the wee hours.

Hunt, of Lawrence, Kan., said she first played with Johnson at a New Year’s Eve gig in 1994 and he “blew me away.”

She said, “I really liked listening to that aggressive, left-handed piano playing. He really tore into it.”

Townsend, in black suit and beret, and getting around on a motorized wheelchair, said he used to play and socialize with Johnson, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie. He came to St. Louis from Shelby, Miss., in the 1920s.

“There was no man or musician any better,” he said of Johnson.

Johnson, a rock ‘n’ roll pioneer who teamed with Chuck Berry for hits like “Roll Over Beethoven” and “No Particular Place to Go,” died at his St. Louis home last week at age 80. He’ll be buried today.

Trumpeter and pianist Oliver Johnson — no relation to Johnnie — said the two toured nationally with blues man Albert King in the 1980s, sharing hotel rooms.

“He made magic come from those ivories,” Oliver Johnson, 52, of Centerville, Ill., said. “He is one of the foundation blocks of rock ‘n’ roll and R&B.”

Floral displays from blues musicians Buddy Guy and Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt, Aerosmith, the Kentucky Headhunters, and “E.C.,” presumably Eric Clapton, with whom he performed, showed the extent of his musical reach.

Berry has scheduled a memorial concert for Johnson on April 29 at The Pageant in St. Louis, club owner Joe Edwards said.

Berry, 78, recalled last week he was playing for free when Johnson gave him his break for $4 a job half a century ago.

Johnson was born in Fairmont, W.Va., and by age 4 had taught himself to play the piano. He moved to Chicago after World War II, where he played jazz and blues in clubs. He moved to St. Louis in the early 1950s, forming his own R&B trio.

When a band member became ill on New Year’s Eve 1952, Johnson hired Berry to fill in.