Johnnie Bassett

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Johnnie Bassett (born October 9, 1935 in Marianna , Florida ; † August 4, 2012 in Detroit ) was an American blues and jazz musician ( guitar , vocals ) and songwriter , known in Detroit as the "Gentleman of the Blues" was designated.

Bassett came to Detroit with his family in 1944; while at Northwestern High School he got his first guitar from his brother. As a teenager he appeared in talent shows, theaters and nightclubs with his school friend Joe Weaver, the band they called Joe Weaver & The Blue Notes . A first record was made in the back room of a record shop on Hastings Street; the song 15:40 Special was released on the Deluxe label , later on King Records . In the mid-1950s, Bassett and the Blue Notes had an engagement at the Frolic Showbar on Basin Street East, where they also had the opportunity to accompany R&B singer Dinah Washington . At the end of the decade he was a session musician for Smokey Robinson & the Miracles , as well as for the Detroit label Fortune Records . He also starred in Detroit with John Lee Hooker , Little Willie John, and Nolan Strong .

After completing his military service, Bassett lived in Seattle in the early 1960s , where he also met the young Jimi Hendrix . In the early 1990s he played with RJ Spangler, with whom he made a guest appearance at the 1991 Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival . Together they founded the formation Blues Insurgents . Only in the years before his death did he have the opportunity for further recordings; for the label Sly Dog he recorded the album The Gentleman is Back in 2009 , with a cover version of the Ray Charles number Georgia On My Mind . Shortly before his death in early August 2012 in Detroit's St. John Hospital, his album I Can Make That Happen was released .

Discographic notes

  • Johnnie Bassett & The Blues Insurgents - I Gave My Life to the Blues (Black Magic Records, 1996)
  • Johnnie Bassett - Bassett Hound (Fedora, 1997)
  • Joe Weaver and His New Blue Note Orchestra Featuring Johnnie Bassett - Baby I Love You So (Black Magic Records, 1999)
  • Johnnie Bassett & The Blues Insurgents - Party My Blues Away (Cannonball, 1999)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Obituary in Detroit News  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.detroitnews.com  
  2. ^ Obituary in the Detroit Free Press
personal data
SURNAME Bassett, Johnnie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues and jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Marianna , Florida
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 2012
Place of death Detroit