Johnnie Bassett & Blues Insurgents - Cadillac Blues - 1997 - Cannonball

Living Blues - Bassett's immaculate hollow-body guitar phrasing and elegantly burnished vocal delivery testify to the timeless beauty and power of 1950s-style urban blues.... "Raise the Roof, Raise the Rent" is one of the happiest houserockers to come along in many a moon.... [Certain songs] showcase Bassett's confident vocals and supple fretwork in upbeat settings.... [This is] a wonderful album. [Editorial review, © 1996-2008, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates ] Johnnie Bassett & The Blues Insurgents are an exceptional blues and jazz band based in Detroit, Michigan USA. This is a truly impressive blues/funk album, and HR by A.O.O.F.C. Check out his great "I Gave My Life to the Blues" album.

TRACKS

1. I'm Gonna Do, What I'm Gonna Do
2. Cadillac Blues
3. Broke In Pieces
4. I Can't Get It Together
5. That's Fair Play
6. Get Over Here Baby
7. Raise The Roof, Raise The Rent
8. Walk On Baby
9. Memories Of Your Perfume
10. Cadillac Baby
11. Dog House Is My Home
12. Dresser Drawers

CREDITS

Willie Mitchell (Engineer), Willie Mitchell (Production Assistant), Willie Mitchell (Mixing), Willie Mitchell (Assistant Producer), Dwight Adams (Trumpet), Dwight Adams (Flugelhorn), Dwight Adams (Horn Arrangements), William Brown (Engineer), William Brown (Production Assistant), William Brown (Mixing), William Brown (Assistant Producer), Ron Levy (Engineer), Ron Levy (Horn Arrangements), Ron Levy (Mixing), R.J. Spangler (Drums), R.J. Spangler (Bandleader), R.J. Spangler (Production Assistant), R.J. Spangler (Assistant Producer), Phil Klum (Engineer), Phil Klum (Mastering), Keith Kaminski (Sax (Alto)), Keith Kaminski (Sax (Tenor)), Keith Kaminski (Horn Arrangements), Robert Barclay (Photography), Johnnie Bassett (Guitar), Johnnie Bassett (Vocals), Johnnie Bassett (Main Performer), Bob Bell (Liner Notes), Chris Codish (Organ), Chris Codish (Bass), Chris Codish (Organ (Hammond)), Chris Codish (Horn Arrangements), Chris Codish (Production Assistant), Chris Codish (Assistant Producer), Johnnie Bassett & The Blues Insurgents (Performer), Papa Willie (Horn Arrangements)

REVIEW

Two in a row for Johnny Bassett and his fine band, the Blues Insurgents. They are the keepers of the flame of straight-ahead, postwar blues. Bassett, musically, is a direct descendant of B.B. King circa 1965, with his pure, clean tone and long, flowing guitar lines uncluttered by electronic devices. Vocally, he sounds like Mose Allison and Johnny Adams in an untrained way. His band is very tight and unusual because, along with trumpet, tenor sax and drums, it includes organ, which also plays the bass parts. If this disc has any faults, it may be that Bassett delivers a couple of the hurting songs with too much positive emotion, which seems at odds with his lyrics. A very satisfying disc of shuffles, down-in-the-alley slow blues and funk. © Sigmund Finman, All Music Guide

BIO

Guitarist, singer and songwriter Johnnie Bassett grew up with blues music all around him in his native Florida. His unique ability to combine jump blues and Delta stylings gives his playing a distinctive sound. The self-taught guitarist recalls seeing Tampa Red, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and other classic blues artists at fish fries in his grandmother's backyard. Bassett cites Aaron "T-Bone" Walker as a major influence, as well as B.B. and Albert King, Tiny Grimes and Billy Butler. After Bassett\'s family moved to Detroit in 1944, he made his debut as a guitarist with Joe Weaver and the Bluenotes, a teenage R&B band. The group won local talent contests and were hired to back up Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown and others on their tour stops in Detroit. Bassett went into the Army in 1958 and played in a country & western group while stationed in Washington state. After returning to Detroit, he found work as a session guitarist for Fortune Records by day and in nightclubs at night. In the studios, he played backup to musicians and groups like Nolan Strong and the Diablos, Andre Williams and the Don Juans and the Five Dollars. He also played guitar on the first recording by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles while traveling to Chicago to record as a session man for the Chess Records label. During his Detroit days, he also accompanied John Lee Hooker, Eddie Burns, Alberta Adams, Lowell Fulson and the T.J. Fowler Band at their live shows, as well as Dinah Washington. In the 1960s, Bassett moved to Seattle, where he backed up Tina Turner, Little Willie John and others. Jimi Hendrix was a frequent guest at the bluesman's club gigs around Seattle. Before the decade ended, he moved back to Detroit, where he's been based ever since. In 1994, Bassett received a lifetime achievement award from the Detroit Blues Society. He later recorded an album for the Dutch Black Magic label, I Gave My Life to the Blues (1996). Bassett and his band, the Blues Insurgents -- which he's been fronting since the early 1990s -- have made several U.S., Canadian and European tours in support of LPs including 1997's Bassett Hound and 1998's Cadillac Blues. © Richard Skelly, All Music Guide