Johnnie Bassett & the Blues Insurgents

Johnnie Bassett & the Blues Insurgents - Live at the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival - 1995 - No Cover Productions

Johnnie Bassett has spent a lot of his life in Detroit. His guitar mastery stems from an eclectic history that includes stints with artists like Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, Little Willie John, Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and even Jimi Hendrix. His smooth, elegant style and velvet-coated urban sounds conjure up aural images of T-Bone Walker and B.B. King--two of his major influences. In 1994, the Detroit Blues Society presented Johnnie Bassett with a lifetime achievement award. In 1993, he received five W.C. Handy nominations for his great "Cadillac Blues" album. In 1995, The Blues Review said, "This (Live at the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival) isn't just the best local release so far this year, it's one of the best discs I've heard period. Johnnie Bassett!! Yes,yes." Living Blues said, "The real draw is Bassett's fleet, tasteful guitar work." The editor of Real Blues called Johnnie Bassett "one of the finest blues/jazz guitarists of the decade." "Live at the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival" recorded at the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival, Detroit, Michigan on 3/9/1994 is a brilliantly played set of both originals and blues standards. Johnnie's guitar work is not always to the forefront on the album, but what he plays is superb. The musicianship of his backing band, The Blues Insurgents, and guest players including pianist, Bill Heid, and saxophonist, Dezie McCullers, Sr., is incredibly good. This is as good as a jazz blues album as you will ever hear and is HR by A.O.O.F.C. Listen to "Cadillac Blues" and "I Gave My Life to the Blues" albums, of which the latter album really showcases Johnnie Bassett's tremendous guitar talents.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. One Mint Julep - R. Toombs
2. Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough - J.Witherspoon
3. I Want A Little Girl - Mencher, Moll
4. Hentai Ni - B.Heid
5. Pick Up The Pieces - B.Heid
6. Woke Up This Morning - B.B King
7. Sweet Little Angel - B.B King, Jules Taub
8. Please Send Me Someone To Love - P.Mayfield
9. Honky Tonk - Glover, Butler, Doggett, Scott, Sheppard

MUSICIANS

Johnnie Bassett - Guitar, Vocals

The Blues Insurgents are : -

Scott Petersen - Alto & Tenor Sax.
R.J Spangler - Drums
Chris Codish - Organ on Tracks 5-9

Additional Insurgents : -

Kurt Krahnke - Acoustic Bass
Russ Miller - Alto Sax.
Johnny "Showtime" Evans - Baritone Sax.
John "T-Bone" Paxton - Trombone
James O'Donnell, Walt Szymanski - Trumpet

Special Guests : -

Bill Heid - Piano, Vocals
Dezie McCullers, Sr. - Tenor Sax. on Tracks 8, & 9

BIO (WIKIPEDIA)

Johnnie Bassett (October 9, 1935, Marianna, Florida) is an American electric blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Working for decades primarily as a session musician, by the 1990s Bassett had his own backing band and has since released six albums. He has cited Billy Butler, Tiny Grimes, Albert King, B.B. King and especially T-Bone Walker as major influences. Born in Florida, Bassett relocated with his family in 1944 to Detroit. As a guitarist in his local group, Joe Weaver and the Bluenotes, they won talent contests, and locally backed Big Joe Turner, and Ruth Brown. In 1958 Bassett enrolled into the United States Army, but on his return to Detroit worked with the Bluenotes as session musicians for Fortune Records. During this time he provided accompaniment to Nolan Strong & The Diablos and Andre Williams. He later backed The Miracles in a short tenure at Chess Records, working on their debut single, "Got a Job" (1958) In concerts while in Detroit, Bassett played on stage alongside John Lee Hooker, Alberta Adams, Lowell Fulson and Dinah Washington. Basset spent most of the next decade doing gigs in Seattle, also backing Tina Turner and Little Willie John. The Detroit Blues Society recognized Bassett's contribution to the blues with a lifetime achievement award in 1994. He released the album I Gave My Life to the Blues on the Dutch label Black Magic in 1996, before recording and touring in North America and Europe with his own backing band, the Blues Insurgents. Their 1998 album Cadillac Blues was nominated for five W.C. Handy Awards. His then record label, Cannonball Records ceased to trade, but Mack Avenue Records signed him to a new recording contract, after its owner saw Bassett and his band play in concert in Detroit's suburb of Grosse Pointe. At the 2003 Great Lakes Folk Festival, Bassett performed as part of the Detroit Blues Revue with Alberta Adams and Joe Weaver. At the 2006 Detroit Music Awards, Bassett won the 'Outstanding Blues/R&B Instrumentalist' title. Bassett's latest album, The Gentleman is Back was released in June 2009. Johnny Bassett and the Blues Insurgents currently play every Monday night at Alvin's bar in Detroit's Midtown.

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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 © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:w9foxqlhld6e~T1