John Bazz (born July 6, 1952) is an American
bass guitarist
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low bra ...
known for his long service in
The Blasters
The Blasters are an American rock band formed in 1979 in Downey, California, by brothers Phil Alvin (vocals and guitar) and Dave Alvin (guitar), with bass guitarist John Bazz and drummer Bill Bateman. Their self-described " American Music" i ...
. Bazz's credits also include work with various other notable musicians, including
Charlie Musselwhite
Charles Douglas Musselwhite (born January 31, 1944) is an American electric blues harmonica player and bandleader, one of the white bluesmen who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal f ...
,
Marc Ford Marc or MARC may refer to:
People
* Marc (given name), people with the first name
* Marc (surname), people with the family name
Acronyms
* MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging,
* MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...
,
Mike Eldred Mike Eldred may refer to:
* Mike Eldred (guitarist) (born 1961), American guitarist and luthier
* Mike Eldred (singer)
Mike Eldred (born June 12, 1965) is an American tenor, known for his work in musical theater. He has performed on Broadway and ...
,
Top Jimmy,
Ryan Bingham
George Ryan Bingham (born March 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor whose music spans multiple genres. He is currently based in Los Angeles. As of 2019, Bingham has released six studio albums and one live album, t ...
, and
Lynwood Slim
Lynwood Slim (born Richard Dennis Duran, August 19, 1953, Los Angeles, California; died August 4, 2014) was an American blues harmonica player and singer. Slim was best known as a singer in the style of smooth easy jazz/blues, as well as his harm ...
.
Early life
Bazz grew up in
Downey, California
Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program. It is also the home of ...
. He was one of four children. His father, Jack, was born in Wyoming in 1923.
The 1940 census shows Jack living in Los Angeles. He lived in the L.A. area for the rest of his life.
The family name was originally Bazzanella. His grandfather, Giacomo, emigrated to the United States in 1905 and the surname was shortened.
Bazz's neighbors in Downey were his future bandmates in The Blasters:
Phil Alvin
Philip Joseph Alvin (born March 6, 1953) is an American singer and guitarist known primarily as the leader of the rock band The Blasters. His voice has been described as "robust...powerful...rich, resonant, ndsupremely confident."
Biography
Alvi ...
,
Dave Alvin
David Albert Alvin (born November 11, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He is a former and founding member of the roots rock band the Blasters. Alvin has recorded and performed as a solo artist since the late 1980s a ...
, and
Bill Bateman. In a 1985 interview, he remembered that his family lived across the street from the Alvins, and that their mothers were friends before any of the boys were born. He said that in a sense, they were all brothers.
Career
With the Blasters
In ''Make the Music Go Bang!'' (1997), Los Angeles music journalist
Chris Morris described The Blasters circa 1980 and the "brute energy" that the band generated, including "the pump of bassist John Bazz." Dave Alvin echoed Morris in another history of the L.A. punk scene, ''Under the Big Black Sun''. Pointing to their mutual education in old American music of all kinds, he noted how "John Bazz pumping decades-old walking bass lines like they were brand new" contributed to the band's "undeniably manic, energetic magic." A 2018 review of the band found that "
e hard-hitting rhythm section of drummer Bill Bateman and bassist John Bazz is propulsive and relentless.”
Along with frontman Phil Alvin, Bazz has been one of the two constants in the various lineups that The Blasters have assembled over their history, which now spans more than 40 years. He remained in the rhythm section as of 2022, along with Bill Bateman.
Style and professional reputation
Bazz plays
upright bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
in addition to
electric bass
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck
The ...
. One description called his approach "unwavering and relentless" and remarked on the "passion" and "unmistakable push" in his playing that prompts high demand for his services in sessions and gigs.
One such assignment from a high-profile frontman came in 2002-03, when actor
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...
handpicked Bazz to be in one of his musical side ventures, the Accelerators. Willis and band played for American troops in Iraq in September 2003 as part of the
USO
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...
's "Touch of Home" tour.
John Doe
John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often ...
—an old friend, contemporary, and fellow bass player—put it like this in early 2020: "Every time I see
azzplay, I want to be him. He simply gets it." Echoing Dave Alvin, Doe added, "He finds new ways to say something in rock ’n’ roll or roots music that may have already been said."
Membership in other bands / musicianship
Starting around 2000, Bazz has also been a member of the Mike Eldred Trio, another roots-rock band. This group, led by guitarist
Mike Eldred Mike Eldred may refer to:
* Mike Eldred (guitarist) (born 1961), American guitarist and luthier
* Mike Eldred (singer)
Mike Eldred (born June 12, 1965) is an American tenor, known for his work in musical theater. He has performed on Broadway and ...
, became more active from 2010 on. A 2017 interview with Eldred noted the solid credibility that came from having Bazz and drummer Brian Fahey in the band; Eldred likened it to driving a Cadillac.
Bazz also played with the Gene Taylor Blues Band, featuring pianist
Gene Taylor, a member of the Blasters in the early '80s. That group released a live album called ''605 Boogie!!!'' in 2008. The lineup also featured Dave Alvin and Bill Bateman, prompting the ''San Diego Union-Tribune'' to ask ahead of a 2010 gig, "When is a performance by three co-founders of The Blasters, plus one longtime member, not a performance by The Blasters?"
When veteran bluesman Charlie Musselwhite released ''The Well'' in 2010, ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' commented that Musselwhite and his tight band—which included Bazz—set the standard for blues bands everywhere. Musselwhite's label,
Alligator Records
Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the ''Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970.
History
Iglauer started the label using hi ...
, remarked on the near-telepathic musicianship.
Bazz has also been part of Marc Ford's backing band, both recording and touring, in Ford's Neptune Blues Club project. It started in 2008, with the ''
Marc Ford and the Neptune Blues Club'' self-titled album. In 2016, Ford commented, "There are a lot of years between the four of us playing music, and it’s real rich."
References
External links
John Bazz's credits at AllMusic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bazz, John
1952 births
Living people
American rock bass guitarists
American rock double-bassists
The Blasters members