Johnnie Alexander Bassett (October 9, 1935 1935 – August 4, 2012) was a Detroit-based American

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplifier, amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the ...

guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Working for decades primarily as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

, by the 1990s Bassett had his own backing band. He released seven albums in his lifetime. He cited Billy Butler,

Tiny Grimes Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes (July 7, 1916 – March 4, 1989) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. He was a member of the Art Tatum Trio from 1943 to 1944, was a backing musician on recording sessions, and later led his own bands, including a rec ...

Albert King Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps b ...

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

and especially

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''Roll ...

as major influences.

Biography

Born in

Marianna, Florida Marianna is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Florida, United States, and it is home to Chipola College. The population was 6,102 at the 2010 census. In 2018 the estimated population was 7,091. The official nickname of Marianna is ...

, Bassett relocated with his family in 1944 to Detroit. He was a guitarist in the group Joe Weaver and the Bluenotes, which won local

talent contest A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather t ...

s and backed

Big Joe Turner Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American singer from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." His greatest fame was due to ...

, and

Ruth Brown Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the " Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atl ...

. In 1958, Bassett enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. Upon his return to Detroit he worked with the Bluenotes as

s for

Fortune Records Fortune Records was an American family operated, independent record label located in Detroit, Michigan from 1946 to 1995. The label owners were Jack and Devora Brown, their son Sheldon Brown recorded for the label. Original releases tapered off ...

. During this time he provided accompaniment to

Nolan Strong & the Diablos Nolan Strong and the Diablos, also billed as The Diablos Featuring Nolan Strong, were an American, Detroit-based, R&B and doo-wop vocal group, best known for their songs " The Wind" and "Mind Over Matter". They had one record that spent a week o ...

and

Andre Williams Andre Williams may refer to: * Andre Williams (musician) * Andre Williams (American football) * Andre Williams, British DJ better known as Shy FX {{hndis, Williams, Andre ...

. He later backed the

Miracles A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

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 Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921March 7, 1999) was an American blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. He also recorded for contractual reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, he was the most imp ...

and

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

. Basset spent most of the next decade performing at gigs in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and backing

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

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

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

at the time, Cannonball Records, ceased to trade, but

Mack Avenue Records Mack Avenue Records is an independent record label in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. Background Mack Avenue was founded in 1999 by Gretchen Carhartt Valade, a jazz fan and chair of the American apparel company Carhartt. The company is a sponsor ...

signed him to a new

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

, after its owner saw Bassett and his band play in concert in the Detroit suburb of

Grosse Pointe Grosse Pointe refers to an affluent coastal area next to Detroit, Michigan, United States, that comprises five adjacent individual cities. From southwest to northeast, they are: * Grosse Pointe Park * Grosse Pointe * Grosse Pointe Farms * Grosse ...

. 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 The Detroit Music Awards Foundation is a Michigan 501(c)(3) organization, whose mission is to recognize Detroit area musicians working on a national, regional, and local level. The Foundation supports and nurtures the musical community in Detroi ...

, Bassett won an award for Outstanding Blues/R&B Instrumentalist. In 2010 and 2011, he was awarded the Outstanding Blues Artist/Group title. Bassett's album ''The Gentleman Is Back'' was released in June 2009. In 2010, it won a Detroit Music Award in the category Outstanding National Small/Independent Label Recording. Bassett and his band (Chris Codish, keyboards; Keith Kaminski, saxophone; and Skeeto Valdez, drums) played weekly at the Northern Lights Lounge in Detroit. He died of cancer on August 4, 2012. In April 2022, the Killer Blues Headstone Project placed a headstone for Johnnie Bassett at the Detroit Memorial Cemetery in

Warren, Michigan Warren is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2020 Census places the city's population at 139,387, making Warren the largest city in Macomb County, the third largest city in Michigan, and Metro Detroit's largest suburb. T ...

Selected discography

*''Live at the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival'' (1994) *''I Gave My Life to the Blues'' (1997), Black Magic *''Bassett Hound'' (1997), Fedora Records *'' Cadillac Blues'' (1998), Cannonball Records *''Party My Blues Away'' (1999), Cannonball Records *''The Gentleman Is Back'' (2009),

*''I Can Make That Happen'' (2012), Sly Dog Records

References

External links

Photography and videos
at ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bassett, Johnnie 1935 births 2012 deaths American blues guitarists American male guitarists Blues musicians from Florida American blues singers American session musicians Songwriters from Florida Detroit blues musicians Electric blues musicians Urban blues musicians People from Marianna, Florida Eastlawn Records artists Deaths from cancer in Michigan Guitarists from Florida 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers American male songwriters