Johnnie Bassett Famous Dave's, 4/4/98 Photo © 1998 by Tom Asp All rights reserved

Johnnie played many of the songs from his new Cannonball release "Cadillac Blues" at his recent Twin Cities shows. His song introductions were relaxed and playful and he had great support from his three piece band. R.J. Spangler on drums, Len T. on saxophone and a young Chris Codish on keyboards. Since they don't use a bass player the keyboard takes on a duo role of keeping the bass line going along with some fine lead. The Lowell Fulson classic "Reconsider Baby" was done in a slower, rolling almost jazzy style. Bassett pulled out some down and dirty blues his strong R&B/Motown influences were showing through in his playing. There was a nice chemistry between Bassett's guitar playing and Len T.'s saxophone. They were in perfect sync on many songs and played off each other really well.

Bassett started playing guitar in the late 1940's after his family moved from Florida to Detroit. He said he really didn't listen to the blues back in Florida but it was always around him. Every summer his grandmother would have a big fish fry and bluesmen from all over would always be stopping by. "Grandmother had big names coming through at her house every summer, Big Boy Cruddup and Tampa Red were always there. Dad was close friends to Lonnie Johnson and Tampa Red and all the guys they knew. As kids we had our chores at these events, we would have to bring the wood, keep the fires going and shuck the corn and put the corn over the fire and that kind of thing and just had a good time."

Bassett & Len T. Famous Dave's, 4/4/98 Photo © 1998 by Ray Stiles All rights reserved

Born in 1935 Bassett was nine when he moved to Detroit. "At that age I had no interest in music, but my sisters sung spirituals." Later a neighbor in Detroit first got the boy interested in the guitar and encouraged him to play. "I would watch him play and listen to him and he would let me use his guitar. He used the open D tuning and that's how I learned to play, in that tuning. That way it gives me a different sound than everyone else and I've grown accustomed to it and I like it. Muddy uses that same tuning." Bassett also played harmonica as a kid and said he plans to "get back on it and practice up enough to do a couple of tunes in the show and put a couple of tunes on my next CD."

While in high school Johnnie played guitar with Joe Weaver and the Blue Notes. They played in and won so many local amateur shows that the promoters finally said "hey, we will just pay you to back up everybody that don't have accompaniment and that's the way it got started. Joe is still around and he is still playing, he is going to be on a tour with us this summer." Bassett said T. Bone Walker was a major influence on his style during this time. Bassett has a very clean, rich and distinctive guitar style. He uses the big hollow body electric guitars in the open D tuning and the sound he gets is very unique and fluid.. His guitar playing is more swing/jump blues with some similarities to Fenton Robinson. He really gets the most out of the notes he plays.

Johnnie Bassett Famous Dave's, 4/4/98 Photo © 1998 by Ray Stiles All rights reserved

His vocals have a Lou Rawls quality to them and his voice has been described as world weary and even a little raspy at times but always with a hint of humor or mischievous right near the surface. There is a fun loving spirit about him.

Even as a teenager he had developed this distinctive, fluid guitar style that is totally his own sound. He said his style comes from playing what he feels. "I assume that all players play what they feel. I don't try to feel nobody else's style and that's the way it is for me and it works for me. The first song I played all the way through was 'Sentimental Journey,' and I played that from listening to it on the radio. After that, everything I would hear I would pick it out note for note and that's how I learned."

During the 1950's Bassett was a much in demand session guitar player recording for Fortune Records. He said he was on just about every song they had during that time. In the late 50's he also was on the first recording session of Smoky Robinson and the Miracles. "That was before Motown. We did record the first 4 tunes with Smoky and the Miracles. Those first sides, 'Get A Job,' 'Shop Around' and so on were actually recorded in Ester Williams' living room not in a studio. Ester was Barry Gordy's sister."

Johnnie Bassett Photo © 1998 by Tom Asp All rights reserved

In the early 1960's Bassett relocated to Seattle for several years. It was there he first met up with a young Jimi Hendrix. "Well Jimi would come around a lot. He wasn't with a group, wasn't playing with anybody, but he would go around to a lot of sessions and sit in whenever he could. He would come in lots of times and sit in with the group I was with at the time. He would come in and bring his guitar and sit in with us. Myself and Guitar Shorty was there. We used to have a lot of fun. He asked me, 'hey man how you do that, I like that sound you got?' I would give him some tips, but I told him you can't play like me you got to play what you feel. That's what I told him you know, you got to play what you feel. As you know, the way he DID (play) it was the way he felt it (laughs)."

As a teenager Bassett, borrowing some stage antics from his idol T. Bone Walker, would put on a pair of roller skates and do splints on stage while playing his guitar. I asked him if he had his skates with him and he just laughed and said. "Not any more. I haven't been on my skates in about 10 years but I still have them. I've only owned one pair of roller skates like the guitar I have (he owns a 1955 Gibson that he bought new). My sister bought me those skates when I was 12. I've had the same pair ever since. I haven' had time to be on them really." Not even on stage I joked? "No, that was a long time ago. Back when I was kid between the ages 15 and 20 that was a big thing, roller skating. That was the thing, going to the roller skating arena and just skating."

Bassett said he is booked through out the summer at a lot of festivals and is looking forward to getting back to the Twin Cities again.

Visit the Johnnie Bassett and the Blues Insurgents web page at: http://users.aol.com/insurgents/index.html

E-mail Ray Stiles at: mnblues@aol.com

Table of Contents:
Home Page | Calendar | Spotlight | Features | Photo Gallery
Live Reviews | New Reviews | CD Reviews | New CD Releases | Blues Profiles
Blues Artists | Blues Clubs | Blues Jams | Memorial | Blues Links

Free web pages from GeoCities

Copyright © 1998 by Ray M. Stiles
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.