Bman's Blues Report

Blues guitarist Johnnie Bassett, a much-loved statesman of the Detroit scene, died late Saturday. He was 76. Bassett had been in declining health – recently diagnosed with cancer — and was moved last month to hospice care at St. John Hospital in Detroit. In a long and storied career, the musically versatile Bassett had been a go-to player on the city’s bustling club scene of the ’50s and ’60s, and was a member of the Fortune Records house band the Blue Notes. He accompanied a litany of brand-name artists, including fellow Detroiters John Lee Hooker, Little Willie John, Smokey Robinson and Nolan Strong, and was friendly with a young Jimi Hendrix during the latter’s early, blues-oriented Seattle years. “This is one those artists where everything just came together — jazz, soul, blues, R&B,” said publicist Matt Lee. “We’ll never see his like again.” The past two decades saw the laconic Bassett emerge as a singer and front man at the encouragement of musician R.J. Spangler, who spotted...

Johnnie Bassett (born October 9, 1935, Marianna, Florida, United States) 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...