Guido Basso

Guido Basso, CM (born 27 September 1937 in Montreal) is a jazz musician from Montreal. He started playing the trumpet when he was nine. Settling in Toronto in 1960, he became a studio trumpeter. He also occasionally played harmonica in-studio. In 1963, he became a music director for CBLT, a post he held until 1967. He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1994.^[1]

He is a trumpeter, flugelhornist, harmonica-player, arranger, composer, conductor. He studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Quebec. His career started in his teens, when singer Vic Damone included him in an international tour.

In 1958 he joined singer Pearl Bailey and her bandleader husband, drummer Louis Bellson, touring North America with them for three years before moving to Toronto to join the studio and television scene there. Beginning in 1975, he frequently organized and led big band concerts at Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition featuring jazz luminaries including Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie. He can be heard on hundreds of record albums, playing and recording with stars from Buddy Rich and Oliver Jones to Carol Welsman and Diana Krall. He is currently featured on vocalist Diana Panton's release "Pink".

Guido Basso was a charter member of Rob McConnell's group, The Boss Brass, and the Rob McConnell Tentet, playing with The Boss Brass as a featured soloist throughout their lifetime, and appearing on 30 Boss Brass recordings. He was part of the "Sound of Toronto" series of reunion concerts of the Boss Brass in 2008.

Personal life

Guido Basso had one daughter, also an accomplished musician and songwriter, Mia Basso Noble, who died of cancer in September 2013.

Discography

Solo

• Guido Basso (Innovation), 1986
• Lost in the Stars (CBC), 2004 -Won the 2004 Juno Award in traditional jazz.

Collaborations

• A Lazy Afternoon (Jazz Portraits), 1997
• Midnight Martini (Justin Time), 1997^[1]
• One Take (Alma Records), 2008
• Dedications, (Justin Time), Montréal 2000

Awards

• 1994 – Named a Member of the Order of Canada, the highest civilian honour given in this country, granted to Canadian citizens 'for outstanding achievement and service to the country or to humanity at large'
• 2003 – Juno Award for 'Traditional Jazz Album of the Year' for Turn Out the Stars.
• 2004 – Juno Award for 'Traditional Jazz Album of the Year' for Lost in the Stars

As sideman

With Louie Bellson

• The Brilliant Bellson Sound (Verve, 1959)

References