Guido Basso Day
September 27, 1937 – February 13, 2023
A tribute to the Canadian jazz trumpeter
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Trumpeter and flugelhornist Guido Basso passed away on Feb. 13, 2023 at the age of 85.
He was born on Sept. 27, 1937 in Montreal, Canada and started playing the trumpet when he was nine.
Basso studied at the Conservatoire de Musicque du Quebec and began his career by touring with singer Vic Damone during 1957-58.
Basso toured with Pearl Bailey and Louis Bellson during 1958-59, moved to Toronto in 1960, and became a busy studio trumpeter, working with many orchestras and as a music director with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
A melodic mellow-toned bop-based soloist, Basso worked with Rob McConnell’s Boss Brass for over 25 years (recording at least 18 albums with the big band and co-leading a quintet album with the valve trombonist back in 1963), led seven albums of his own, and appeared on many albums as a sideman including with Peter Appleyard, Mel Torme, Oliver Jones and Ranee Lee.
In this amusing television appearance from the 1970s taken from The Johnny Cash Show, Guido Basso (wearing a black hat) challenges Al Hirt to a trumpet duel that is a satire of a gun battle in the old West.
-Scott Yanow
Ella Fitzgerald