Guido Basso

Career

He started playing the trumpet when he was nine. Settling in Toronto in 1960, he became a studio trumpeter and occasionally played harmonica. In 1963, he became music director for CBLT, a job he held until 1967. He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1994.

He studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. 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 husband, drummer Louis Bellson, touring North America with them for three years before moving to Toronto. Beginning in 1975, he organized and led big band concerts at Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie. He has worked with Buddy Rich, Oliver Jones, Carol Welsman, Diana Krall, and Diana Panton.

Basso was a charter member of Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, playing with the band for over twenty years. He was part of the Sound of Toronto series of reunion concerts by the Boss Brass in 2008.

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

Awards and honors

As leader or member

With Rob McConnell

As guest

With Anne Murray

With Emilie-Claire Barlow

With Holly Cole

With Sophie Milman

With others