ABSTRACT
Half-Jewish, half-Italian, Ralph Basso was born in the Bronx where he developed a childhood love for jazz. He settled in Los Angeles in 1944, which had a vibrant bebop scene, and oversaw sessions by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, among others, for various small labels. By 1946, he turned to local R&B performers, producing T-Bone Walker’s classic “Call It Stormy Monday” (his first top pop and R&B hit), and the novelty hit “Open the Door, Richard” by the Jack McVea Band from 1947. In 1948 Bass joined Savoy Records, where he worked with legendary bandleader Johnny Otis. In 1951 Syd Nathan of King Records hired Bass to run his new Federal label, where he produced Little Esther and the doo-wop groups Billy Ward and the Dominos (“Sixty Minute Man”), and Hank Ballard and the Midnighter’s notorious “Work with Me, Annie” and its many spinoffs. In the mid-1950s, Bass oversaw James Brown’s big hits recordings, beginning with “Please, Please, Please.” In 1960 he was hired by Chess, where he remained through 1976, where he worked with their stable of artists, including Etta James, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf. In 1977, he oversaw sessions for the T.K. label which were eventually issued by Delmark in the early 1990s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. He died of a heart attack in 1997.
