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Charlie Christian Jazz Festival to kick off in Oklahoma City


Oklahoma City radio personality and singer Cara Black will serve as mistress of ceremony during the 24th annual Charlie Christian International Jazz Festival on June 6-7. She will introduce Tulsa jazz saxophonist Grady Nichols and Dallas band All Funk Radio Show at 7:30 p.m. June 6th at Stage Center’s Tolbert Theater.
Gates open at noon at Regatta Park on June 7th for the outdoor festival. At 1:00 p.m., HypeLife from Memphis will pay a special tribute to Charlie Christian, Wayman Tisdale, Elvis Presley, all nationally recognized guitarists who were major forces in the field of guitar music.
Jazz organist Jeremy Thomas, accompanied by his trio; Kelvin Drake and his band “Mr. Guitar” will also perform as the evening continues with the likes of Drummer Walter Taylor and his group “Taylor Made.” Blues performer Garrett “Big G” Jacobson and Kirbie Greene and Friends will perform, leading to the final act – ”Class Act.”
Festival goers are asked to bring lawn chairs and blankets. Festival tickets may be purchased at Capital Square Station, Charlie’s Jazz Rhythm & Blues Store, KM66, Learning Tree Toy Store, Sage Restaurant and Black Liberated Arts Center Inc. For more information, call (405) 524-3800.

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Detroit guitarist Johnnie Bassett to release CD June 30


Legendary Detroit blues guitarist and singer Johnnie Bassett is set to release “The Gentleman Is Back” June 30 on Sly Dog Records.
Bassett returns to the spotlight after a nine-year hiatus. “The Gentleman Is Back,” is an 11-song set that finds Johnnie, at 72, in prime form as a player and singer. Recorded in Detroit and co-produced by longtime Bassett collaborators Chris Codish and Keith Kaminski, the CD includes a richly rendered cover of the Hoagy Carmichael and Gorrell Stuart standard “Georgia” and a batch of originals penned mostly by Codish and his father, Bob, another regular in the Bassett camp.
According to his bio, Bassett was born in Florida, where his father was a bootlegger during prohibition. Bassett was surrounded by music. His mother, sisters and aunts took him to church and surrounded him with gospel spirituals. But in the summer he’d head out to his grandmother’s famous fish fries, where the likes of Tampa Red, Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup, Lonnie Johnson and others would set up and play while folks ate and danced. He has been on the music scene for more than five decades, amassing a career that’s crossed paths with some of the greatest artists in the field, including John Lee Hooker, Smokey Robinson and Jimi Hendrix.
Johnnie didn’t have to think twice about what “The Gentleman Is Back” would sound like. “I like doing fun music – fun jump music and fun blues music and stuff like that.”