- Baselli was a virtuoso accordion player, whose talents are now commemorated in France by an annual award that bears his name, given for the best accordion performance.
- Baselli moved to Paris in 1950 and several years later, while working a summer job in Pau, near the Spanish border, met the rising young chanteuse, Patachou. She offered him the job of principal accompanist, and as her career took off, rivaling Edith Piaf's in popularity, he became a recognized soloist in his own right.
- He died suddenly of a heart attack in 1982.
- In 1972, Basselli hosted a series on French television titled, "Le monde de l'accordéon," which featured masters of the instrument and encouraged young people to take up and learn the instrument.
- After World War Two, Baselli met an accomplished accordion player and pioneer of the bal musette style, Gus Viseur, who encouraged him to pursue a career in music. He later married the daughter of Viseur.
- Although his parents ran a cafe, they were also great music enthusiasts, and Baselli began taking music lessons at the age of six. He and his brother Enrico both studied the accordion and, after a few years of serenading patrons in their parents' cafe, began playing on a semi-professional basis by their late teens.
- In 1958, Patachou toured the U.S. and Baselli attracted the attention of Sid Frey, owner of the Audio Fidelity record label. Frey was about to release the first series of long-playing stereo records and was signing numerous international artists. Renaming him Jo Basile, Frey first recorded Baselli straight, playing instrumental versions of Patachou's hits and other French cafe tunes.
- In all, Basselli's Audio Fidelity albums sold over 4 million copies in the U.S.
- He was a French accordionist, vocalist, and (later in life) music publisher,.
- Throughout the 1960s, Baselli also worked as a songwriter, and his best-known tune, "Free Again," was recorded by numerous Anglophone singers--most notably, Barbra Streisand, on the first track of her 1966 album, My Name is Barbra.
- His music career was active from the 50's on, signing initially with Audio Fidelity following a 1958 tour of America.
- Basile's parents were Italian emigrants to northern France, part of the large wave of Italians who came to work the coal mines in the Pas de Nord and Belgium.
- Throughout the 1960s, Baselli also worked as a songwriter.
- One of his best records is: the "Foreign Film Festival" album, on which he swings through a set of tunes by Nino Rota and others with a crack group of New York session men that includes Bobby Rosengarden, Dick Hyman, Al Caiola, Milt Hinton, and Phil Kraus. It's a jazzy take on theme music from such early 1960s classics as "La Dolce Vita," "Rififi," and "8½" that shows Basselli could easily hold his own among players with such impeccable jazz chops and studio experience.
- He also founded his own music publishing company, Opaline, to oversee the rights to his various compositions, and wrote a popular set of music instruction books on playing the accordion.
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