Al
Basile grew up in a
park in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He graduated from Phillips Academy
in 1966, and in 1970 he was the first to receive a Master’s Degree
from the Brown University Writing Program. He began his musical
career as a cornet player with Roomful of Blues in 1973, and
has worked with the Duke Robillard Band as a songwriter and
recording member since 1990, appearing on twelve CDs and a DVD; his
songs have been used in films and television and covered by such
artists as Ruth Brown and Johnny Rawls, and bands New Jump Blues and the Knickerbocker All Stars. He has twelve solo blues and roots
CDs out under his own name, the last several having reached the top 15
on the Living Blues airplay charts in their year of release. They
have all been produced by Robillard and feature his guitar playing
and many former Roomful members: guest artists have included the
Blind Boys of Alabama, jazz great Scott Hamilton, and the late Sista Monica Parker.
He has been nominated five times, in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, for a Blues Music
Award as best horn player. While hundreds of his songs have been
published since the Sixties, his poetry and fiction has begun to be
published in recent years. He taught full time at the Providence
Country Day School in East Providence, RI from 1980-2005 and since
then has concentrated on his writing, performing, and recording.
