Edmond Basson started out playing the French horn.
When he turned 15, he picked up the cello. The instrument suited him well. Plus, he loved vocals and the cello is considered the closest instrument to the human voice, said Marcia Basson, his wife of 31 years.
"He knew how the cello worked," she said, "and he was very analytical about its science. "That was one of his fortes."
Edmond Basson, 75, of Atlanta died May 21 from complications of a liver ailment at his home. Cremation Society of Georgia is handling arrangements.
Mr. Basson grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of musical parents. His mother was an amateur violinist; his father was an aspiring singer. He attended the Julliard School and studied with famed cellists Bernard Greenhouse and Leonard Rose.
In the armed forces, he played with the 7th Army Symphony. In the late 1950s, he toured with the Robert Shaw Chorale. He spent a decade playing for recording studios and Broadway musicals while living in New York.
When Mr. Shaw became the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conductor in the late 1960s, he invited Mr. Basson. The cellist retired from the ASO in 1999.
Mr. Basson considered his association with Mr. Shaw to be a career highlight.With the ASO, the musician performed under the helm of Mr. Shaw as well as Yoel Levi, the conductor who left at the end of the 2000 season. He partook in more than 60 recordings for Telarc International, the ASO's label.
Additional survivors include two brothers, Geoffrey Basson of New York and Stephen Basson of Milwaukee; two stepdaughters, Annie Schumacher and Margaret Schumacher Harrison, both of Kennesaw; and a granddaughter.
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