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John Hatton's bass experiences have encompassed a multitude of styles. Bluegrass, Jazz, Classical, Dixieland, Big Band, Disco, Rock, Rap and Rockabilly to name a few. He has played behind superstars including Ray Anthony, Maynard Ferguson, John Davidson, Tony Bennet, Little Milton, Al Jarreau, Bob Dylan, Bob Hope, Supertramp, Little Richard, Herb Jeffries, Danny Gans, Vonda Shepherd, Hank Ballard, Shirly Jones, Billy Lee Riley, Nannette Fabere', and the list goes on.

John has been playing instruments since he was 6 years old when he begged his dad to get him a violin. He excelled on that instrument, culminating with a two-year stint with the St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra during his Junior and Senior years of High School.

His journey with jazz string bass began with the Affton High School Stage Band in the suburbs of St. Louis. Shortly thereafter, he picked up the bass guitar and joined "The Marauders", a very successful garage band in the St. Louis sock-hop scene.

John's love affair with the string bass continued through his college years where he played in the Graceland University Orchestra and later in the Kansas City Conservatory of Music Orchestra and Jazz Workshop. He was still rockin' on the bass guitar with a new club band, "The Morticians". The violin was gathering dust.

The Kansas City jazz scene was a great training ground. Hatton was soon earning a full-time living playing steady in night clubs and learning to play quality Bee Bop. He became Kansas City's 'first call' bassist and was fortunate to get calls to play with some of the traveling artists that came through town. Elvis, Liza Minelli, Clark Terry, Marilyn Maye, and the Righteous Brothers were among them.

The legendary pianist, Gene Harris of the "Three Sounds" offered him a gig, and John spent two years on the road playing in jazz clubs all over the USA. This tour led him to Los Angeles in 1974 where he has lived since.

Los Angeles became the land of opportunity for this musician. He landed his first gig with Stan Worth, who used John for many live shows, TV and movie scores. After Stan's passing, John joined "Just Four Grins", a band composed of young studio musicians. This band became the back up band for Seals and Crofts for their summer tour of '78. In 1981 he toured with the ebullient Dolly Parton and recorded sound track clips for "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas".

During his stint with Rhino Record's "Big Daddy", an 8-piece 50's band that turned modern hits into retro 50's classics, John honed his 50's slap bass style. This band conquered the world with a top 10 hit and a tour of England. Their eight week gig in Sydney, Australia, landed them another hit with their version of "The Land Down Under". It was in this band that Hatton created the character known as "Spazz", the slide-rule-wielding nerd. The moniker has followed him to this day.

Johnny "Spazz" Hatton has been playing rockabilly slap bass with the Brian Setzer Orchestra since February of 2002 and has recorded three CD's, "Nitro Burnin' Funny Daddy", "Boogie Woogie Christmas", and "Dig That Crazy Christmas". Hatton has appeared with BSO on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Conan O'Brian, The Today Show, Christmas at Rockefeller Center, Christmas in Washington DC, The Tony Danza Show, VH1 Classics, and Sirius Radio.

For his work with Setzer, John uses our WT1205 to power a D610XLT cabinet. For other work, he's got a CXC110 and D410XLT and D210XLT cabinets. When asked why he uses Eden, he says simply, "because of the great sound and because the guys at Eden are super dudes, always willing to help."