K&K's Artist of the Month: Paul Asbell
June 2003
Paul
began playing at age 12 on his dad's acoustic guitar. An entirely self-taught
player, Paul used as his early models the music in his dad's 78 and LP
collection. Soon after hearing the music coming out of bars on Chicago's
South Side, however, Paul single-mindedly started playing electric guitar,
trying to evoke the sounds of Buddy Guy and Otis Rush.
His career began at age 18 "in the trenches" of Pepper's Lounge, the 1815 Club, Theresa's, and other haunts, as a sideman to Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Junior Wells and other fixtures of the Chicago blues scene. Gigs, tours and recordings followed, with legends like John Lee Hooker, Earl Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Sam Lay, Pops Staples, Donny Hathaway and Lightnin' Slim. During this time he appeared on the milestone recording "Fathers and Sons" featuring Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield and also played on "The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions" LP, featuring Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood and members of the Rolling Stones.
The desire to play challenging original music led him to assemble a quartet of like-minded, world-class players. Originally named "The Paul Asbell Quartet", the group soon changed its name to "Kilimanjaro" and recorded two albums of Paul's compositions for Philo, which won "Indie" awards from NAIRD for "Most Innovative Album" of 1981 and "Best Jazz Album" for 1983.
Since the early '80's, Paul has performed regionally with numerous legends of jazz and blues, including Sonny Stitt, Jon Hendricks and family, Bobby McFerrin, David Bromberg, Big Mama Thornton, Betty Carter, James Carter, Kermit Ruffins, Michael Ray, the Sun Ra Arkestra, The Wild Magnolias, Joshua Redman, John Stowell, and countless others.
More recently, he has begun infusing a lifelong obsession with depression-era American "folk n' roots" styles into his performances. Solo acoustic guitar concerts have included UVM's Lane Series, Burlington, VT's First Night and Discover Jazz Festival, Caffe Lena in Saratoga, and several ASIA (Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans) symposia in Nashville, TN. During the last few years, he has led workshops and performed instrument demos at Healdsburg (CA) Acoustic Guitar Festival for noted high-end luthiers Julius Borges, Mark Blanchard, David Eichelbaum, Running Dog Guitars, etc.
When not touring, Asbell has composed, performed and recorded over 60 soundtracks for film and video productions, including features for RKO, Columbia Films and Disney Productions, Vermont Public TV, projects for Benetton, Nordica, Elan, and many others. Throughout his career, he has found time to maintain a professional teaching schedule. Paul has taught for years at Dartmouth College and Middlebury College, and has given master-classes at Skidmore College, University of Vermont, Johnson State College, Marlboro College, and others.
Paul uses the K&K Trinity Western System and says, "I have been extremely pleased with the installation of the "Pure Western" mini-sensors and mini-mic in my 12 fret 000-style acoustic. Along with the Trinity 2 channel preamp, this system has exceeded my expectations of how good an onboard pickup system can be. Sound techs at the venues I've played have said the same."
Paul
Asbell
56 Pomeroy St
Burlington, VT 05401
802-862-7696
pasbell@paulasbell.com
http://www.paulasbell.com/