Related Events
** This event is postponed until further notice.
Crosstown Arts presents The Cutaway Acoustic Guitar Series, a monthly concert series showcasing internationally acclaimed guitarists in partnership with the Little Rock-based Argenta Acoustic Music Series. March’s performance features guitarist Paul Asbell in an intimate, solo performance.
Tickets: $20
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
From his early years playing blues on Chicago’s South Side to his present multi-faceted career based out of northern Vermont, Paul Abell has earned an underground reputation as a true “musician’s musician.” He has played and recorded with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Earl Hooker, Lightnin’ Slim, Paul Butterfield, Sam Lay, Pops Staples, Donny Hathaway, and numerous others while in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois.
Paul moved to Vermont, where he still lives, in the heady “back-to-the-land” days of 1971. He soon started playing and recording with a head-spinningly diverse array of artists, including Big Mama Thornton, singer-songwriters Paul Siebel, Jim Ringer, Mary McCaslin, and Rosalie Sorrells, jazz greats Jon Hendricks, Bobby McFerrin, Sonny Stitt, and Nick Brignola, and many others. In 1978, seeking an outlet for more personal musical visions, he formed Kilimanjaro, and recorded two award-winning albums for Philo Records.
Soon after, the band performed at the Kool Jazz Festival at SPAC, the Atlanta Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and numerous national tours and concert dates. Kilimanjaro served as backup band on lengthy national tours with Esther Satterfield, and Paul Butterfield, with whom they played the Montreal Jazz Festival, and the Roskilde Festival in Copenhagen.
In 1981, Paul and other members of Kilimanjaro joined forces with a legendary saxophonist and blues singer to form Big Joe Burrell and the Unknown Blues Band. Together, they performed at many festivals, including the Kool Jazz Festival, toured Russia, Holland, and Canada, and served as back-up band for Marva Wright, Kenny Neal, W.C. Clark, and others. The UBB remained a Northeast regional favorite for over 20 years, until Big Joe’s passing in 2005.
Personal performance credits in recent years include David Bromberg, Betty Carter, Joshua Redman, James Carter, Kermit Ruffins, Michael Ray, the Sun Ra Arkestra, The Wild Magnolias, John Stowell, guitar wunderkind Julian Lage, Dave Grippo, and former students Trey Anastasio and Nick Cassarino. Paul has taught guitar for over 45 years. Private instruction remains a favored format, but he has also taught for several decades on a university level, including positions at Dartmouth College, St. Michael’s College, and presently at Middlebury College and the University Of Vermont.
