In 1981, an unusual thing happened in the “Pop Jazz” market. A band named Kilimanjaro emerged from the unlikely state of Vermont to become a dominant voice in Jazz Radio airplay. Kilimanjaro’s self-titled debut recording quickly rose to #3 on the national Jazz Radio Airplay charts. That led to appearances at some of the most prestigious jazz festivals in the world — including the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival (aka The Kool Jazz Festival), the Atlanta Jazz Festival and San Antonio’s Riverwalk Jazz Festival. In 1983, the band’s second release, Kilimanjaro II, rose to #5 on the national airplay charts, leading to several U.S. tours, appearances at many of the country’s most prestigious venues, and a year on the road with blues legend Paul Butterfield — including appearances at the Montreal Jazz Festival and Denmark’s Roskilde Festival. The band would open the show as Kilimanjaro, and then show their amazing versatility by “changing hats” and becoming the Paul Butterfield Blues Band for the second half of the show. What audiences didn’t know was that by the age of 20, Chicago-born guitarist Paul Asbell had performed and recorded with such blues icons as John Lee Hooker, Otis Rush, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters. Nor did they know that bassist Tony Markellis (who in recent years has done five U.S. tours with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio) had been a member of the David Bromberg Band. (Incidentally, Paul was Trey’s guitar teacher, which undoubtedly earns him a place in rock ‘n’ roll history!) It was during this time that Kilimanjaro joined forces with B.B. King alumnus Big Joe Burrell to form a highly popular blues band that soon became a regional phenomenon of its own for over 25 years, taking them on a detour from their lives as international touring artists. |