Compound Yellow invites you to join veteran blues musicians Jimmy Burns and Paul Ashford for one night of sensational Chicago-style blues on Friday, September 11, 2020 at 6:00 pm. Come hear their special brand of musical magic as they play together in our socially distanced side yard. Space is limited, so get your tickets soon! 20 persons max and masks are required.
RSVP to info@compoundyellow.com
Tickets are $12 per person. All proceeds go to the artists.
get your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/.../jimmy-burns-and-paul...
Jimmy Burns
Guitar, harmonica, vocals
Excerpt from Today’s Chicago Blues by Karen Hanson:
Mississippi-born Jimmy Burns plays classic Chicago-style blues with slide, Delta country blues, and even a bit of rock and roll. His vocals are smooth and powerful, and it’s no wonder – Burns began his musical career as a singer of gospel and R&B. He made his first recordings at the
tender age of 16 with the doo-wop group the Medallionaires.
Born on February 27, 1943, in Dublin Mississippi, Burns taught himself to play guitar at age ten when a woman loaned a guitar to his mother, who also played a bit. Burns picked it up and learned to play in open tuning. He still often plays that way. “I still like open tuning because
it’s such a rich sound,” he says. He put the guitar down when he moved to Chicago a few years later. In the 1960s he recorded a couple of singles as a vocalist. In the 1970s and ‘80s he was focused on raising a family and operating a barbeque restaurant he owned on the West Side, but in his spare time he continued to play the guitar and perfect his musical style.
In the 1990s he came back to professional music. “I guess it was just in my blood,” he explains. Or maybe it was in his DNA. Burns is the younger brother of guitarist Eddie Burns, who played for years with John Lee Hooker. Before long Jimmy Burns was playing with the Rockin’
Johnny (Burgin) band at the Smoke Daddy. This gig led to his first CD, Leaving Here Walking, recorded on the Delmark label. The album earned two Handy Award nominations in 1998 in the categories of Comeback Album of the Year and Blues song of the Year (for“Leaving Here Walking”).
“If anything, I’ve gone beyond my expectations,” he says. “I’m very happy because of it.” Jimmy Burns is an Oak Park resident.
Paul Ashford
Drums
Paul Ashford is a native Chicagoan raised on jazz, blues, and soul music in the early 1960s-‘70s. His love for music and curiosity about itas a child drew him to the beat of the drums. At age 10 Paul’s parents bought him his first drum set and he never looked back from there. That summer Paul and his musical friends formed their first band, Evans Street, and in the 1980s Evans Street won first place at the Battle of the Bands contest at Chicago’s Park West Theater. This victory led them to meet jazz greats such as George Duke, Stanley Clark and drummer, Raeford Griffin. At age 15, Paul was exposed to gospel music and became the drummer for Southside Church where
he played for nine years. After their Park West Theater success, other musicians contacted Evans Street and they got to record David Josiah‘s hit single with him, “Mine Blowing,” for Columbia records and, when Paul was 23, Evans Street got the opportunity to be the house band for Janet Jackson at a promotional event for her album, Control.
From there Paul took his talents to the blues circuit in Chicago, performing at venues such as Big Daddy’s on Chicago’s southeast side to Kingston Mines in Chicago’s Blues Alley. He met many likeminded musicians along the way, and was asked to play for Studebaker John & the Hawks when their drummer became injured. This led to eight years of touring and traveling with John Gibraldi (aka Studebaker John). During a break at one of their sets at Kingston Mines, Paul met Jimmy Burns. “My best friend was Jimmy’s drummer, and one time he needed someone to stand in for him. I performed with Jimmy Burns at a gig in Michigan and it was like
magic,” Paul said. Paul Ashford is a resident of Chicago.
EXTRA BLURB:
These days when Paul Ashford isn’t making music, he is one of the essential workers at Oak Park’s Pete’s Fresh Market on Lake Street. We want to take this opportunity to thank him and his colleagues for all of their hard work during this pandemic. Come out and support him and his friend, Jimmy Burns, at Compound Yellow!
