Biography

For more information, contact
Michael Frank, CEO
mfrank@earwigmusic.com
office 773-262-0278
Click here to go to Earwig Music Company

Aron is the featured artist on two Earwig recordings, singing vocals and playing bass: Past, Present And Future (CD 4927) and Aron Burton Live (CD 4935). He plays bass on Delta Bluesman (CD 4922), Look At Me (CD 4938) and Big Jack Johnson Live In Chicago (CD 4939).
https://airplaydirect.com/music/AronBurtonPPF/
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Click here to go to Blessings and Blues Volume 1
Click here to go to Blessings and Blues Volume 2

Genre: Blues
Release Date: October 8, 1993

ARON BURTON BIO
Born June 15, 1938 in Senatobia, Mississippi, died February 29, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois

Aron is the featured artist on two Earwig recordings, singing vocals and playing bass: Past, Present And Future (CD 4927) and Aron Burton Live (CD 4935) Click here to go to Aron Burton Live.
He plays bass on David Honeyboy Edwards' album Delta Bluesman (CD 4922), Liz Mandville Greeson's Look At Me (CD 4938) and Big Jack Johnson Live In Chicago (CD 4939).

Aron Burton spent over fifty years securing his place in musical history as a master of the blues and becoming one of the most sought-after bass players in the business. Born in Senatobia, Mississippi on June 15, 1938, Aron took interest in music at a very young age, when his gospel voice was sought after by many local churches. Among his early accomplishments was the formation of the Victory Travelers with his cousin Ruben Burton, a group that still tours.

Upon moving north to Chicago in the mid-1950s, Aron quickly gained a reputation as one of the most solid and “in the pocket” bass players in town. Aron was exposed to a variety of different styles of music, including r&b, soul, jazz, and rock, in addition to his blues and gospel foundation. It was only a short time before Aron began to be called upon by the masters of the industry, starting in 1956 with Freddie King. Eventually Aron was hired to support such legends as Jimmy Witherspoon, Junior Wells, Big Jack Johnson, Eddy Clearwater, and Billy Boy Arnold.

Perhaps Aron Burton’s biggest claim to fame is as a founding member of Albert Collins’ Ice Breakers, along with his brother Larry Burton and keyboardist Allen Batts. Aron shared several Grammy nominations with the band, and soon became a regular session artist at Alligator Records. He can be heard singing and playing on recordings of such legends as James Cotton and Fenton Robinson.

After his success as a backing musician. Aron finally decided to strike out on his own. He can be heard on solo albums recorded with both Earwig Music and Delmark Records in Chicago. These critically acclaimed albums have secured him four W.C. Handy Awards Nominations, as well as numerous other awards.

Aron appeared on more than thirty-four recordings, toured internationally, and performed at nearly every Chicago Blues Festival since the festival began more than thirty years ago. He retired from the Chicago music scene around 2014 and died at home in Chicago of heart failure February 29, 2016.


Past, Present & Future, Aron’s debut album for Earwig Music Company, marks the long overdue arrival in the limelight of this major blues talent who was a member of Albert Collins’ original Ice Breakers. Burton’s original bass lines and his warm, expressive vocals on covers such as Percy Mayfield’s “A Highway Is Like A Woman” and Tony Joe White’s evocative standard, “Rainy Night In Georgia, plus his passionate life-affirming originals, “Past, Present And Future” and “Spirit” recommend this project without reservation.

“Past, Present, & Future is an exceptional work by an artist who has been around for a good long time, but never really took center stage. Aron Burton has put together a first-rate collection of gritty blues that should bring him out of the shadows once in a while. Burton, who holds down the lead vocal and bass chores, composed most of the tunes, all of which are saturated with a hard-edged urban blues feeling.” – Blues Revue Quarterly

Album Credits
© P 1993 Earwig Music Company, Inc.
Producers: Michael Robert Frank and Aron Burton

1.Been Down 4:20
2.Answering Machine Blues 5:23
3.Live Like a Beggar 4:15
4.Garbage Man 5:29
5.Trouble 3:57
6.Wayward Blues Boy 6:13
7.Southbound Train 3:50
8.Rainy Night In Georgia 6:14
9.The Highway Is Like a Woman 3:54
10.Funky Emma 4:58
11.Any Day But Today 6:01
12.Past, Present And Future 6:10
13.Two Way Street 4:40
14.Spirit 3:26

tracks 1,4,6,7,9,10,11,13 previously released on Avaron LP Aron Burton Usual Dangerous Guy
Recorded by Etienne Bron March 27, 1986 at The Sound Lab, Copenhagen, Denmark

MUSICIANS
Aron Burton - lead vocals, bass on all tracks except 10,14 Kenn Lending - lead guitar on tracks 1,4,6,7,9,10,11,13 Frank Larsen - drums on tracks 1,4,6,7,9,10,11,13 Kjeld Lauitsen - organ on tracks 7,9,10,11 electric piano on track 13 Svenni Svafnisson - bass on track 10 Jorgen Lang - harmonica on tracks 4,6,7,9,13 Champion Jack Dupree- grand piano on tracks 4,6,11, background vocals 4,10

track 14 recorded and mixed November 1987 by Etienne Bron, New Sound Studio, Plaffikon, Switzerland
Aron Burton – vocals Norman Marogg – guitar Benno Rupp - lead guitar Rene Mehrmann – bass Christian Willison – drums Ordy Somchai Sihaampai - drums

tracks 2,3,5,8,12 recorded January 27, 1993 by Blaise Barton, Acme Recording, Chicago, Illinois assistant engineers, Dan White and Reza Ebrahimi
Aron Burton - vocals, bass Larry Burton - lead guitar Tino Cortes – drums Pat Hall - electric piano and electronic keyboard
Vocal chorus on Live Like a Beggar Aron Burton, Pat Hall, Lisa K. Swanstrom, Michael Frank

Cover photography: Robert Barclay Cover design: Terran Doehrer, Earth Star Graphics, Evanston, Illinois