Les Paul 1915-2009

[tablewine]

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2009-08-13-les-paul_N.htm

[Geezer]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/13/obit.les.paul/

I just watched a documentary about him on Netflix........super great guy.

Sorry to see him go...........

Geez'r

[PRR]

Also: From my personal archives:

[Iannone]

Great foto, PRR.  Thanks for sharing it.

A friend of mine owns an L-5 that Gibson made for Paul in the early 1940's.  Couple years ago, he loaned the guitar to Les Paul for exhibit in his museum; Paul flew my friend out to Milwaukee for the weekend for a formal presentation, got him drunk and treated him like visiting royalty.  Truly a great guy and one who as a musician and a tecky, (the solid body electric, multi-track recording) has forever left his mark on the world of music.

[NSFY]

I remember my parents listening to their Les Paul and Mary Ford album on our big ole RCA console stereo growing up. I have the album on the MP3 player now and still listen even if my kids roll their eyes.  Legendary musician, performer, and inventor and true icon.

Any idea what those pickups are on his guitar in  PRR's youtube video?  They seem awfully wide but look kind of like EMGs or something.  And what are they playing - Mack the Knife?  Can't hear on this PC very well.

[PRR]

http://www.esquire.com/print-this/les-paul-quotes-0109

[69SG]

Flags need to be at Half Mast. We lost one of our own.

[rzenc]

 

[nastyoldtech]

Sad sad. He will be missed.

 Boy I wonder what's laying around his shop of unfinished tech projects? I saw a recent documentary were they did a little tour of his home studio. So much cool old vintage tube gear would make your jaw drop.

[Megachunk]

Himself and Tom Dowd had the first 8 track machines made ever. Les first. He made the bar, raised it, then blew anyone away who came near it. Truly a musical renaissance man.

[jhadhar65]

If I were guessing from the look and sound of it, I'd say if you popped those covers off, you'd find a pair of P90's under each one wired like a humbucker with reverse and coil tapped switching.  So four p90's in all.  Just a guess.

[69SG]

I'm sitting here looking at a Gibson SG and Les Paul and a TasCam. The man has had a major influence on my life. A Very Cool and Inovative Man.

[P Batty]

What can I say?

How about these facts:

Took the solo on one of Bing Crosby's biggest hits (It's Been a Long, Long, Time.

Played using the first sampler (Les Paulverizer) for Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower in the White House.

8 tracks on 2" tape @ 30 I.P.S., full sync, in 1954!

Recorded Grammy winning albums with Chet Atkins and Jeff Beck.

Was in what possibly was the coolest husband and wife duo in pop music history: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYlG7qb3iCs

Oh yeah, and there was something else, something about a certain model of electric guitar...

[jhadhar65]

>...something about a certain model of electric guitar...

I always get a kick out of folks who wonder when this player or that player will get their own signature Les Paul.  I want to say, "It's already a signature guitar... a Les Paul Signature!!  What other name does it need?!?!?"

[PRR]

More old air-checks:

How Bing got into movies and Les got to Needles Calif,
Somewhere Over The Rainbow

How High The Moon

BTW: what lefty Wayne is doing on the 1980s videos, that's what guitarists were supposed to do, most of Les' career. Thump thump thunk thunk thump..... Wayne digs it, but Les played different.

[RicharD]

[DummyLoad]

RIP les... 

[billcreller]

 The Les Paul guitars are like a celebration of his life it seems. My son has one he bought in the 60s.
 
 He will never be forgotten.

[PRR]

Les Paul, Tal Farlow, Bucky Pizzarelli, C Jam Blues, 1985

[Tinkerer]

I shed a tear when I heard the news on the 'wireless' that Les Paul died. A friend and myself are making clones of his legendary guitar. Genuine Honduras Mahogany, Brazilian Rosewood fretboard, bumblebees, and all glued together with hide glue. The way Les designed it, not mass produced for a market.

R.I.P Les Paul.

Kosta

[nastyoldtech]

Les Paul, Tal Farlow, Bucky Pizzarelli, C Jam Blues, 1985

I love that jazzy blues stuff. Jump blues. Fantastic playing. In that documentary Les was saying he had very bad arthritis in recent years. I could not find the recent doc but this one is really good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vomuse9tok

[EL34]

PRR your you tube clip was awesome.

[PRR]

> Les was saying he had very bad arthritis

There's a 1991 article in the NY Times which says his playing days were numbered, and mentioned fingers like sausages.

Evidently he worked-through the arthritis for a large number of days.

> PRR your you tube clip was awesome

That's almost a century of experience in the front-line, and more decades in the back-line. Hardly a band of pimple-face youths just learning their fourth chord.

I'm generally against piracy, but.... If you have a way to boot-leg YouTube clips, take copies. The rightful copyright owner may complain, and the clips will get taken down. Hopefully they will take a hint, and release this show on DVD; it would be very-worth the $15. (OTOH, they may not have thought about tape/DVD rights in 1985, only broadcast rights; and with Tal and now Les gone, negotiation with heirs may be tedious.)

[alerich]

Thanks for the cool clips, PRR. Downloaded and saved them for posterity. I got to see Les play at the Iridium about 3 years ago and meet and chat with him for a few minutes after the show. Great guy. He was 92 at the time and had played two shows and it was midnight but he still hung out and met every one who waited and signed every autograph. A class act and a one of a kind gentleman.