Sad News: Les Paul just died

[Jaimoe]

I had the honour of seeing Les Paul play (and meeting him) last summer at his club in NYC. I know he had a great long life, but I thought he'd never die. A wonderful guitarist, inventor and showman, Les will be missed by everyone who calls themselves a music fan. I beg all guitarists out there to pick up your collective axes, preferably a Gibson Les Paul, but any will do, and play the mutherfucker for all its worth. R.I.P. Les Paul. You were the greatest.

Guitar legend Les Paul dies at age 94

(AP) – 19 minutes ago

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.

According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.

As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the "tracks" in the finished recording.

[Jaimoe]

I love this old clip of Les dueling with Mary Ford.

[Hartamophone]

[Jaimoe]

I remember that commercial. It gets even better with age. Thanks for posting it.

[bradm]

Aloha,

Brad

[bouche]

quotes from an interview with Les Paul

It's not technique -- it's what you have to say.

I got the mumps. They threw me in a crib so I wouldn't roll out onto the floor. And there's a big bay window in my house, and that window stayed perfectly still until that train started to chug. At a certain speed, I could reach up and feel the pane, and that glass pane would vibrate. I said, Doggone, there's got to be a reason for this. So I go to the kindergarten teacher, and she takes me to the science teacher, and the science teacher takes me to the library and reads it off to me -- "This is called resonance." That was the beginning.

The audience, they're not professionals. They just love music. It isn't necessary to play over their heads to be admired.

You can't go to the store and buy a good ear and rhythm.

I got out of the car and there was a knife in my neck. The guy says, "Don't move." And the drummer got out of the car, and he got a gun in his head. This was my entrance to the South Side of Chicago. But it was necessary, because I wanted to play jazz.

When rock came in, people didn't know what to do. Even Sinatra, he didn't know what to do. The music was changing. And it's changing now.

Last time I saw Count Basie, he was in a wheelchair. They wheeled him up onto the stage, he sits down at the piano, and he gives the downbeat, and that band played like they were in heaven. And right in the middle, the band cuts. He had to take one hand and put the other on it, and he comes down with one note. And it was the greatest note I ever heard in my life.

I gave up the guitar in 1965. Didn't want to see a guitar. I'd go out and get drunk. When I came out of the heart surgery, the doc said, "Promise me you'll work hard." I said, "I thought working hard is what got me here." He said, "No, working is what will keep you alive."

There are times when you want to go where you used to go and you can't go there. So I'm back to Count Basie lifting his hand. And I find you can stop that show with one note just like you can with a hundred.

I better go play now.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/les-paul-quotes-0109?src=digg#ixzz0O6UdbUGk

[bouche]

History of Multitrack recording[/urlk]

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[bouche]

24 LIFE images of Les Paul