Les Paul, who affected the course of popular music in profound ways, died today at the age of 94. Jazz devotees may remember the guitarist most fondly from the days in the 1930s when he collaborated with Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge and Art Tatum, or his
involvement with Jazz At The Philharmonic and a memorable 1944 blues duet with Nat Cole. He went on to star on radio and television, invent equipment, come up with innovative recording techniques and zoom to the top of the pop charts with hit records. I thought about importing video clips to illustrate Paul’s career, but I could not improve on the nine-minute obituary the producers of PSB’s The News Hour with Jim Lehrer put together on this evening’s newscast. With the gratitude of the Rifftides staff, here it is:
Les Paul
August 13, 2009 by
The nonagenarian pianist presented de Barros with every biographer’s hope, unrestricted access to his subject’s personal papers and nearly unrestricted access to her private thoughts. He made the most of it, turning exhaustive research and hundreds of hours of interviews into a true story with the sweep of a novel. From the early discovery of McPartland’s musical gift through her wartime service, her ecstatic and stormy marriage to Jimmy McPartland, her growth as a pianist, her deep affair with Joe Morello, and the radio show that made her a national figure, she has had a fascinating life. It makes a splendid read.
Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band had three fewer musicians than most big jazz outfits. Its size permitted precision, flexibility and subtlety, yet the band had the power of sprung steel. In this concert from a half century ago, the CJB is as fresh as yesterday. Arrangements by Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn and Johnny Mandel set standards to which big band writers still aspire. Bassist Buddy Clark and drummer Mel Lewis inspired Mulligan, Brookmeyer, Conte Candoli, Gene Quill and Zoot Sims to some of the best soloing of their careers. This beautifully produced issue of the complete concert is a basic repertoire item.
Thanks, Doug, for posting this very interesting video. “The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise” is really amazing. How relaxed and cool they delivered that tune! Okay, it might be a bit musical circus too, but I personally prefer this kind of virtuosity over the humorless calculated stuff we have in pop music today.
And, as a funny side note, here it was again, one of the new verbal redundancies which were discovered at this blog recently: “(…) Les Paul “literally” changed music forever.” Ha!
R.I.P. Les Paul
He was a dedicated, helpful, humorous master musician (and inventor) and we will not see his like again. It is true, he literally changed music forever.