Showing posts with label Les Paul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Les Paul. Show all posts

R.I.P. Les Paul

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Friday, August 14, 2009 17 Of Your Sparks


Today - a new post:
Olive Garden Chicken Crostini
Come take a seat at the table



Received an email from good friend STARR from "Here Comes A Girl In The Form Of A Storm" yesterday around noon that simply had in the subject line, “2009 is a nasty year so far”. And right behind it my friend JULIE of "Julies's Jewels & Junque" sent an email informing me of this fact also…Ah my friends know if it is about music, I must be informed.

The email From Starr contained a link and when I clicked it I found sad news. Lester William Polsfuss passed away on Wednesday evening.

Never heard the name? Well, you definitely know him by his ‘stage’ name, Les Paul.

Les Paul
June 9, 1915 – August 13, 2009


The genius behind the electric guitar and technological advances such as electronic echo and multi-tracking recording was 94. The cause of death was respiratory failure, and according to a statement from Gibson Guitars, Paul was suffering from severe pneumonia and died at a hospital in White Plains, New York.

Mr. Paul was an inductee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy Hall of Fame, Mr. Paul was also an incredibly talented guitarist and with singer Mary Ford, his wife until 1964, had a successful recording career. In the early ’50s, Paul and Ford had a string of hits including "Mockin’ Bird Hill,” “How High the Moon,” “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise” and “Vaya Con Dios.”

Paul first became interested in music at the age of eight, when he began playing the harmonica. After an attempt at learning to play the banjo, he began to play the guitar. By 13, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist. At the age of 17, Paul played with Rube Tronson's Texas Cowboys, and soon after he dropped out of high school to join Wolverton's Radio Band in St. Louis, Missouri on KMOX.

In January 1948, Paul was injured in a near-fatal automobile accident in Oklahoma, which shattered his right arm and elbow. Doctors told Paul that there was no way for them to rebuild his elbow in a way that would let him regain movement, and that his arm would remain permanently in whatever position they placed it in. Paul then instructed the surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.

When we played MIDWEEK MUSIC MEME here on The Couch, we featured Mr. Paul and Ms. Ford one week. You can find that post HERE.

And one Thursday, for Thursday 13 we featured Mr. Paul's ‘babies’ and the response from the female guests here on The Couch was overwhelming. Find that post HERE (I did have to go back and reformat that post so it would be viewable to those of you who click the link.)

Strangely enough, just the other day I had decided to do a WAY BACK MACHINE post today and that post was going to be the Les Paul Thursday 13…Kind of gave me the willies when I realized I would be doing a Les Paul post, but one to honor the man and announce his passing, not his guitars.

In 2003, Rolling Stone named Les Paul to their list of the Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and his influence on guitar greats who followed him is undeniable. “He was one of the most stellar human beings I’ve ever known,” Slash posted on his Twitter yesterday, referring to Paul as his “friend and mentor.” Chickenfoot guitarist Joe Satriani released a statement that reads, “Les Paul set a standard for musicianship and innovation that remains unsurpassed. He was the original guitar hero, and the kindest of souls.”

For his achievements as a technician, Mr. Paul was also inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005, joining Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.

Les Paul was an Honorary Board Member for Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing free musical instruments and music instruction to under-served schools across the country.

Paul was the godfather of rock guitarist Steve Miller of the Steve Miller Band, to whom Paul gave his first guitar lesson.

Paul was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1915, a fact noted in the name of the 1980 Les Paul documentary "The Wizard of Waukesha".

Last November, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honored Paul with its annual American Music Masters Concert, where Slash, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Richie Sambora and the Patti Smith Group’s Lenny Kaye paid tribute to Paul. Kaye told the audience, “Before Les, guitars were only amplified. Les made them truly electric.”

During his acceptance speech, Paul joked, “Everybody thought I was a guitar until I played here tonight.” One thing is for certain: Les Paul is responsible for changing the way rock & roll sounds and he will be greatly missed.

Until just recently, Mr. Paul would perform every Monday night, accompanied by a trio which included guitarist Lou Pallo, bassist Nicki Parrott and pianist John Colianni, at the Iridium Jazz Club on Broadway in New York City.

Mr. Paul’s website can be found HERE

Yes, Starr, 2009 has been a nasty year for us here on earth, but that jam band in heaven is rocking out BIG TIME!

Two from Mr. Paul and Ms. Ford..."Vaya Con Dios" and "Hummingbird"...




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This Week's Answer

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Wednesday, January 24, 2007 7 Of Your Sparks




Can Anyone take down our reigning champ?
We have learned that PIACERE is a true musicophile!
For the second week in a row,
she is the only person to complete the answer.
Anndi had the Artist & the Song.
SONG: BYE BYE BLUES
ALBUM: BYE BYE BLUES - 1953
ARTISTS: LES PAUL & MARY FORD


This husband and wife combination were pioneers of the music industry. There are two people on that song. Les and mary. It is all done with over-dubs (recording different part on differnt "tracks" and then combining them).

Wikipedia says of Les paul that he is "one of the most important figures in the development of modern electric instruments and recording techniques. He is a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar (the Gibson Les Paul, which he helped design, is one of the most famous and enduring models), multitrack recording, and various reverb and echo effects."

Also from Wikipedia:
In 1947, Capitol Records released a recording that had begun as an experiment in Paul's garage, entitled "Lover (When You're Near Me)", which featured Paul playing eight different parts on electric guitar, some of them recorded at half-speed, hence "double-fast" when played back at normal speed for the master. This was the first time that multi-tracking had been used in a recording. Amazingly, these recordings were made, not with magnetic tape, but with wax disks. Paul would record a track onto a disk, then record himself playing another part with the first. He built the multi-track recording with overlaid tracks, rather than parallel ones as he did later. There is no record of how few 'takes' were needed before he was satisfied with one layer and moved onto the next.

Paul even built his own wax-cutter assembly, based on auto parts. He favored the flywheel from a Cadillac for its weight and flatness. Even in these early days, he used the wax disk setup to record parts at different speeds and with delay, resulting in his signature sound with echoes and birdsong-like guitar riffs. When he later began using magnetic tape, the major change was that he could take his recording rig on tour with him, even making episodes for his 15-minute radio show in his hotel room.

Of course the Gibson Guitar which bears his name was based upon an original design by Paul, though it has been modified over the years.

In January 1948, Paul was injured in a near-fatal automobile accident in Oklahoma, which shattered his right arm and elbow. Doctors told Paul that there was no way for them to rebuild his elbow in a way that would let him regain movement, and that his arm would remain in whatever position they placed it in permanently. Paul then instructed the surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.

Paul and Mary Ford were married and Ms. Ford passed in the 70's. Mr. Paul is 92 years old and still performs.One more fact for you trekkies: The Klingon word for guitar, leSpol, was derived from his name, and is pronounced to evoke it.

To find out more about Les Paul & Mary Ford, you can check out the following sites:
ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME
LES PAUL ONLINE


And two other Les Paul beauties:

Lady Of Spain:



Vaya Con Dios:



NAMES WILL BE IN LIGHTS LATER TODAY

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