Les Paul playing a signature Les Paul Recording electric Gibson guitar during an extended sound check at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City on May 30, 2005. He died today, with complications from pneumonia, at 94. ({Photo by David M. Warren / Philadelphia Inquirer / MCT)
by Mark Silva and updated (hear the master below....)
The name lives on, but the man is gone.
Les Paul, a performer and inventor whose handicraft has given generations of musicians the sound they wanted, died today. He was 94.
He is remembered, along with wife Mary Ford, for 36 gold records cut between 1949 and 1962. They made black-and-white television sing. "How High the Moon,'' they sang.
But among fellow pickers he is revered for something else: Strapping a microphone onto a block of wood. Add some steel strings. And the hum starts bucking.
The wooden beam that Paul ran through the middle of the earliest semi-hollow electric guitars gave Gibson Guitars a resonance never matched. The neck-breaking brick of wood that became the Les Paul guitar is the gold standard of the 20th Century electric. In 1952, Gibson started production on the first Les Paul guitar (the '52 Gold Top is pictured here) - and, while they sure don't make them like they used to, the bands play on.
Two electric guitars that emerged from the 1950s, the Les Paul and the Fender Stratocaster, remain the two finest instruments available today (though the SG body style for the Les Paul that emerged in the 1960s is prettier, hugs like a Strat and hums like the king). All you have to do is look at who's playng them.
It wasn't only the guitar that Paul invented. He was a pioneer of multi-track sound recording, enabling musicians and singers to overlay their work. Production, in fact, became the hallmark of rock and roll in the 1960s. It was hard to replicate on stage what was produced in the studio. But then, the Les Paul made up for it all.
"Suddenly, it was recognized that power was a very important part of music," Paul once said. "To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn't think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system."
He had experimented with guitar amplification for some time before coming up with "the log'' in 1941, a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings. "I went into a nightclub and played it,'' he said. "Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut.''
Today, all Les Paul's children remember him as the father of the electric guitar and the recordings he made possible.
(Two of those more inventive and talented children: Jeff Beck, pictured abve in a sea of Les Pauls, and the late Mike Bloomfield, below, courtesy of Gibson Guitars.)
Comments
But the Strat vs Les Paul will continue.
Rest in Peace!
Posted by: bill r. | August 13, 2009 1:09 PM
R I P - Les Paul - the original rock star
Posted by: John E | August 13, 2009 1:50 PM
Woodstock (see earlier post) would have been a folk festival. The Beatles studio work would have never happened without overdubs. And he played with the greats like Wes Montgomery and Charlie Christian -- and he kept playing into his 90s. RIP -- play on.
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | August 13, 2009 1:51 PM
A true pioneer! Rest in peace, Les.
Posted by: John D | August 13, 2009 2:23 PM
Let the Swamp record reflect that John E and John D are in harmony today. A Les Paul convergence.
Posted by: Mark Silva | August 13, 2009 2:36 PM
Mark,
Just like Big Dog did with North Korea, sometimes you have to reach out to nutjob authoritarian types, if for no other reason than to throw them off balance. :-)
Posted by: John E | August 13, 2009 2:50 PM
That didn't last long.
Posted by: Mark Silva | August 13, 2009 3:22 PM
Bunkport,
Damn, how do you know all this stuff? Is your day job editor for Rolling Stone Magazine?
May the Les Paulverizer live on!
.
In honor of the John E. + John D. miracle of convergence, I propose the former dedicate this LP song to the latter; "Move Along, Baby (Don't Waste My Time).
.
JK-- R.I.P, Rhubarb Red
Posted by: dt☢ | August 13, 2009 3:44 PM
* * * * *
Posted by: Mark Silva | August 13, 2009 3:22 PM
.
Did you really believe the peace and harmony would last long? (ROTFL)
.
BTW - with regard to the comment, “And the hum starts bucking” - Les Paul had nothing to do with the “humbucking” pickup that eventually became standard equipment on the Les Paul model. That style of noise canceling pickup was designed by engineers at Gibson, and didn’t go on Les Paul models until ‘56 or ’57. (The gold-top model pictured standing in its case has the earlier, single coil pickups. The guitars posing with Jeff Beck and Mike Bloomfield have the dual coil humbuckers.) I know you didn’t say he developed the humbucker, but the reference left an ambiguity. This is also not to take away from Les Paul, himself, for his wonderful contributions toward development of the solid body guitar.
.
One should also note that Les Paul didn’t care for the SG model and asked to have his name taken off of it in its early production. Most people today don’t equate the SG with the Les Paul line. The SG model is nowhere near as heavy as the Les Paul, has a longer neck and more accessible frets (and on some models, two more frets.) Some people used to prefer the standard Les Paul to the SG because its extra weight and density allowed notes to be sustained longer. That problem has largely been fixed by the use of compression, distortion and the creative use of feedback.
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R.I.P. Les Paul.
Posted by: John W. | August 13, 2009 4:14 PM
dt,
The problem is it is just "stuff."
All,
This is worth a viewing. (Note that he developed the overdubbing for Mary Ford, as heard here in their prime). He was one of a kind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP7qI5RVtxw&feature=fvw
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | August 13, 2009 4:47 PM
Now will all those Les Paul guitars I've seen on "Antiques Roadshow" double in price???
RIP to a true inventor.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | August 13, 2009 7:53 PM
KB,
When that "stuff" is knowledge, that's a good thing. Material things?, I defer to Lester in American Beauty: "This isn't life, it's just stuff..."
Posted by: dt☢ | August 13, 2009 8:02 PM
John W,
You are hearby barred from eulogizing me or writing my obit. You'd get it wrong, ruin the mood, and my guests would fall asleep. I'd get pissed off and would have to haunt you, while here on earth I can just leave you to yourself.
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | August 13, 2009 9:34 PM
The world lost a forefather, innovator and creator. Les you will be missed, but will most certainly live on well beyond many lifetimes with your magnificent instrument which bears your name.. All the best to the family.
chi Turbo ceramic flat iron
Posted by: chi flat iron | August 13, 2009 11:11 PM
He was a giant among men. I hope he had a good life and I hope he has a good afterlife.
Posted by: Chris R | August 14, 2009 12:25 PM
i was a kid when the first 'multiple-voiced record came out. There were, I think, at least 10 Mary Ford voices singing "How High The Moon".
Incredible! My friends and I tried it with 2 reel-to-reel tape recorders (all we had then). It was hard; you had to remember every nuance, long breath, riff each time. But what fun. We could not believe it hadn't been thought of before. Les, you're with your Mary now. Enjoy.
Posted by: margie j | August 15, 2009 6:12 PM
First, Charlie Christian. Then Django Reinhardt, then Wes, Chet, and now Les. I have not been feeling too well myself, here of late.
Thanks Mark S., for acknowledging the many accomplishments of the ‘For Real’, great, Les Paul. Thanks too, John W. A colorful strat is my axe of choice, but I like this sort of analytical, historical stuff. Thanx.
Posted by: Django - N Exile In/Around the 30th Parallel | August 17, 2009 7:55 PM
I saw Les Paul at the Iridium about two years ago. He asked if anyone in the audience played guitar then invited that person onto the stage to play a song with him. For the rest of his life, that player can claim to have played on stage with Les Paul. What a gift from a great innovator. Rest in peace Les, and thanks for the Chester/Lester album, perhaps the sweetest guitar album made.
Posted by: NV DOC | August 20, 2009 9:45 PM