R.I.P. Les Paul
The guitar legend, who literally carved an indelible mark on the history of the electric guitar and multi-track recording, has died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains hospital in New York (via AP). He had a storied career as an artist and innovator, and continued performing in more recent years every Monday night at NYC's Iridium jazz club, a residency which a good many of us are kicking ourselves for never having attended. He was 94.
Posted at 12:23 PM by amrit
Tags: Les Paul
Wow. R.I.P., for real.
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None of my favorite bands use a Les Paul.
RIP anyway
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yeah, but I'm sure they use amplification and multi-track recording
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Wow, what a legend. Another sad day for the music world. RIP
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Did he really have a second wife named Mary? Mary Ford (whom he reportedly abused) passed away in 1977.
The dreamy, melancholy, densely layered guitar music he made with Mary Ford in the late 50s and early 60s are some of the most gorgeous recordings ever pressed to acetate. Fans of Mazzy Star, Beach House, Angelo Badalamenti among others, please reward yourselves with a listen.
Regardless, anyone who plays an electric stringed instrument or used a multi-track tape machine owes something to this man and his inventions.
This is a nice obituary in the N.Y. Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/arts/music/14paul.html?_r=1&hp
(As a curious aside, among other items in his extensive collection of music and studio gear, Vincent Gallo currently owns at least one of Les Paul's original multi-track recorders.)
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You are right about Mary, thanks Sir.
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I would have really enjoyed a bigger write up than this, but I guess you needed to save the room for the Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn piece. Pathetic.
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This guy was more important to music the MJ
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Is there any need to be a dick about it? BOTH of them were equally important to music, and besides this isn't a competition and his death had nothing to do with MJ. I like how your idea of showing respect to the dead is by putting down another, and on a post COMPLETELY unrelated to Michael Jackson, no less. You're a class act.
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Couldn't be doing it without you Les. God bless you and may you find ways to build those phenomenal Gibbys for all the rocking angels your about to meet.
R.I.P.
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Why does this get a small little notice crammed between Scarlett Johansson and some dumb no one cares about indie rock band. This man was one of the great innovators of music in general. For chrissake Stereogum, show the man some respect!
Les Paul - R.I.P
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Bob M.- this is stereogum. where sentences such as "The guitar legend, who literally carved an indelible mark..." pass as writing, when anyone with a brain between their ears knows Les did not LITERALLY carve his mark. He FIGURATIVELY carved it.
English language, FTW.
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His name was on my first electric guitar, cast in a shape he designed. That is a literal carving, and that his mark was indelible -- literally and figuratively -- is incontestable.
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Seriously. Don't complain about the writing in a piece about Les Paul unless you're aware he was the father of the electric guitar. You're just annoyed you had to look up "indelible," telescopic boy.
I broke out my Gibson Les Paul today, in tribute. RIP.
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This truly is sad news. RIP Les Paul.
The word 'literally' is, ironically, often used as a textual signpost in writing to signal the use of metaphor. First-Class degree in English Language and Literature FTW.
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It is used in speech too, of course (I felt the need to point that out before I got called on it).
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Les was also a bit of a huckster as a youngan. Always fibbing about his past, his age, his origins, etc. to forge ahead and perform or get where he wanted.
He drove back and forth across the country dozens of times in outrageously short time spans - something of a rarity back then. I think it was something like NY to CA in 2.5 days straight or something along those lines, which seems crazy even now.
There's a decent biography published around 1997 that gives a good general overview of his life, especially his childhood (which is a bygone era now). He gave interviews to the author but strictly refused to speak about Mary Ford and made it part of his conditions to talk. Mary was an ace rhythm guitar player herself and had the voice of an angel, who should be remembered. He did many amazing things, but in a roundabout way, we'll just say he wasn't always gentlemanly to her.
Whenever there were goofy, old regime, jive ass music industry tributes (think Rolling Stone, Gibson guitars, Hard Rock Cafe) to Les Paul, they always seemed awkward and forced. I don't doubt that people like Slash, Jeff Beck, or whomever guested at these events didn't feel certain gratitude towards the man and his innovative nature. But if one was unfamiliar with Les Paul's recorded works, a person would watch these stiff 2 hour music industry back scratching affairs and STILL walk away not necessarily knowing what his music (and various styles of it) sounded like! I always hated that.
As another aside, it's kinda righteous Les Paul is Steve Miller's godfather (as in "Keep On Rocking Me Baby" Steve Miller).
Among other things, remember the man for this:
http://tunes.ickmusic.com/15%20Over%20the%20Rainbow.mp3
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I love my Les Paul with pride. Rock on Les, rock on...
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Pioneer of guitar music, design, and multitracking. RIP
P.S. A picture would be nice.
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Stereogum hates Les Paul.
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Here's to hoping this will somehow reduce the outrageous pricing of Les Pauls.
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The world now has one less Paul.
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i see what you did there...
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This blog details Les Paul during his radio performance broadcasting days.
Worth a read:
http://easyace.blogspot.com/2009/08/les-paul-rip-shoemaker-stick-to-your.html
And this NBC Broadcast from 1950 is definitely worth the listen:
http://ia340929.us.archive.org/2/items/TheLesPaulShow/LesPaulShow500330_Audition_Show.mp3
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RIP Les
I love the story how he originally left Gibson b/c they tried to name the SG after him when it wasn't his design. Later on, when Clapton started playing one, he started designing them again.
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so in other words, the bands u listen all suck
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111888401
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fender is better
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Thiis one is a somewhat interesting read.
A coversation with Les Paul & Edward Van Halen in 1986:
http://www.vhnd.com/2009/08/20/interview-with-les-paul-and-eddie-van-halen-from-1986/
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