Tonight I saw on my local PBS TV station a special about Les Paul; his music, singing partner (Mary Ford), inventions, contribution to music recording, his guitar, etc. It was an excellent documentary with great Les Paul music, interviews with every well known guitar player, and his inventions. If anyone of you have not seen it I highly recommend it. It was on PBS and is part of the American Masters series/program. Maybe you can find it on ITunes, it is 1-1/2 hours long and worth every minute.

Yes, that was an excellent show. Saw it a year or so ago. Les is, and always will be, a giant.

and I do love that namesake guitar , that was a great program :thmbsp:

Excellent show! Got to love that man and his invention without which none of us would be doing what we do. Listen and or play!!

It's available on DVD, too.

Go see him live, before it's too late.

je

Yes, find your way to Manhattan/NYC and see the Lester perform any Monday night at club Iridium.

The single most important musician of the latter half of the previous century. His inventions include, Multitrack recording, Overdubbing and oh yeah, the solid body guitar. The documentary is highly recommended and the man could "Shred" as well, check out his playing on Tiger Rag.

He is a treat to see although his arthritis is slowing down his playing of late, tough to be nimble at 94! My cousin witnessed this exchange at a Robert Fripp soundcheck at the World Financial Center. Fripp was preparing for a show when Les Paul walked in to check out the venue where he would be playing the following week.

Fripp upon seeing Les Paul stopped his playing and vaulted over to shake Les's hand. "I've been playing your guitars since 1964!" "It's a pleasure to meet you." To which Les Paul responded "I know" and "I know who you are." Fripp with his reputation for aloofness "looked like a little kid in a candy store" according to my cousin.

Wish I had seen that myself. Pretty cool that this influential jazz guitarist knew of the work of Robert Fripp and the progressive rock ensemble King Crimson.

It's available on DVD, too.

Go see him live, before it's too late.

je

The DVD is loaded with extras! GEt it!!!!! Worth every penny!

The DVD is loaded with extras! GEt it!!!!! Worth every penny!

Is the DVD under the name American Masters: Les Paul, or something else?

Besides all the great things some of the best guitar players in the world had to say about Les Paul, it was cool to see Eddie Van Halen sober up just from meeting Les Paul, Eddie looked like a kid who just met Santa.

He is way high in my book. One of the few to ever excel in both the scientific and artistic realms of his field. The other great would be Ansel Adams.

The DVD is loaded with extras! GEt it!!!!! Worth every penny!

Les' son also produced a VHS of a show back at Fat Tuesday's, it's well done. Tough to find, though.

je

Well pulled the trigger on EBay for a couple of Les' records. I knew who he was, and obviously knew Gibson's Les Paul guitar series, but never had the chance to hear his music, as I was young and foolish. Great learning experience for me.

His Legend & Legacy box set is great, they actually found & fixed many (if not all) of the original machines to play & compile his original masters. Expensive & tedious process, but the quality shows in the box set.

je

Is the DVD under the name American Masters: Les Paul, or something else?

Besides all the great things some of the best guitar players in the world had to say about Les Paul, it was cool to see Eddie Van Halen sober up just from meeting Les Paul, Eddie looked like a kid who just met Santa.


Here it is:
http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Chasing-Sound/dp/B000QGE856/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1234013141&sr=1-1

BTW - His current bass player, who sadly is not featured too much in the DVD except in the extras, is one hell of a player and one VERY beautiful women - Nicki Parrott http://www.nickiparrott.com/bio. She plays with Les every Monday night at the Iridium. (He makes lots of jokes about her looks and his age.)

I go to NJ/NYC at least every three months, going in April, will check out Les at Iridium. Thanks for the info!