That Old Feeling: Les Is More

  • Share
  • Read Later

(2 of 4)

In the '40s he got some flashy gigs — a Jazz at the Philharmonic session with Nat Cole on piano and Illinois Jacquet on sax — but spent more time on electronic experimentation. He built a new guitar out of Epiphone parts and called it the Log; he'd use it in his recordings for the next decade. Assembling a recording studio in his garage (total cost: $415), he produced such performers as the Andrews Sisters, Gene Austin and his pal and patron Bing Crosby. His work with White, Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, as well as some Les Paul Trio sides, can be found on 'Les Paul: The Trio's Complete Decca Recordings Plus (1936-47).'

Just after the War, Crosby gave him one of the first Ampex tape recorders. It helped stoke in Paul the familiar dream of a trailblazing artist: to put on wax the music in his head. What emerged, in 1948, with the two-sided hit 'Lover' and 'Brazil,' was something he called The New Sound. It comprised several tracks of brisk, intricate guitar work meticulously laid on top of one another; if he made a mistake with the final track, he'd have to start over again. The New Sound, which he refined in his new home-studio in Mahwah, N.J., amounted to a one-man musical revolution.

To sell the sound to a mass audience, the one man needed one woman: a vocalist. Gene Autry recommended a singer who had worked with him, Colleen Summers. They were lovers from 1946, though they didn't marry until the end of 1949, back in Milwaukee (Les got his blood test from the father of Steve Miller, the blues guitar man). Colleen was with Les when their car crashed and he broke his back, both collar bones, six ribs and his nose. His right arm and elbow were crushed; doctors suggested it be amputated, but they took part of his leg and grafted it onto the pulpy bone. Fearing that his arm wouldn't regain its movement, Les insisted that it be set at a right angle so he could still play guitar.

Paul had thought that Summers, schooled in country, would not feel at ease singing the jazz-inflected pop he wanted to play. But he finally decided that his domestic partner could be his professional one. For a two-star act, she needed a name nearly as short and simple as his; thus Mary Ford. They hit immediately: five top-ten hits ('Tennessee Waltz,' 'Mockin' Bird Hill,' 'How High the Moon,' 'The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise' and 'Whispering') in nine months. From August 1952 to March '53 they scored five more top-ten hits ('My Baby's Coming Home,' 'Lady of Spain,' 'Bye Bye Blues,' 'I'm Sitting on Top of the World' and 'Vaya Con Dios'). And when they weren't recording, starred in a radio show, did guest spots on Ed Sullivan's 'Toast of the Town' and played midtown Manhattan movie houses. Lines stretched up Broadway to see America's Musical Sweethearts.

At Iridium, there's a long line down the basement steps two hours before showtime. And why not? It's Les Paul's birthday party! My wife and I and our friends Jeff Silver (who generously loaned me the Gold Rush and Decca CDs) and Denise Calvo are led to a table; we order drinks and a some cheeseburgers. An hour and a half later, Les is on stage with his expert sidemen: Lou Pallo on and Frank Vignola on guitars, Nicki Parrott on bass. But we're still waiting for your fast food. We've noticed that our waitress' name is Dawn, and wonder if that's when we'll get our burgers. Finally they arrive, without the cheese. We try to scarf it down in the 40 minutes or so that guest musicians are giving Les a rest from saying hello, hearing 'Happy Birthday' sung to him by the crowd, and walking off-stage.

Tonight's guest pianist is Monty Alexander, a light-fingered Jamaican with some 50 CDs on his rsum. Drummer Joe Ascione joins the jam, but he neglected to bring his skins, so he does nifty brushwork on a music stand. Finally Les returns, picks up his axe and sends us all 'Over the Rainbow.' Then he sallies into what is still his most requested tune, 'How High the Moon.'

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4