OK, I get it…the “King of Pop” is dead and all that. No disrespect, but for me and most every other fan of electric guitar, an era ended this week with the passing of Les Paul. While Les didn’t invent the electric guitar, the pioneering work he did with his trademark Gibson, introducing overdubbing and all kinds of sonic effects, set the stage for everyone who followed. In my humble opinion, there’s virtually nothing that’s happened in the world of rock guitar that would have been possible without him. The revolution began with the release of ”How High the Moon” by Les and his wife – Mary Ford.
If you’re reading this and don’t know about Les Paul, you may think that he was simply a forerunner of today’s “techno-nerd”, creating electronic sounds in the studio that could never be duplicated anywhere else. While some of that may be true, what can’t be denied is that the man was a virtuoso with the guitar. After rock music exploded into popular culture, Les faded into the background and didn’t reemerge onstage until his 70′s. He became a regular fixture in clubs around New York City and for a time had a weekly gig at a place called the Iconium, continuing to play publicly into his 90′s!
No need for me to go any further because there’s plenty of information on the Internet about Les. At his website, there’s a link to a great biography that PBS did several years ago as part of the “American Masters” series.
Vaya con Dios, Les.
Vaya Con Dios (May God Be With You)
