Les Paul Tribute

Every guitar player in the world knows the name Les Paul, the near-mythic man who created a blazing-fast-tempoed jazz guitar sound in the 1940's and 50's and invented the legendary solid body electric guitar that goes by his name (the Les Paul by Gibson). Both feats would be Herculean by themselves, but Mr. Paul's combination of music artistry and intuitive workshop tinkering with making guitars electric puts him in a class by himself. He says of his invention that he was trying to elevate the guitar into a powerful solo instrument, something that could hold its own in a loud band. And he certainly did.

Mr. Paul was still playing his fire-brand guitar into his 90's, having begun his band playing by cajoling his way into Paul Whiteman's big band (along with Chet Atkins brother, Jimmy).

"The Log" was what Mr. Paul called his first electric guitar, the brutish precursor to the sexy Les Paul that Gibson eventually developed with him. The Log guitar was 4 inches thick and hewn out of a railroad tie, married to an Epiphone guitar neck and two pickups. Audiences and the executives of the music world would laugh at it. Later Les Paul totally transformed the recording of music forever with his invention/discovery of overdubbing, which rapidly evolved into multi-track recording. Les Paul had a very successful recording career, and is most famous for his recordings with his wife Mary Ford in the 50's.

We'll miss Les Paul: the man, the mind and his music.