Officially on a big time 20th century music bent on Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, this blogmeister has been binge-listening to the innovative and incomparable guitar-slinger, guitar builder and recording technology innovator Les Paul, the only musician also in the National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum.
Having made his name first as a country-western guitarist, then as a band member in Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians and ultimately with his own trio, Les was hired by Bing Crosby.
Clearly, Les was extremely adept at accompanying vocalists even early on in his recording career.
After further success as an ace accompanist with The Andrews Sisters and as a last-minute sub for Oscar Moore in the first Jazz At The Philharmonic concert, Les Paul would join forces with talented vocalist, fellow guitar-slinger and wife-to-be Mary Ford.
The duo soon became one of Capitol Records' top selling recording artists. On radio, Les and Mary co-starred in the 15-minute Les Paul Show.
The Les Paul & Mary Ford records, including 16 top 10 hits between 1950-1954, sold millions.
The duo were the biggest recording artists in the business until the emergence of Elvis Presley.
Les, always a builder and tinkerer, figured out how to add more recording heads to tape machines, utilize multiple tape recorders and create multi-track recordings.
Using a makeshift recording studio in their garage, Les Paul and Mary Ford created hit records for Capitol Records in which Les' guitar and Mary's voice became an orchestra.
The musical couple hosted their own syndicated TV show in 1954-1955.
Celebrated by guitarists from Pat Martino to Steve Miller to Jimmy Page: Les Paul's innovations and inventions in building electric guitars.
Les retired from performing in 1964 and dropped out of sight to concentrate on new guitar designs for Gibson.
He ended said retirement by recording two albums with his pal and fellow "string king" Chet Atkins, Guitar Monsters and Chester & Lester.
Les was among the few luminaries from the swing and bop eras to live long enough to carry that blazing musical brilliance into the 21st century. He held forth weekly at New York City's Iridium Club - and look who showed up to pay tribute.
Les Paul & Mary Ford - here's to you!
Thanks a million for the great sounds! For more, see the official Les Paul website.
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