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July 8, 1999 |
That was 70 years ago. In June, Lester Polfuss celebrated his 84th birthday and his 63rd year as a musician named Les Paul. In the '50s, the Wisconsin-born inventor became synonymous with rock 'n' roll's weapon of choice and forged technological paths that the recording industry has been following ever since. A few of his experiments left an indelible stamp on the sound of pop music. Despite countless run-ins with destruction -- a car crash that nearly cost him his right arm, a broken eardrum, quadruple-bypass surgery, arthritis in both hands -- Paul still plays every week, presiding over a Manhattan jazz club with his own black Les Paul. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Les Paul's lifelong search for the "perfect sound" began in 1936, in the noisy Chicago jazz clubs where he performed with the newly formed Les Paul Trio. Paul was always out jamming, and it was during these sessions, in the company of loud bar patrons and brass instruments, that he began toying with the idea of a solid-body electric guitar. He began by modifying his own Epiphone semi-hollow electric guitar. In 1938, at age 22, Paul moved to New York City with his wife, Virginia Webb
Paul. His trio played on a popular national radio variety show, where he
developed showmanship and style to go along with the sizzling licks he was
perfecting at night, jamming uptown in Harlem with jazz greats like Art
Tatum and Roy Eldridge. In his spare time, he kept tinkering with the tools of his musical trade.
At home, he began cutting records of his radio
performances, and he taught himself how to add parts to his music by
overdubbing. Down on 14th Street, meanwhile, Paul talked his way into
the Epiphone factory, where he worked on a prototype solid-body
electric guitar after hours. He ultimately assembled what came to be known as "the Log," a
four-inch-thick chunk of lumber that served as a guitar. "You could go out
and eat and come back and the note would still be sounding," Paul has said of
the Log's sustain. Paul moved his family to Hollywood in 1943 and continued to push his guitar
into the forefront. On songs like the Les Paul Trio's 1944 recordings of "Begin the
Beguine" and "Dark Eyes," Paul's dazzling glissandos are the main event; many
of the spilling runs are played with harmony notes. By 1945, he was playing
with Bing Crosby, and their version of "It's Been a Long, Long Time" became
a No. 1 hit. On the trio's 1947 cover of "Steel Guitar Rag," the
boogie-woogie bass lines on Paul's low E string offer an early glimpse of
rock 'n' roll. Occasionally relegated to the rhythm sections of acts like
Dinah Shore and the Andrews Sisters, Paul grew more determined to
electronically amplify his guitar and make it a real lead instrument. By 1946, on Crosby's advice, Paul had built a home studio and was recording
his own masters for record companies. He took his Log to Gibson around the
same time, and was politely shown the door. "They called it a broomstick
with a pickup on it," he later told Guitar Player magazine. So he pushed on
with his sound experiments. He replaced the standard studio echo chamber
with his own electronic echo, created by his guitar. He mastered overdubbing
techniques. In 1947, he took the first fruit of this labor, "Lover," to
Capitol Records. Paul had created a sonic carnival with countless layers of
rhythm and lead guitars, experimenting with microphones and recording speed,
synthesizing new tones. That he had done it at all was astounding; that he
had done it at home made the recording a true wonder. Capitol could only
call it "the New Sound." Paul was becoming involved with his new singer, Colleen Summers, whom he
renamed Mary Ford. In 1948, their convertible slipped on ice on Route 66
outside Oklahoma City, crashing through a guardrail and dropping 20 feet
into a frozen creek bed. Ford, who had been driving, broke her pelvis; Paul's
right arm was shattered in three places. One doctor suggested
amputation, and there was a consensus that Paul would never play guitar
again. Doctors grafted bone from his leg into his arm and rebuilt his elbow
with a steel plate, which had to be locked into place. Paul had them set it
at a 90 degree position, thumb pointed in, so he could play his instrument.
The arm would be in one cast after another for the next 18 months. During Paul's convalescence, Crosby had dropped by with a gift: one of the
first reel-to-reel tape recorders made by Ampex. While Paul was on the road
with Ford, he realized that if he added a recording head, he could record
multiple parts, anywhere. The pair began recording on tape. Their first
multi-track hit, a cover of "How High the Moon," was released in early 1951,
reached No. 1 and went on to sell 1.5 million copies. Paul made a
chorus of Ford's voice and filled every pause with his refined country-jazz
licks. Ford's silky vocals put flesh on Paul 's studio wizardry, which
included 12 overdubs. No one had ever heard anything like this before;
it was the sound of the future. "Les Paul was the first person to turn me on
to the guitar," Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman once said. "'How High the
Moon' had terrific verve, proof at last that pop could provide stylish,
instrumental inventiveness."
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