Post by cw on Aug 14, 2009 18:45:18 GMT 1
To many people, the response is "Les Who". Those with a knowledge of guitars may see the association with the Gibson Les Paul; and many rock guitarists revere him as "the man who started it all" but that is only a fraction of the story.
With his death on Aug 13, aged 94, the music world lost not only one of the greatest guitar virtuosos ever but a man who's innovations have had collosal effects on the recording industry. Not only was he one of the pioneers in developing the solid-body electric guitar but he was also the "father" of multi-track recording/overdubbing/delay effects.
(from the NY Times obit)
He was also a continual experimenter with recording techniques, using them to create not realistic replicas of a performance but electronically enhanced fabrications. Toying with his mother’s old Victrola had shown him that changing the speed of a recording could alter both pitch and timbre. He could record at half-speed and replay the results at normal speed, creating the illusion of superhuman agility. He altered instrumental textures through microphone positioning and reverberation. Technology and studio effects, he realized, were instruments themselves.
He also noticed that by playing along with previous recordings, he could become a one-man ensemble. As early as his 1948 hit “Lover,” he made elaborate, multilayered recordings, using two acetate disc machines, which demanded that each layer of music be captured in a single take. From discs he moved to magnetic tape, and in the late 1950s he built the first eight-track multitrack recorder. Each track could be recorded and altered separately, without affecting the others. The machine ushered in the modern recording era.
As a musician in his own right, he first came to prominence in the 1930's in jazz circles and in the 40's toured as a backing player for artists like Nat King Cole & Bing Crosby before going solo with his wife singer Mary Ford with whom he had a number of hits in the late 40's/early 50's and natl radio & TV programs. He became a sponsored artist with the Gibson Guitar company who developed a solid-body guitar to his specs that has subsequently became one of the most famous electric guitar models.
What people were not aware of was the disability he was dealing with. A road accidentin 1948 injured his right arm so badly that full function could not be restored. He then requested that it be set in such a position to allow him to continue playing the guitar.
Changes to musical tastes and divorce saw him retire in 1965 and it wasn't until fellow guitar legend Chet Atkins coaxed him back into recording in 1976-77 that he returned to the industry (their collaboration earned a Grammy in 1977). In 1988, he entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. From going into "exile", his final decades saw him performing regularly with weekly (Monday) gigs in New York up until shortly before his death. Yrs truly caught him live twice back in 1999. You can't really define greatness but you can sure as hell recognise it when you encounter it, nuff sed.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ_5ubk2H4k (short bio)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP7qI5RVtxw&feature=channel_page
a bit of fun between Chet & Les (in other words taking the P out of each other) interestingly Les DID work with Chet's older brother in the 30's
www.youtube.com/watch?v=67rJWOIvjZw&feature=PlayList&p=9041580354695A71&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3
5 part doco
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vomuse9tok&feature=channel_page
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff1dmh1XA2w&feature=channel_page
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuXLUUJA0Rs&feature=channel_page
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOFjfK4juRE&feature=channel_page
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOFjfK4juRE&feature=channel_page
With his death on Aug 13, aged 94, the music world lost not only one of the greatest guitar virtuosos ever but a man who's innovations have had collosal effects on the recording industry. Not only was he one of the pioneers in developing the solid-body electric guitar but he was also the "father" of multi-track recording/overdubbing/delay effects.
(from the NY Times obit)
He was also a continual experimenter with recording techniques, using them to create not realistic replicas of a performance but electronically enhanced fabrications. Toying with his mother’s old Victrola had shown him that changing the speed of a recording could alter both pitch and timbre. He could record at half-speed and replay the results at normal speed, creating the illusion of superhuman agility. He altered instrumental textures through microphone positioning and reverberation. Technology and studio effects, he realized, were instruments themselves.
He also noticed that by playing along with previous recordings, he could become a one-man ensemble. As early as his 1948 hit “Lover,” he made elaborate, multilayered recordings, using two acetate disc machines, which demanded that each layer of music be captured in a single take. From discs he moved to magnetic tape, and in the late 1950s he built the first eight-track multitrack recorder. Each track could be recorded and altered separately, without affecting the others. The machine ushered in the modern recording era.
As a musician in his own right, he first came to prominence in the 1930's in jazz circles and in the 40's toured as a backing player for artists like Nat King Cole & Bing Crosby before going solo with his wife singer Mary Ford with whom he had a number of hits in the late 40's/early 50's and natl radio & TV programs. He became a sponsored artist with the Gibson Guitar company who developed a solid-body guitar to his specs that has subsequently became one of the most famous electric guitar models.
What people were not aware of was the disability he was dealing with. A road accidentin 1948 injured his right arm so badly that full function could not be restored. He then requested that it be set in such a position to allow him to continue playing the guitar.
Changes to musical tastes and divorce saw him retire in 1965 and it wasn't until fellow guitar legend Chet Atkins coaxed him back into recording in 1976-77 that he returned to the industry (their collaboration earned a Grammy in 1977). In 1988, he entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. From going into "exile", his final decades saw him performing regularly with weekly (Monday) gigs in New York up until shortly before his death. Yrs truly caught him live twice back in 1999. You can't really define greatness but you can sure as hell recognise it when you encounter it, nuff sed.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ_5ubk2H4k (short bio)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP7qI5RVtxw&feature=channel_page
a bit of fun between Chet & Les (in other words taking the P out of each other) interestingly Les DID work with Chet's older brother in the 30's
www.youtube.com/watch?v=67rJWOIvjZw&feature=PlayList&p=9041580354695A71&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3
5 part doco
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vomuse9tok&feature=channel_page
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff1dmh1XA2w&feature=channel_page
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuXLUUJA0Rs&feature=channel_page
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOFjfK4juRE&feature=channel_page
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOFjfK4juRE&feature=channel_page
