Les Paul dies- Review Part 1
August 13 2009
Almost six years ago whilst in New York I got the chance to meet and interview Les Paul after one of his shows at the Iridium Club.
Here's my review of the show.
Les Paul at the Iridium Jazz Club New York City. Monday 3rd November 2003
How often does one get the chance to see a legend at work? Not too often, I would guess. On a recent trip to New York to gather some interviews for a forthcoming book and raiding all the second hand record and CD shops, I walked past the Iridium Jazz Club on Broadway. The sign in the window said, ‘On stage tonight at 8pm and 10pm, legendary guitarist, Les Paul’.
Arriving too late for the eight o’clock performance, I returned in time for the ten o’clock stint. It had all the intimacy you would expect from a jazz club; dimmed house lights and waitresses serving drinks and food, although the smokeless atmosphere was a pleasure.
At ten o’clock, Lou Pallo (guitar), Frank Vignola (guitar), John Coliani (piano) and Nikki Parrott (double bass) took the stage. But one seat remained empty. With no introduction the band began to play and a sweet jazzy sound oozed from the stage. At the end of the opening number, the lighting and sound engineer simply announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Les Paul”.
The ‘Father of the electric guitar’ and the man who invented the eight track recording system - as well as designing one of the first synthesisers - ambled on to the stage to rapturous applause and made his way to his seat. A very healthy looking eighty-eight year old man, the only things that may have given his age away were his fingers. Crippled with arthritis and currently awaiting an operation on his left hand, he gave no indication of any pain in his performance. He strummed one chord on his custom built electric Gibson Les Paul and the applause erupted again. . Even though his playing may have looked a little awkward, given his disability, the sound was still streets ahead of his rivals.
You would expect the audience to be of an older generation, but this was not so. Of the one hundred people crammed into the small club, most were under forty-five.
Les could almost double up as a one-man comedy show. Equipped with a very sharp wit and tongue, he started teasing his band. As the evening progressed, Les introduced them as they took their turn ‘out front’ - each of them being appreciated as much as Les himself. Nikki’s stint involved her singing a song about viagra. Les lapped it up. Frank’s frantic solo was probably the fastest strumming I had ever witnessed, his hands were a blur.
They performed classics like ‘Rumble’, ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’, ‘Sleepwalk’, ‘Over The Rainbow’ and the song he and his wife Mary Ford made famous in the fifties, ‘Vaya Con Dios’. The only full vocal song was a cover of Bobby Hebb’s ‘Sunny’, sung by Lou.
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August 13 2009
Almost six years ago whilst in New York I got the chance to meet and interview Les Paul after one of his shows at the Iridium Club.
Here's my review of the show.
Les Paul at the Iridium Jazz Club New York City. Monday 3rd November 2003
How often does one get the chance to see a legend at work? Not too often, I would guess. On a recent trip to New York to gather some interviews for a forthcoming book and raiding all the second hand record and CD shops, I walked past the Iridium Jazz Club on Broadway. The sign in the window said, ‘On stage tonight at 8pm and 10pm, legendary guitarist, Les Paul’.
Arriving too late for the eight o’clock performance, I returned in time for the ten o’clock stint. It had all the intimacy you would expect from a jazz club; dimmed house lights and waitresses serving drinks and food, although the smokeless atmosphere was a pleasure.
At ten o’clock, Lou Pallo (guitar), Frank Vignola (guitar), John Coliani (piano) and Nikki Parrott (double bass) took the stage. But one seat remained empty. With no introduction the band began to play and a sweet jazzy sound oozed from the stage. At the end of the opening number, the lighting and sound engineer simply announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Les Paul”.
The ‘Father of the electric guitar’ and the man who invented the eight track recording system - as well as designing one of the first synthesisers - ambled on to the stage to rapturous applause and made his way to his seat. A very healthy looking eighty-eight year old man, the only things that may have given his age away were his fingers. Crippled with arthritis and currently awaiting an operation on his left hand, he gave no indication of any pain in his performance. He strummed one chord on his custom built electric Gibson Les Paul and the applause erupted again. . Even though his playing may have looked a little awkward, given his disability, the sound was still streets ahead of his rivals.
You would expect the audience to be of an older generation, but this was not so. Of the one hundred people crammed into the small club, most were under forty-five.
Les could almost double up as a one-man comedy show. Equipped with a very sharp wit and tongue, he started teasing his band. As the evening progressed, Les introduced them as they took their turn ‘out front’ - each of them being appreciated as much as Les himself. Nikki’s stint involved her singing a song about viagra. Les lapped it up. Frank’s frantic solo was probably the fastest strumming I had ever witnessed, his hands were a blur.
They performed classics like ‘Rumble’, ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’, ‘Sleepwalk’, ‘Over The Rainbow’ and the song he and his wife Mary Ford made famous in the fifties, ‘Vaya Con Dios’. The only full vocal song was a cover of Bobby Hebb’s ‘Sunny’, sung by Lou.
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