Les Paul dead

Tuttle · Aug 13, 2009

Inventor Hall of Fame: Inventor Profile

Les Paul
Born Jun 9 1915
Died Aug 13, 2009

Solid-Body Electric Guitar
Patent Number(s) 3,018,680

Inducted 2005

His innovations led to his first solid-body electric guitar in 1941. Coupled with his pioneering recording techniques, Paul produced a series of extremely popular recordings that introduced the public to his fast, multi-layered productions that frequently included Paul playing as many as six musical parts simultaneously through the process of overdubbing. He also designed and built his own multi-track tape recorders.

The quality and originality of Les Paul's work inspired a generation of musicians to embrace his guitar and recording techniques. In 1952 the Gibson Musical Instrument Co. began selling its popular Les Paul model electric guitar. It rapidly established the new instrument as a powerful influence in the entertainment industry.

Invention Impact

Les Paul transformed popular music by inventing the modern solid-body electric guitar. Years of experimentation culminated in the mass production of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. His success as a performer and recording artist inspired a generation of musicians to master the new instrument. Paul also pioneered innovative techniques that transformed music-recording technology.

Inventor Bio

Born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Les Paul became a professional musician as a teenager and was the leader of his own trio by the age of 21. From the beginning of his career, Paul was fascinated by the opportunities of amplifying musical instruments electronically. He tinkered with a wide range of techniques in search of a way to produce a pleasing and unique sound.
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An obit from NRP (National Radio de la Publique):

Les Paul, the jazz guitarist who became a rock 'n' roll legend for the electric guitar he designed, has died. He was 94.

The Associated Press reports that Gibson Guitar Co., which manufactures the Les Paul model that has been used by rockers including Pete Townshend of The Who, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and Duane Allman, says he died today of complications from pneumonia at White Plains (N.Y.) Hospital. [there is more name dropping in the AP obituary]

The AP writes that:

As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the "tracks" in the finished recording.

With Mary Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962, he earned 36 gold records and 11 No. 1 pop hits, including Vaya Con Dios, How High the Moon, Nola and Lover. Many of their songs used overdubbing techniques that Paul the inventor had helped develop.

Paul was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. It says that:

The guitar that bears his name -- the Gibson Les Paul -- is his crowning achievement. It grew out of his desire, as a musician and inventor, to create a stringed instrument that could make electronic sound without distorting. What he came up with, after almost a decade of work, was a solid bodied instrument -- that is, one that didn't have the deep, resonant chamber of an acoustic guitar.

As he told writer Jim O'Donnell, "What I wanted to do is not have two things vibrating. I wanted the string to vibrate and nothing else. I wanted the guitar to sustain longer than an acoustical box and have different sounds than an acoustical box." The fact that the guitar's body was solid allowed for the sound of a plucked string to sustain, as its vibrating energy was not dissipated in a reverberant acoustic chamber.

Here's a little sample of Paul's playing: check link if you want to hear it

I had the chance to hear Paul speak at the Smithsonian a decade or so ago. His stories of the old days in radio and his inventions were fascinating. Each week for years, I would see in The New Yorker's Night Life listings that at the club Iridium in Manhattan, "Mondays belong to the electric-guitar innovator Les Paul." And I would think about how good it would be to see his show there sometime. Now, there are only his recordings to fall back on.

Update at 12:42 p.m. ET. Gibson has now posted online a lengthy statement/obituary. It says that:

The Gibson Les Paul model -- the most powerful and respected electric guitar in history -- began with the 1952 release of the Les Paul Goldtop. After introducing the original Les Paul Goldtop in 1952, Gibson issued the Black Beauty, the mahogany-topped Les Paul Custom, in 1954. The Les Paul Junior (1954) and Special (1955) were also introduced before the canonical Les Paul Standard hit the market in 1958. With revolutionary humbucker pickups, this sunburst classic has remained unchanged for the half-century since it hit the market.

And here's some more of the Les Paul sound: check link if you want to hear it
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He's a part of rock & roll history.

Dan Leach · Aug 13, 2009

RIP

Tuttle · Aug 13, 2009

Here's the AP write-up at WSJ site

Guitar Legend Les Paul Dies at 94
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Les Paul, who invented the solid-body electric guitar later wielded by a legion of rock 'n' roll greats, died Thursday of complications from pneumonia. He was 94.

According to Gibson Guitar, Mr. Paul died at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.

In 2007, Weekend Journal's John Jurgensen spoke with Les Paul about how the legendary guitarist played well into his 90's. Originally recorded in New York City, September 2007.

As an inventor, Mr. Paul also helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll with multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the tracks in the finished recording.

The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s, and then exploded with the advent of rock in the mid-'50s.

"Suddenly, it was recognized that power was a very important part of music," Mr. Paul once said. "To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn't think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system."

A tinkerer and musician since childhood, he experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up in 1941 with what he called "The Log," a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings.

"I went into a nightclub and played it. Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut." He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a tradition guitar shape.

In 1952, Gibson Guitars began production on the Les Paul guitar.

Pete Townsend of the Who, Steve Howe of Yes, jazz great Al DiMeola and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page all made the Gibson Les Paul their trademark six-string.

Over the years, the Les Paul series has become one of the most widely used guitars in the music industry. In 2005, Christie's auction house sold a 1955 Gibson Les Paul for $45,600.

In the late 1960s, Mr. Paul retired from music to concentrate on his inventions. His interest in country music was rekindled in the mid-'70s and he teamed up with Chet Atkins for two albums. The duo were awarded a Grammy for best country instrumental performance of 1976 for their "Chester and Lester" album.

With Mary Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962, he earned 36 gold records for hits including "Vaya Con Dios" and "How High the Moon," which both hit No. 1. Many of their songs used overdubbing techniques that Mr. Paul had helped develop.

"I could take my Mary and make her three, six, nine, 12, as many voices as I wished," he recalled. "This is quite an asset." The overdubbing technique was highly influential on later recording artists such as the Carpenters.

Released in 2005, "Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played" was his first album of new material since those 1970s recordings. Among those playing with him: Peter Frampton, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Richie Sambora.

"They're not only my friends, but they're great players," Mr. Paul told the Associated Press. "I never stop being amazed by all the different ways of playing the guitar and making it deliver a message."

Two cuts from the album won Grammys, "Caravan" for best pop instrumental performance and "69 Freedom Special" for best rock instrumental performance. (He had also been awarded a technical Grammy in 2001.)

Mr. Paul was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005.

Mr. Paul was born Lester William Polfus, in Waukseha, Wis., on June 9, 1915. He began his career as a musician, billing himself as Red Hot Red or Rhubarb Red. He toured with the popular Chicago band Rube Tronson and His Texas Cowboys and led the house band on WJJD radio in Chicago.

In the mid-1930s he joined Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians and soon moved to New York to form the Les Paul Trio, with Jim Atkins and bassist Ernie Newton.

His work on taping techniques began in the years after World War II, when Bing Crosby gave him a tape recorder. Drawing on his earlier experimentation with his homemade record-cutting machines, Mr. Paul added an additional playback head to the recorder. The result was a delayed effect that became known as tape echo.

Tape echo gave the recording a more "live" feel and enabled the user to simulate different playing environments.

Mr. Paul's next "crazy idea" was to stack together eight mono tape machines and send their outputs to one piece of tape, stacking the recording heads on top of each other. The resulting machine served as the forerunner to today's multitrack recorders.

In 1954, Mr. Paul commissioned Ampex to build the first eight-track tape recorder, later known as "Sel-Sync," in which a recording head could simultaneously record a new track and play back previous ones.

He had met Ford, then known as Colleen Summers, in the 1940s while working as a studio musician in Los Angeles. For seven years in the 1950s, Mr. Paul and Ford broadcast a TV show from their home in Mahwah, N.J. Ford died in 1977, 15 years after they divorced.

In recent years, even after his illness in early 2006, Mr. Paul played Monday nights at New York night spots. Such stars as Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler, Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Van Halen came to pay tribute and sit in with him.

"It's where we were the happiest, in a 'joint,'" he said in a 2000 interview with the AP. "It was not being on top. The fun was getting there, not staying there -- that's hard work."
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Volpone · Aug 13, 2009

Forbin · Aug 13, 2009

In the 70s, I worked at a machine shop with Les' nephew Auggie. Naturally Auggie had a band and played guitar. I remember him playing one song on a tape loop all day to learn it for upcoming gigs. I recall hearing "Blue Bayou" for 8 hours straight one day. Yeek.

shootER · Aug 13, 2009

Mr. Plow · Aug 13, 2009

/*Mr. Plow plays out Taps on his Les Paul in memory of Rock Icon

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Les Paul dead

Tuttle Listen kid, we're all in it together.

Dan Leach Climbing Staff Member Moderator

Tuttle Listen kid, we're all in it together.

Volpone Zombie Hunter

Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

shootER Insubordinate...and churlish Administrator

Mr. Plow Fuck Y'all

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Les Paul dead

Tuttle Listen kid, we're all in it together.

Dan Leach Climbing Staff Member Moderator

Tuttle Listen kid, we're all in it together.

Volpone Zombie Hunter

Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

shootER Insubordinate...and churlish Administrator

Mr. Plow Fuck Y'all

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