[78-L] Les Paul obit

[Cary Ginell]

To: Listings/Critics/Features
 
From: Jazz Promo Services
 
 
 
For Immediate Release:
 
        
 
 
The World Has Lost a Remarkable Innovator and Musician: Les Paul Passes 
Away at 94
 
1915-2009
 
                         
 
New York, NY…August 13, 2009…Les Paul, acclaimed guitar player, 
entertainer and inventor, passed away today from complications of 
severe pneumonia at White Plains Hospital in White Plain, New York, 
surrounded by family and loved ones. He had been receiving the best 
available treatment through this final battle and in keeping with his 
persona, he showed incredible strength, tenacity and courage. The 
family would like to express their heartfelt thanks for the thoughts 
and prayers from his dear friends and fans. Les Paul was 94.  
 
 
 
One of the foremost influences on 20th century sound and responsible 
for the world’s most famous guitar, the Les Paul model, Les Paul8
0s 
prestigious career in music and invention spans from the 1930s to the 
present. Though he’s indisputably one of America’s most popular, 
influential, and accomplished electric guitarists, Les Paul is best 
known as an early innovator in the development of the solid body 
guitar. His groundbreaking design would become the template for 
Gibson’s best-selling electric, the Les Paul model, introduced in 1952. 
Today, countless musical legends still consider Paul’s iconic guitar 
unmatched in sound and prowess. Among Paul’s most enduring 
contributions are those in the technological realm, including ingenious 
developments in multi-track recording, guitar effects, and the 
mechanics of sound in general.
 
 
 
Born Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin on June 9, 1915, 
Les Paul was already performing publicly as a honky-tonk guitarist by 
the age of 13. So clear was his calling that Paul dropped out of high 
school at 17 to play in Sunny Joe Wolverton’s Radio Band in St. Louis. 
As Paul’s mentor, Wolverton was the one to christen him with the stage 
name “Rhubarb Red,” a moniker that would follow him to Chicago in 1934. 
There, Paul became a bonafide radio star, known as both hillbilly 
picker Rhubarb Red and Django Reinhardt-informed jazz guitarist Les 
Paul. His first recordings were done in 1936 on an acoustic—alone as 
Rhubarb Red, as well as backing blues singer Georgia
White. The next 
year he formed his first trio, but by 1938 he’d moved to New York to 
begin his tenure on national radio with one of the more popular dance 
orchestras in the country, Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians.
 
 
 
Tinkering with electronics and guitar amplification since his youth, 
Les Paul began constructing his own electric guitar in the late ’30s. 
Unhappy with the first generation of commercially available 
hollowbodies because of their thin tone, lack of sustain, and feedback 
problems, Paul opted to build an entirely new structure. “I was 
interested in proving that a vibration-free top was the way to go,” he 
has said. “I even built a guitar out of a railroad rail to prove it. 
What I wanted was to amplify pure string vibration, without the 
resonance of the wood getting involved in the sound.” With the good 
graces of Epiphone president Epi Stathopoulo, Paul used the Epiphone 
plant and machinery in 1941 to bring his vision to fruition. He 
affectionately dubbed the guitar “The Log.”  
 
Les Paul’s tireless experiments sometimes proved to be dangerous, and 
he nearly electrocuted himself in 1940 during a session in the cellar 
of his Queens apartment. During the next two years of rehabilitation, 
Les earned his living producing radio music. Forced to put the 
Pennsylvanians and the rest of his career on hold, Les Paul moved to 
Hollywood. Durin
g World War II, he was drafted into the Army but 
permitted to stay in California, where he became a regular player for 
Armed Forces Radio Service. By 1943 he had assembled a trio that 
regularly performed live, on the radio, and on V-Discs. In 1944 he 
entered the jazz spotlight—thanks to his dazzling work filling in for 
Oscar Moore alongside Nat King Cole, Illinois Jacquet, and other 
superstars —at the first of the prestigious Jazz at the Philharmonic 
concerts.  
 
 
 
By his mid-thirties, Paul had successfully combined Reinhardt-inspired 
jazz playing and the western swing and twang of his Rhubarb Red persona 
into one distinctive, electrifying style. In the Les Paul Trio he 
translated the dizzying runs and unusual harmonies found on Jazz at the 
Philharmonic into a slower, subtler, more commercial approach. His 
novelty instrumentals were tighter, brasher, and punctuated with 
effects. Overall, the trademark Les Paul sound was razor-sharp, 
clean-shaven, and divinely smooth.  
 
 
 
As small combos eclipsed big bands toward the end of World War II, Les 
Paul Trio’s popularity grew. They cut records for Decca both alone and 
behind the likes of Helen Forrest, the Andrews Sisters, the Delta 
Rhythm Boys, Dick Hayes, and, most notably, Bing Crosby. Since 1945, 
when the crooner brought them into the studio to back him on a few 
numbers, the Trio had become regular guests on Crosby’s hi
t radio show. 
The highlight of the session was Paul’s first No. 1 hit and 
million-seller, the gorgeous “It’s Been a Long, Long Time.”
 
 
 
Meanwhile, Paul began to experiment with dubbing live tracks over 
recorded tracks, also altering the playback speed. This resulted in 
“Lover (When You’re Near Me),” his revolutionary 1947 predecessor to 
multi-track recording. The hit instrumental featured Les Paul on eight 
different electric guitar parts, all playing together. In 1948, Paul 
nearly lost his life to a devastating car crash that shattered his 
right arm and elbow. Still, he convinced doctors to set his broken arm 
in the guitar-picking and cradling position. Laid up but undaunted, 
Paul acquired a first generation Ampex tape recorder from Crosby in 
1949, and began his most important multi-tracking adventure, adding a 
fourth head to the recorder to create sound-on-sound recordings. While 
tinkering with the machine and its many possibilities, he also came up 
with tape delay. These tricks, along with another recent Les Paul 
innovation—close mic-ing vocals—were integrated for the first time on a 
single recording: the 1950 No. 1 tour de force “How High the Moon.” 
This historic track was performed during a duo with future wife Mary 
Ford. The couple’s prolific string of hits for Capitol Records not only 
included some of the most popular recordings of the early 19
50s, but 
also wrote the book on contemporary studio production. The dense but 
crystal clear harmonic layering of guitars and vocals, along with 
Ford’s close mic-ed voice and Paul’s guitar effects, produced 
distinctively contemporary recordings with unprecedented sonic 
qualities. Through hits, tours, and popular radio shows, Paul and Ford 
kept one foot in the technological vanguard and the other in the 
cultural mainstream.  
 
 
 
All the while, Les Paul continued to pine for the perfect guitar. 
Though The Log came close, it wasn’t quite what he was after. In the 
early 1950s, Gibson Guitar would cultivate a partnership with Paul that 
would lead to the creation of the guitar he’d seen only in his dreams. 
In 1948, Gibson elected to design its first solidbody, and Paul, a 
self-described “dyed-in-the-wool Gibson man,” seemed the right man for 
the job. Gibson avidly courted the guitar legend, even driving deep 
into the Pennsylvania mountains to deliver the first model to newlyweds 
Les Paul and Mary Ford.  
 
“Les played it, and his eyes lighted up,” then-Gibson President Ted 
McCarty has recalled. The year was 1950, and Paul had just signed on as 
the namesake of Gibson’s first electric solidbody, with exclusive 
design privileges. Working closely with Paul, Gibson forged a 
relationship that would change popular culture forever. The Gibson Les 
Paul model—the=2
0most 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.
 
 
 
“The world has lost a truly innovative and exceptional human being 
today. I cannot imagine life without Les Paul. He would walk into a 
room and put a smile on anyone’s face. His musical charm was 
extraordinary and his techniques unmatched anywhere in the world,” said 
Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. “We will dedicate 
ourselves to preserving Les’ legacy to insure that it lives on forever. 
He touched so many lives throughout his remarkable life and his 
influence extends around the globe and across every boundary. I have 
lost a dear, personal friend and mentor, a man who has changed so many 
of our lives for the better.”
 
 
 
“I don’t think any words can describe the man we know as Les Paul 
adequately. The English language does not contain words that can pay 
enough homage to someone like Les. As the “Father of the Electric 
Gui
tar”, he was not only one of the world’s greatest innovators  but a 
legend who created, inspired and contributed to the success of 
musicians around the world,” said Dave Berryman, President of Gibson 
Guitar. “I have had the privilege to know and work with Les for many, 
many years and his passing has left a deep personal void. He was simply 
put – remarkable in every way. As a person, a musician, a friend, an 
inventor. He will be sorely missed by us all,”
 
 
 
With the rise of the rock ’n’ roll revolution of 1955, Les Paul and 
Mary Ford’s popularity began to wane with younger listeners, though 
Paul would prove to be a massive influence on younger generation of 
guitarists. Still, Paul and Ford maintained their iconic presence with 
their wildly popular television show, which ran from 1953-1960. In 
1964, the couple, parents to a son and daughter, divorced. Paul began 
playing in Japan, and recorded an LP for London Records before poor 
health forced him to take time off—as much as someone so inspired can 
take time off.  
 
In the 1977, Paul resurfaced with a Grammy-winning Chet Atkins 
collaboration, Chester and Lester. Then the ailing guitarist, who’d 
already suffered arthritis and permanent hearing loss, had a heart 
attack, followed by bypass surgery.  
 
 
 
Ever stubborn, Les recovered, and returned to live performance in the 
 
late 1980s. Even releasing the 2005 double-Grammy winner Les Paul & 
Friends: American Made World Played, featuring collaborations with a 
veritable who’s who of the electric guitar, including dozens of 
illustrious fans like Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Billy Gibbons, Jeff 
Beck, Eric Clapton, and Joe Perry. In 2008, The Rock and Roll Hall of 
Fame paid tribute to Les Paul in a week-long celebration of his life 
which culminated with a live performance by Les himself.  Until 
recently Les continued to perform two weekly New York shows with the 
Les Paul Trio, at The Iridium Jazz Club in New York City, for over 
twelve years where a literal who’s who of the entertainment world has 
paid homage.  It has been an honor to have Les Paul perform at The 
Iridium Jazz Club  for the past twelve years hosting such luminaries as 
Paul McCartney, Keith Richards and others and is a tragic loss to owner 
Ron Sturm both personally and professionally. Iridium intends to 
celebrate Les Paul's music and legacy every Monday night.
 
 
 
Les Paul has since become the only individual to share membership into 
the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the National 
Inventors Hall of Fame, and the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Les 
is survived by his three sons Lester (Rus) G.  Paul, Gene W. Paul and 
Robert (Bobby) R. Paul, his daughter Colleen Wess, son-in-law Gary 
Wess, long time friend Arlene=2
0Palmer,  five grandchildren and five 
great grandchildren. A private Funeral service will be held in New 
York. A service in Waukesha, WI will be announced at a later date. 
Details will follow and will be announced for all services. Memorial 
tributes for the public will be announced at a future date.   The 
family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Les Paul 
Foundation, 236 West 30th Street, 7th Floor, New York, New York 10001.
 
 
 

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