It's Been a Long, Long Time

"IT'S BEEN A LONG, LONG TIME
Bing Crosby with Les Paul/Harry James
words by Sammy Cahn, music by Jule Styne

Peaked at # 1 in 1945
Competing versions charted that year by Harry James (#1); Charlie Spivak (#4);
and Stan Kenton (#6)
- World War II ended the month before this Crosby recording hit No. 1 on the
Billboard charts in 1945. Accompanied by Les Paul on the guitar, Bing
effectively captures the swelling anticipation of Americans regarding the
imminent return of their boys from overseas. The song remained on the
charts for 16 weeks"

Info from ntl.matrix.com.

RIP Les Paul

Les Paul, Live in NYC @ the Iridium Jazz Club ~ March, 2009
Guitar legend Les Paul died this morning of complications from pnemonia at the age of 94. Luckily, I was able to see Les live and kicking up a storm at the wee age of 93 back in March at the Iridium. RIP, Les.

Happy Belated Birthday, Les!

Les Paul live at the Iridium, NYC ~ 4/21/09

Born Lester William Polfus in Waukesha, Wisconsin on June 9, 1915, Les Paul is 94!

Happy Birthday, Rock Star!

Gibson Warren Haynes '58 Les Paul

Gibson - Warren Haynes '58 Les Paul, part of the Gibson "Inspired By" series.

Les Paul and His Trio: Simply Amazing

Les Paul and His Trio, Iridium Jazz Club, NYC ~ 4/20/09

Living guitar legend Les Paul plays two shows every Monday night right here in the heart of Manhattan. $50 for a ticket and whatever item minimum they banged me out for in the showroom was some of the best money I've ever spent. Les is feisty and funny and he and his accomplished circle of friends put on a tight and delightful show which he peppers with anecdotes. And the dude has anecdotes--he was born in 1915 for cryin' out loud! Les also features and interviews new musicians and surprise guests. If you go for the 10 pm set, and Les is feelin' it, he does a meet and greet with his fans afterward. Les Paul's 94th birthday is in June. He joked, "I need another birthday like I need a hole in the head!" Let's hope he has many many more; I want to go back. To put things in perspective, Les's smiley son Rusty, a senior citizen, works the show's merchandise booth. It's all awesome. All of it.

Click on my images for more awesome:

Lou Pallo and Les Paul.

Lou Pallo

Lou's fancy fingerwork

Les Paul

Unbeknownst to me, I was sitting beside one special guest, Rich Conaty, host of The Big Broadcast on WFUV whom Les invited up on stage to chat. Rich has been hosting the Big Broadcast for 37 years, and Les was not only travelling in a car across country when he heard the very first broacast-- he's been listening on Sunday nights ever since. The Big Broadcast features classic jazz and pop tunes from the 1920's and '30's. Rich named the show after a movie starring Bing Crosby, a very good friend of Les Paul's. I'll now be listening to the Big Broadcast along with Les; WFUV (Fordam University radio) is an amazing station. Stream it!

Celebrate April 20 with Les Paul and His Trio?

Will do!

Iridium says that Les is back and doing fine, so let's try this again: I've got tickets to his 10 pm show tonight.

Yay!

Anne Finally Gets Her Sh*t Together to See Les Paul Tonight

Seriously, it's taken me years to drag my fat ass to simply perform a few strokes on a keyboard and plunk down a few bucks with the purpose of seeing a legend, one who is entering his 95th year on the planet, and


And I received the following email this morning:



"Les Paul will not be performing tonight due to illness; world class guitarist Larry Coryell will be sitting in for him with the Les Paul Trio as his backing band. Your tickets for Les Paul will be refunded, but we encourage you to purchase tickets to see Larry Coryell ($25 with a $15 food/beverage minimum). Hope to see you tonight!"





Boo!





Get well soon, Les.

Bye Bye Blues