On the sad side, we lost guitar/engineer wizard, Les Paul at 94 years young. Les Paul was an electronic genius and fashioned a sold wooden-bodied guitar called “The Log”, which later was re-named Gibson’s “Les Paul” model. It is the world’s leading guitar seller. You should read his bio at www.lespaulbiography.com and get set to be amazed.

We can credit Les’ electronic genius to inventing multi track recording and various uses of reverb effects on sound, overdubbing, etc. In 1938, he took the Les Paul Trio in New York. The trio had Les on guitar, Jim Atkins (Chet’s older half brother) and Ernie Newton on bass. (Ernie lived here teaching bass and giving golf lessons until his death several years back). I used to see Ernie all the time at golf outings and other functions around town. Anyhow, Les Paul went on and never looked back.

The first multi-track record was recorded in Les’ garage with his wife Mary Ford doing the vocals. Capitol released “Waiting for the Sunrise”. The B side of the record was “Brazil”. Out of this came hits “How High the Moon”, “Lover” and “Via Con Dios”. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Country Music Hall of Fame when they had a ceremony for Les. He was over 90 but still was very sharp and alert and gave great answers to questions being asked. Until just recently, Les played a weekly Monday night jazz gig in New York. Go over his bio website and you’ll get a lesson on the history of the music business. He was loved by all.