Tribute to Les Paul (June 9, 1915 - August 13, 2009; 94Y)

“I thought the man was going to last forever!” – screamed Stevie Ray Vaughan to Albert King as he received the news Les was on his way. Bo Diddley blasted in a mix of cough and laughter at the explosion of his guitar mate and replied in an ironic tone “Man! Unless we crash into a hill in a helicopter or drown in our own vomit, we´re flyin´! You should notice that we tend to linger trough life longer than the usual talking animal… my feet were on the grave and was still finger twitching that ol´ squared guitar. We´ve just recently welcomed Robert Lockwood Jr. and we´ve still got David “Honeyboy” Edwards down there.”
Les Paul has gone somewhere. Should we care where? No. We´re just sad to see another legend go.

Larger than the prizes he won are his contributions to the evolution of music. Hail to the father of overdubbing. Some say that he invented the electric guitar. Well, many can take that title… Bo Diddley made his guitars at home and in 1932, Gage Brewer has the first documented performance in an electric guitar. In the same year, Adolph Rickenbacker was the first man to produce and commercialize a very similar instrument. One is certain; Les made his own electric guitar and pioneered at studio techniques such as overdubbing, multi-tracking, phasing and track delaying.

His most notable accomplishment was designing the perpetual Gibson Les Paul guitar. He approached Gibson Corporation and made a contract to a guitar named "Les Paul Standard". He later got mad at Gibson when the company decided to change the guitar´s design without his consent or knowledge. He first met the instrument in the window of a guitar shop.

He recorded beautifully with his wife, Mary Ford. In 1948, a car accident almost took one of his arms… alerted that they were treating a hand artist, the doctors managed to reconstruct his elbow instead of amputating it. Les Paul asked that his movements were to be restricted in a fashion that he could still play the guitar. He managed to do it for almost 60 years further.

In his later years he performed weekly at the Iridium Jazz Club in NYC. I took these pictures in one of those performances on the 5^th of May, 2007. The 92 year young lad could still impress as a guitar virtuoso and conquer the audience with an enviable charm.

Hail to Les Paul. RIP

Songs of Leonard Cohen - Pavilhão Atlântico

... 30th July 2009. After a stage absence of 15 years, Leonard Cohen tries to cure his hangover and performs in Portugal for the second time in 2 years. The following text and pictures are part of the coverage made for festivaispt.org (pics by me and text by Teca):

“Leonard Cohen, Pavilhão Atlântico
29-Julho-2009

Num Pavilhão Atlântico repleto, sentiu-se o enorme carinho do público por Cohen, e pela sua grande humildade. Porque música assim já não se ouve todos os dias.

*******
Após uma ressaca de palcos e digressões de 15 anos, Lisboa recebeu de braços abertos e pela segunda vez em dois anos Leonard Cohen, um dos maiores songwriters da actualidade e claramente uma referência para tantos outros músicos (temas como Suzanne e Hallelujah são records de covers pelo mundo inteiro).

…

Depois do tema The Future, Cohen tira o chapéu, e numa prolongada vénia ouve-se um sentido “Muito obrigado Lisboa”.

…

Não é então de espantar que um poeta que alcançou fama e reconhecimento no meio tão cedo tenha querido experimentar e arriscar no mundo da música. Estamos em 1967 – plenos sixties, época de overdose intelectual, ideológica e artística – e Cohen aterra em New York City. Passa os dias na Factory de Andy Warhol e lança, no mesmo ano, o seu primeiro albúm Songs of Leonard Cohen, que inclui temas como Suzanne e So long Marianne, clássicos que ainda hoje estão bem vivos na nossa memória.


A sua voz penetrante e quente, num tom quase sussurrante, esteve bem presente em temas como There ain’t no cure for love, Everybody knows e In my secret life, sempre acompanhados pelo trio de solistas e em especial por Sharon Robinson, cantora e songwriter com quem Cohen partilha o palco com evidente cumplicidade há muitos anos.

…

Cohen apresenta a banda mais uma vez, e sai. Ninguém se mexe. As palmas são uma constante. O público queria mais. E já lá iam quase três horas de concerto.
Leonard volta, enche-nos de agradecimentos – “thank you, thank you, THANK YOU” – e apresenta So long Marianne. Tinha de ser. Segue-se First We Take Manhattan e mais uma saída. No segundo encore canta Closing time e lê-nos uma carta que assina com muita classe – “Sincerely, L.Cohen”. Tenta despedir-se mais uma vez, mas não consegue… volta com I Tried to Leave You, quase como se estivesse agarrado ao concerto e tivesse tido uma ressaca rápida demais à qual não quis sequer resistir.

No final Cohen falou com o público, que já estava de pé há muito tempo: “Good night my darling, I hope you’re satisfied”. Desejou tudo de bom, e avançou “If you have to fall to one side, let it be to the side of luck. And this one is harder…be kind”.
…

Sim, foi claramente magia. Mas daquela magia que não se faz só uma vez, mas que de cada vez que se faz é única. Pois música assim já não se ouve todos os dias.”

Maybe someday I´ll translate this...