Hard to believe, but mr. Les Paul, aka Lester William Polfuss, in a truly musically not very technological era, between the 40s and 50s, made inventions destined to change the way of making music forever!
Hearing his name, the memory immediately goes to the famous guitar gibson les paul, already produced in the 50s and considered, like the Fender Stratocaster, one of the most famous guitars in the world.
But this is probably known. Here we want to go a little beyond the fame of his guitar.
It is less well known that Les Paul was known, as early as the 40s, as Les Paul and his one hundred guitars. The reason is that as a guitarist he toured America, often in a duet with his wife Mary Ford, in concert with a first multitrack recorder!
Call him prototype it is too simplistic because it was actually used live and therefore it was a stable and functional product. A sort of technological cabinet that could record and reproduce 24 tracks! In other words, it was also a first loopstation with the possibility of live interaction with new tracks or even with pre-recorded tracks.
We therefore owe to Les Paul a concept as trivial today as multitrack recording and the loopstation!
In parallel, effects such as the delay and thethrew out these too due to his inventiveness.
"Curiosity led me to the two most important parts of my career: music and electronics"
Watching these videos, one is truly amazed at how it was possible to master such complex technology with such confidence in the 50s.
Les Paul died at the age of 94 in 2009. He is cited in 100th place in the ranking of the best XNUMX guitarists of all time according to the Rolling Stones magazine.
After 50 years from "Les and Mary", he enters the national ranking again with a CD, in 2005, when he is now ninety, with the CD "Les Paul & Friends" (in which they also appear Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Joss Stone and Sting).
Appendix
Just a few words about the extraordinary performer, guitarist and singer who was alongside Les Paul until his divorce in 1964, using his technology very well, creating choruses in real time using the vocal layering technique. She was not only a beautiful and perfect "shoulder" but also a great musician. Mary Ford he placed songs on the charts alongside Les while performing on radio and television broadcasts. After the separation he continued his solo career but died prematurely from alcohol abuse at the age of 53. A star is dedicated to her and Paul in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The name of his most famous piece is engraved on his tombstone, Go with God.
