Stars Rock for Les Paul at His 100th Birthday Celebration in NYC – PART ONE

by: Debra Devi

Stars Rock for Les Paul – PART TWO

“I want a sound that has never been heard before,” Les Paul famously remarked, and during his life he really delivered–as a creative guitarist who came up with fresh licks, chord sequences and fretting techniques that blew away his peers, and as the pioneering developer of the solid-body electric guitar and many recording innovations, including multi-tracking, tape delay, phasing and reverb.

Les Paul was probably not thinking of the cacophonous sound of Steve Vai squealing out supersonic pinch harmonics while Joe Bonamassa shredded up the blues, but that never-heard-before blend is what drifted up toward heaven when Vai and Bonamassa joined Joe Satriani, Warren Haynes, Neal Schon, Johnny A. and Steve Miller for the final jam of the evening at Les Paul’s 100^th birthday celebration at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square on Tuesday, June 9.

The massive talents onstage did a great job, actually, of not stepping on each other’s superstar toes during the jam. It was nimbly conducted by the evening’s musical director, SNL’s G.E. Smith, and led vocally by Les Paul’s godson Steve “The Joker” Miller–who groused that to give this lineup only eight minutes to jam together was “a freaking travesty!”

The rockers were still lumbering through Freddie King’s “Tore Down” twenty minutes later, to the crowd’s delight.

That morning, New York City had proclaimed June 9 “Les Paul Day.” Journey guitarist Neil Schon accepted the proclamation at 10 am in Times Square on the steps of Les Paul’s “Big Sound Experience,” the 53-foot interactive mobile touring exhibit kicking off a national tour this summer.

By 6 pm, the red carpet was rolled out at the Hard Rock, and the music legends were rolling in, pausing for photos and TV interviews. Once inside, musicians and audience were treated to a beautiful exhibit of Lester William Polsfuss treasures, including dusty Ampeg tape machines and jerry-rigged studio devices, handmade picks, one of Mr. Paul’s first acoustic guitars, his favorite coffee table, his iconic blue turtleneck and the last guitar Les ever played before he passed away at 94, on August 12, 2009.

Paul was still going strong in his nineties, delighting jazzheads and metalheads during Monday night concerts at the Iridium that became a pilgrimage for illustrious sit-in guests like Paul McCartney, Slash and Mark Knopfler. Anyone who met him there could attest to his gentle and encouraging demeanor toward any and all types of guitarists. If you were a guitar player, you spoke his language.

The Les Paul Trio—guitarist Lou Pallo, bassist Nicki Parrott and pianist John Colianni—still plays the Iridium every Monday night, with guitar heroes like Jeff Beck and Robert Randolph filling in for Paul.

Upon entering the Hard Rock, Paul’s beloved band was already swinging, led by Pallo, who backed Paul for almost forty years. The group performed “Blues Skies,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” and “Sweet Georgia Brown,” the last song Paul ever played at his Monday night hang.

GALLERY