CD1
1. Radio Announcement
2. I Found A New Baby
3. Announcement
4. Sweet Lorraine
5. Announcement
6. Rosetta
7. Announcement
8. The Man I Love
9. Announcement
10. Bugle Call Rag
11. Announcement
12. Lester Leaps In
13. Announcement
14. Body And Soul
15. Tea For Two
16. Announcement
17. Blues
18. It Must Be True
19. How High The Moon
20. Begin The Beguine
CD2
1. Dream Dust
2. Fine And Dandy
3. Somebody Loves Me
4. Just You, Just Me
5. I Found A New Baby
6. September In The Rain
7. You Ought To Be In Pictures
8. Moten Swing
9. Willow Weep For Me
10. China Stomp
11. Star Dust
12. Honeysuckle Rose
13. I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With
Me
14. Body And Soul
15. Get Happy
16. Sweets
17. These Foolish Things
18. Embraceable You
19. You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me
20. Blue Skies
21. Begin The Beguine
22. Steel Guitar Rag
23. Guitar Boogie
24. Moten Swing (alternative
take)
The title of this double
album may come as a surprise to those who
only know guitarist Les Paul from the hits
he had from the late 1940s, many of them with
vocals by Mary Ford. Yet Les Paul had previously
been a player of jazz as well as country music,
and this collection contains some of his finest
jazz performances.
Most of the first CD is occupied
by recordings of the first "Jazz at the Philharmonic"
concert in July 1944, when promoter Norman
Granz assembled a starry line-up of jazz musicians
to jam together. Granz had intended to base
his rhythm section on the Nat "King" Cole
Trio, and its bassist - Johnny Miller - is
included on the session but guitarist Oscar
Moore was otherwise engaged, so Granz booked
Les Paul to play at this pioneering event.
The recordings are actually taken from a broadcast
for the Armed Forces Radio Service, which
accounts for the numerous announcements that
precede most tracks.
The opening number, I
Found a New Baby, is taken at a hectic
tempo and is marred by some tenor-sax screeching
from Illinois Jacquet, which may have pleased
the audience but deterred the more discriminating.
However, Les Paul provides a swinging jazz
solo which is jazzy as well as piquant, although
it includes some of Les's favourite clichés
which fans soon get to know. Nat Cole sings
his popular Sweet Lorraine, but Les
Paul is only in the background - inserting
some punctuations. Bugle Call Rag is
played at a frantic speed but Les contributes
a vigorous solo alongside muscular solos from
Illinois Jacquet and drummer Lee Young (Lester
Young's brother). It is followed by Lester
Leaps In, written by Lester Young. The
outstanding soloist here is Nat "King" Cole,
with Les Paul chugging away cheerfully in
accompaniment.
Cole and Paul are at their
best in the next three numbers. Les's technical
mastery of the guitar mingles with his disrespectful
humour to make a brilliant solo in Body
and Soul, matched by Nat's quote-filled
contribution. Both men also shine brightly
in Tea for Two but even this is topped
by Blues, where Cole and Paul intertwine
telepathically, with Cole jokily imitating
Paul's phrases. It is one of the great moments
in jazz, and worth the price of the whole
double album (which is very reasonably priced).
The rest of the first CD
and the whole of the second CD put Les Paul
in a variety of contexts: mostly with his
own trio but also with such fine musicians
as Lionel Hampton, Harry Edison and the neglected
Herbie Haymer. Somebody Loves Me has
him alongside Art Tatum, where Les is comparatively
restrained. Two tracks with the Eddie Heywood
sextet (notable for dynamic drum solos by
Sid Catlett) are followed by four with altoist
Willie Smith and his orchestra. Most tracks
include solos by Les, substantiating his right
to be called a jazzman, although his style
may be too gimmicky or repetitive for some
tastes.
In Steel Guitar Rag,
Les returns to his country roots, bending
notes in all directions. This item and Guitar
Boogie were recorded in 1947 - the latest
tracks on the album. Only one year later,
Les Paul laid down Lover as his first
multi-tracked recording, which made him really
famous and led to the Gibson guitar company
taking a real interest in his novel inventions.
When his wife, Mary Ford, joined him on vocals,
the duo had hit after hit.
Brian Priestley's sleeve-notes
observe that les Paul is omitted from the
New Grove Encyclopedia of Jazz (although
I have noticed many other strange omissions,
like George Gershwin, Peggy Lee, the Four
Freshmen and Bam Brown). But this double CD
establishes firmly that Les Paul IS a jazzman.
In fact, at the age of 93, he still plays
every week at the Iridium Club on Broadway,
despite his arthritic fingers. Les has not
only been a pioneer in guitar design, amplification
and studio innovations - he is also indisputably
a jazz player.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Avid
AMSC 940
