When it comes to music entertainment, it’s about people as much as it is about music. The legendary guitarist and innovator, Les Paul, was born 100 years ago today. He passed away 6 years ago, but left a legacy of performance in jazz, pop, and country, as well as inventing the famous Gibson Les Paul guitar. Many people only think of the guitar when mentioning "Les Paul." In today's article by NPR Music called The Man Before The Guitar: Remembering Les Paul At 100, Paul's friend and band member for 30 years, Lou Pallo, explains that during some performances, Paul would say to the audience, "See, I'm not a guitar. Here I am. I'm Les Paul!"
Paul loved to perform especially in front of live audiences. Deep down, he wanted to connect with people and enjoyed bringing delight into their lives through music. His first performing experience was playing and singing country music on the radio in the morning, but then he would play jazz at night. Art Tatum and Fats Waller were jazz masters that heavily influenced Paul in the 1930's. Tatum was known as the "musician's musician" and was one of the greatest improvisers in jazz history. Waller was lovingly known as the "clown prince," a comic showman who entertained crowds with his playful stage antics. Even Django Reinhardt, known for his style called "gypsy jazz," became a good friend with Paul. Influenced by these and others, Paul became a skillful performer with increasing popularity.
This is a good example for all musicians who desire to perform. If you seek to connect to your audience, they will appreciate you, enjoy coming to see you again, and want to buy recordings of your music. The opposite would be to love music so much that you only care about the music and not about your audience. I would call this "practicing on stage" rather than truly entertaining. You may want something meaningful, enlightening, even spiritual to touch your audience. This can happen with stories about the songs, expressiveness during songs, even lyrics in the songs. But, you must be intentional and deliberate to present more than just music. Music is communication and the people in the audience are who you are communicating to.
Paul's career really took off after marrying Mary Ford in 1949. They wrote hit songs and performed for seven years on their syndicated TV show called "Les Paul & Mary Ford At Home." You can view many YouTube videos of their songs. One of their hits was The World is Waiting for the Sunrise.
However, there is another aspect of loving music and people that we can learn from Paul's experience. We must not let our love for entertainment business destroy our closest relationships. In 1969, Ford and Paul divorced because she wanted to stop touring. She wanted to settle down for a home life, but he was too caught up with his music and wanted to keep touring. In an earlier NPR Music article called Guitar Legend And Innovator Les Paul Dies, that came out the year Paul died (2009), it explains that Paul was so affected by the divorce that he "retired from the business for ten years." What a paradox! I think he realized he should have made his relationship to Mary more important than touring. It took 10 years for him to sort through that mistake. We must make our marriages top priority as we journey deeper into the world of music entertainment.
The 2009 NPR Music article explains that Paul returned once again to the entertainment business, with even more passion for people. "He made his comeback in 1974 with an old friend, Chet Atkins. The record they made together, Chester and Lester won Les Paul his first Grammy." He played consistently for 35 more years. During these later years, was known for never staying in his dressing room, but always spending time talking with people during breaks and every free moment he had.
It's alright to love music, but let's keep our love for people a high priority as well.
Being caught up with your career is not something strange in the music industry and I am not surprised that Les Paul was also one of the victims. Les Paul was known for being a "people" person but the fact that it took Les Paul to realize later on the his marriage was important to him after he had divorced his wife made me realize how we can be led astray from something that was important to us. I also know that performing on stage takes a lot of courage and to be able to connect to the audience is not easy to do. But Im happy that he found joy and did not quit his passion after the divorce and decided to continue with his music.
ReplyDeleteLes Paul is widely known and he is a legendary guitarist and innovator. He loves performing for audiences and makes great shows. He sets a good example for other guitarist and performers and he inspires many people.there is aspects we can leave formnLesnPaul about loving music. In 2009 he returned to entertainment than he died.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Mr. Coates. I think that it is important to keep your love for your work and your relationships with other people. I think that it is okay for someone to dedicate most of their life to solely the entertainment business. But I think it is necessary to include the people who are close to you and make sure that they know your intentions. It is also important to make sure to listen to their criticism so that you don't become too involved in what you're doing that it becomes unhealthy for you and your relationships with others. -Cole Berkeland
ReplyDeleteLes Paul is one of the greatest jazz musicians ever. He had a lot of personal issues as well though. The most important aspect of anything is balancing your professional and personal life. Even though he already had a successful career in the past, after he came back he was better than ever. In the end, he became a happier man and died happily. ~Tayza Than
ReplyDeleteLes paul was an innovator. Way ahead of his time. In addition to paving the way for solid body electric guitarists, he was an astounding player as well. I think you should do what makes you happiest in life and if you get ther opportunity to tour and preform, you should do it if it makes you happy. Find what maes you happy and don't let anyone take it away from you. If at some point later in life your priorities change, that's ok. You can adjust accordingly. I think les paul is a great example of that.
ReplyDeleteCatie bartholomew
Les Paul, in my opinion, was an innovator in the guitar community. The fact that he could manage to create one of the most known guitar brands of all time and manage a successful music career baffles me. It breaks my heart to learn about his divorce and constant battle with depression. Les Paul taught me to do what I like, not for the money, but whether you enjoy it or not, because it pays off in the end.
ReplyDeleteSam Habib
ReplyDeleteLes Paul invented the popular Gibson Les Paul guitar and he performed jazz, pop, and country well, as fans would say. In my opinion, Paul sounds like a very confident, enthusiastic person who wanted to spread his love by sharing his talent. He tried to connect with his audience in order to create a stronger relationship with fans. In 1949, Paul married Mary Ford, putting a stop to his successful career. They aired a show for 7 years and created hit songs. Sadly, the couple divorced due to the fact Paul's wife wanted to stop touring. This lead to return to the music business where he began to grow even more compassionate for his beloved fans.
Though they may have only the best intentions,anyone who put their job as a higher priority than their relationships with other people are doomed to fail in their careers, especially in the entertainment business. Les Paul experienced the reproductions of placing more priority in work than with the loved ones in his life firsthand. Les Paul's his wife divorced him because she was tired of constantly being on tour and wished to settle down yet Paul ignored her wishes and placed touring over his wife and lost her because of this. The lesson we take from les Paul's experience is It's more important to live for the people you love than it is for your job.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this as connecting with an audience should be a number one priority for any musician. It makes the musician more relatable to their audience. The truly special artists in the media are able to interact with audiences during performances, giving performances a more lively feel. Connecting with the audience is also beneficial to a singer, as the most popular singers typically interact with their audiences often.
ReplyDeleteLes Paul is one of the most innovative guitarists in the history. Not only did he created the Gibson guitar, but also he brought his passision into the guitar community. He inspired many people to play guitar. He dedicated his life to guitar and really enjoyed it. I respect him to the fullest.
ReplyDeleteLes Paul is a great guitarist and musician. From this passage, I know that he is the kind of person who put his job and dream prior to everything. His job and love is music and guitar. He even divorced his wife because he wants to peruse his music career. Other people could see him as crazy but just because of that, He became one of the most influential and legendary guitarists.
ReplyDeleteWhile being one of the ones who skyrocketed the music industry with Guitar, Les Paul could’ve been considered someone who was ahead of his time. Les Paul’s mixed style of jazz, pop, and country influenced many, as well as left a mark with his Gibson Les Paul guitar still used in this time. The fact that he played in the early 1900’s, the time in which wars occurred, shows that he was a well spirited guitar player, who plays with passion. One thing he taught to others is having so much love for playing to others that money won’t even matter, and he demonstrated this throughout his career. Although his wife divorced him and saddened his soul, he did not let himself be crushed and was able to return with greater spirit and a priority of connecting with people.
ReplyDeleteLes Paul was a huge inspiration to the music community. From his music to his company/brand, his name is known everywhere where there is music. However he became blind in his career and didn’t put his relationship before his career and divorced.
ReplyDeleteLes Paul was an amazing musiccian. He was a huge inspiration to the music community. He was a very talented. The only bad thing about him as that he put music before his relationships. If he was a little more careful he could have kept his relationship and he would also be a huge star at the same time. He is still a huge figure and he will always be remembered.
ReplyDeleteLes Paul was an extraordinary musician and very talented. His impact on music, especially guitar, will be felt forever. He inspired many people with his music. The sad part is that music took over his life, and didn’t leave time for relationships. But he still was an amazing guitarist, and an even bigger inspiration
ReplyDeleteLes Paul was one of the biggest inspirations in the music community and will be forever. He was a very talented musician so much so that he put that in front of everything else in his career including his relationships with others. He was unaware of how much music was taking of his life and he ended up divorcing at the end for his lack of commitment to the relationship. Nevertheless he was a musician that was ahead of his time and he inspired many to become great. He will forever and always be remembered.
ReplyDeleteLes Paul was on of the biggest inspirations in music to ever be. He was a very talented musician, so much so he put that infront of everything else in his life including his relationships. He got so caught up in his music that he never saw what was happening to his relationships and how it was effecting them. He ended up getting divorced for his lack of commitment. Nevertheless he was still one of the biggest inspirations of all time and will never be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteLes Paul was a guitarist who loved to make the world smile wherever he went. He made mistakes like divorcing his wife because she didn’t want to tour. But, despite this, he spent time thinking about what he had done. After his 10 YEAR break, he came back and got right back to what he had been doing. Making people laugh and making them smile from listening to his music
ReplyDeleteBeing a legendary guitarist is not easy. While being fully invested in his roaring passion for music, it was difficult to set priorities straight. Sometimes when we look ahead to the future and what we can achieve, we often forget the things that are right in front of us. In Les’s life, Mary was a figure trapped and shoved to the back of his mind. If he couldn’t balance both his career and his wife, maybe he shouldn’t have stayed with one at the beginning.
ReplyDelete- Tiffany Guo
Les Paul is a great performer, but also finds delight in connecting with people. When people work they should love their job as well as the people around them. Though he has issues in his own life, he makes sure to balance work and home life. He invented the Gibson Les Guitar that blues up the guitar world. He has inspired many to become guitarists. He and his wife divorced due to his busy work life. We should not only focus on our work life, we need to find a good balance between the home and work life.
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ReplyDeleteLes Paul was a guitarist who loved to perform in front of audiences. Paul was married to Mary Ford in 1949, and had a TV show called Les Paul and Mary Ford at Home. They later divorced in 1969 because Ford wanted to stop performing. Paul was known for connecting with his audiences and being a good performer. Les Paul died in 2009. - Mia
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredible story. It is interesting to think of both the good and the bad of this legend's life; it makes him seem more human. This is especially important considering his overwhelming influence with the Les Paul guitar. However, it is intriguing to think of how dedicated he was to his music and the negative reprecussions of that. We can learn from his story to remember to hold others, and God especially, in a place higher than anything else. However, his dedication and passion reflect his relationships with his friends, who were also highly skilled guitarists, showing the influence of the people surrounding oneself.
ReplyDelete~Allie Restani
Les Paul was an extraordinary guitarist who inspired others. His sole purpose was to make people smile. With this goal in mind, he inspired others in his performances. Despite his mistakes, his performances allowed others to get inspiration. His wonderful legacy will continue to help others even though he is gone. - Cameron Merza
ReplyDeleteLes Paul was a legendary guitar player who was well known for his performances in jazz, pop, and country. He was also the inventor of the famous Gibson Les Paul guitar. Les Paul loved performing in front of live audiences. He liked connecting with the audience and bringing them joy through the music he played. In 1949, Paul married Mary Ford who, for the next seven years, he would write and perform music with. Paul let the love he had for music affect his relation with his wife. He divorced her in 1969 because she wanted to settle down and stop touring. Paul then stopped playing music for ten years because how the divorce affected him. In 1974 Paul made his comeback playing along side his friend Chet Atkins. He played for 35 more years.
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