The Jack Williamson of the Guitar
July 12th, 2007 by 
Bradley Denton
Last night, I did something I’ve been looking forward to all week: I watched Les Paul — Chasing Sound! on “American Masters” (PBS).
I already knew the general facts of Mr. Paul’s life, as many do:
He was born in 1915. He was, and is, an immensely talented guitarist whose skills range over almost all musical styles. He was one of the early creators and champions of the solid-body electric guitar. He explored technical effects such as electronic echo before almost anyone else. He scored hit after hit with his wife, vocalist Mary Ford, in the 1950s.
And in the late 1940s, he flat-out invented multi-track recording.
That last fact alone means that your life has been touched by Les Paul even if you’ve never heard his name . . . because the results of his work enter your ears every time you listen to a studio recording made after 1950.
Not to mention the fact that the Gibson company’s Les Paul signature guitar (in its various incarnations) is one of the three most popular electric guitar models ever made – and by far the most successful artist-endorsed musical instrument of all time. (Even if you prefer Fender’s Telecaster and Stratocaster, as I do, you still gotta respect the Les.)
I also knew that Mr. Paul has always had a simultaneously self-deprecating and wicked sense of humor. For example, at a Les Paul tribute show in 1988, when Eddie Van Halen tried to thank Mr. Paul for all he had done for modern music, part of the exchange went like this:
EDDIE: Without the things that you have done, I couldn’t do HALF the things that I can do now –
LES (interrupting): Well, forget your married life . . .
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