Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter - Deep Down In Florida

And to celebrate the New Year! Cheers! Welcome 2016!

Hope you keep "Faithful" with us and the Blues, Jazz, Classic Rock and so on....

Musicians:
Johnny Winter - guitar & vocals
Muddy Waters - guitar & vocals
James Cotton - harmonica
Charles Capice - bass
Willie Smith - drums
Bob Margolin - guitar
Pinetop Perkins - piano

Tower Theater - Philadelphia, PA - March 6th, 1977

Now You Has Jazz - That's Jazz 1956 - Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was born in a poor section of New Orleans known as “the Battlefield” on August 4, 1901.

By the time of his death in 1971, the man known around the world as Satchmo was widely recognized as a founding father of jazz—a uniquely American art form. His influence, as an artist and cultural icon, is universal, unmatched, and very much alive today.
Louis Armstrong’s achievements are remarkable. During his career, he:

• developed a way of playing jazz, as an instrumentalist and a vocalist, which has had an impact on all musicians to follow; 
• recorded hit songs for five decades, and his music is still heard today on television and radio and in films; 
• wrote two autobiographies, more than ten magazine articles, hundreds of pages of memoirs, and thousands of letters; 
• appeared in more than thirty films (over twenty were full-length features) as a gifted actor with superb comic timing and an unabashed joy of life;
• composed dozens of songs that have become jazz standards;
• performed an average of 300 concerts each year, with his frequent tours to all parts of the world earning him the nickname “Ambassador Satch,” and became one of the first great celebrities of the twentieth century. 

Through the years, Louis entertained millions, from heads of state and royalty to the kids on his stoop in Corona. Despite his fame, he remained a humble man and lived a simple life in a working-class neighborhood. To this day, everyone loves Louis Armstrong—just the mention of his name makes people smile.

To most Americans, he was the eternal Crooner: a much celebrated and beloved performer of unparalleled popularity. Yet Bing Crosby was far more than that: He was an architect of 20th century entertainment, a force in the development of three industries that barely existed when he came into the world: recordings, motion pictures, and broadcasting. As the most successful recording artist of all time; an abiding star of movies, radio, and television; and a firm believer in the wonders of technology, he helped to transform and define the cultural life not only of the United States, but of the world.

Nina Simone - Central Park Blues

Nina Simone was one of the most gifted vocalists of her generation, and also one of the most eclectic. Simone was a singer, pianist, and songwriter who bent genres to her will rather than allowing herself to be confined by their boundaries; her work swung back and forth between jazz, blues, soul, classical, R&B, pop, gospel, and world music, with passion, emotional honesty, and a strong grasp of technique as the constants of her musical career.

The Official Home of Nina Simone | The High Priestess of Soul

Sonny Boy Williamson II - Your Funeral, My Trial

Aleck "Rice" Miller, a.k.a. "Sonny Boy Williamson"

According to his gravestone, Rice Miller was born March 11, 1897, in the country between Glendora and Tutwiler, Mississippi. He was raised by his mother Millie Ford and stepfather Jim Miller, and acquired the nickname "Rice" as a young child. Miller, who was interested in music as a toddler, taught himself to play harmonica at the age of five. Interestingly, W.C. Handy heard early blues played on a train platform in Tutwiler about this same time. Miller became quite adept at the harmonica, playing spiritual music at parties for tips as a child. As he grew older, he began playing spirituals at schools and street corners as "Little Boy Blue." During the 1920s he left his parents' home and began to hobo, playing blues to support himself.

Miller hoboed through Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Missouri during the 1920s, playing levee and lumber camps, juke joints, and parties. He claimed to have made unissued test recordings in the late 1920s, but these have never been found. During the 1930s Miller teamed up with guitarists Elmore James and Robert Johnson for short periods. He also developed a partnership with a young Johnson protégé, guitarist Robert Jr. Lockwood. During the late 1930s, Jackson, Tennessee, harmonica wizard John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson recorded several hits including "Good Morning Little School Girl" and "Bluebird Blues" for the Bluebird label in Chicago. During the early 1940s, Rice Miller began calling himself "Sonny Boy Williamson" and responded to anyone who questioned it that he was "the original Sonny Boy."

As Sonny Boy Williamson, he and Lockwood auditioned for executives of Interstate Grocer, the makers of King Biscuit flour, in the Interstate Grocer Co. Building. Interstate Grocer agreed to sponsor the pair and in 1941 they began broadcasting from the Floyd Truck Lines Building on KFFA radio. King Biscuit Time was arguably the most influential radio show in blues history, reaching as-yet unrecorded blues artists Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, and Jimmy Rogers, as well as the large Delta blues audience. As remuneration for hawking King Biscuit flour and cornmeal, Williamson was allowed to announce his upcoming gigs on the air. He became an established star throughout the Delta and recruited guitarist Joe Willie Wilkins to augment the group.

Williamson left KFFA in 1944, and hooked up with Elmore James after the latter's discharge from the U.S. Navy in 1945. By 1947, Williamson had taken lodgings in the Belzoni, Mississippi, boarding house where James lived. Ever the promoter, he and James broadcast from O.J. Turner's drugstore in Belzoni, over a hookup to Yazoo City's WAZF and Greenville's WGVM, hawking Talaho Syrup. Williamson toured the Delta with James and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup during the late 1940s before leaving for West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1948. In West Memphis, he secured another radio job, this time pitching Hadacol Tonic on KWEM. It was here that he met B.B. King, who had approached Williamson for work as a sideman. Typically, Williamson had a more lucrative job offer in Clarksdale, Mississippi, but was scheduled the same night for the 16th Street Grill in West Memphis. He gave the 16th Street Grill job to King, admonishing the young guitarist not to fail.

Williamson first recorded on January 5, 1951, for Lillian McMurry's Trumpet label. The session took place at Trumpet's studio at 309 Farish Street in Jackson, Mississippi, and featured backing from pianist Willie Love, Elmore James, Joe Willie Wilkins, and drummer "Frock" O'Dell. Although nothing was issued from this session, McMurry continued recording Williamson for several more years. Many of the sides he recorded for Trumpet, such as "Eyesight to the Blind," "Nine Below Zero," and "West Memphis Blues," have since become blues harp standards. After Trumpet suspended operations in 1955, Williamson moved to Milwaukee and began recording for Chess subsidiary Checker Records.

At Checker, Williamson began a series of hit singles, beginning with "Don't Start Me to Talking," which featured sympathetic backing from Muddy Waters's band. His harp style featured a phenomenal technique that layered a wide dynamic range, complex phrasing, and a variety of effects, all held together by his impeccable timing. Williamson's singing lacked the dynamism of his playing and his gruff, hoarse vocals conveyed a broad range of emotion unmatched by the range of his voice. He was also an accomplished songwriter, and many of the songs he recorded for Checker, including "One Way Out," "Fattening Frogs for Snakes," and "Your Funeral And My Trial," are considered blues classics. Backed by Lockwood and ace Chess session musicians including guitarist Luther Tucker, pianists Otis Spann and Lafayette Leake, bassist Willie Dixon, and drummer Fred Below, Williamson created a modern sound that revolved around his harmonica shuffles.

Williamson continued to tour the Delta, working his way back to Milwaukee through Helena, Memphis, and St. Louis. He toured Europe as part of the American Folk Blues Festival package in 1963 and 1964, remaining for some time in England, where he became a sensation. He returned to Helena in 1965 and rented a room at a boarding house at 427 ½ Elm Street, telling everyone who asked that he had "come home to die." He resumed playing King Biscuit Time, now broadcast from KFFA's studio atop the Helena National Bank Building.

Sonny Boy Williamson died May 25, 1965, at his boarding house. Aleck Miller's grave is near Tutwiler, Mississippi, just off Highway 49.

Bessie Smith - Yellowdog Blues

Bessie Smith, the "EMPRESS OF THE BLUES".

Born on April 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bessie Smith was one of ten children. Both of her parents had died by her eighth birthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola and encouraged to sing and dance by her oldest brother Clarence. He soon joined the Moses Stokes traveling show, leaving Smith and their brother Andrew to sing for pennies on Chattanooga street corners.

Clarence later arranged an audition for Smith with the Moses Stokes Company and she was hired as a dancer in 1912. She became friends with an older Moses Stokes veteran, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, who was called the Mother of the Blues and likely exercised some influence over the young singer. Smith had her own voice, however, and owed her success to no one. Her heavy, throaty vocals were balanced by a delightful sense of timing. Her live shows were a blend of comedy and drama in song. Smith was popular in Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, but she was beloved in the South. In 1923, her vaudeville touring led her to Memphis, where she played packed houses at the Palace Theater on Beale Street.

On February 16, 1923, Smith recorded "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Down Hearted Blues," accompanied by Clarence Williams on piano. Although recorded by Memphis singer Alberta Hunter a year before, Smith's "Down Hearted Blues" sold more than 780,000 copies in six months. Her sales made her a blues star on par with Mamie Smith (no relation), a vaudeville singer who had ignited the race records market with her 1920 recording "Crazy Blues."

Although Smith recorded extensively for Columbia - nearly 160 songs between 1923 and her last session in 1933 - her live performances were equally successful. During the 1920s she commanded fees of $2,000 a week and played sold-out theaters across the South, North, and Midwest. Her stage success influenced women blues singers like Memphis Minnie, but male blues singers like Leadbelly, who only heard her on record, emulated her too. She recorded with the best jazz sidemen, including pianists Fletcher Henderson and James P. Johnson, clarinetists Benny Goodman and Buster Bailey, guitarist Eddie Lang, saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Don Redman, and cornetist Louis Armstrong. In May 1925, she made the first electronically recorded record, "Cake Walking Babies," by singing into the newly invented microphone.

During the Depression of the 1930s, Smith's drawing power in the large cities of the North and Midwest began to wane, but she remained popular in small towns and throughout the South. Furry Lewis proudly recalled playing with Smith in Chicago during the 1930s. She even made an early movie when W.C. Handy asked her to play the lead in a short film called "St. Louis Blues" loosely based on his song. On Sept. 26, 1937, after finishing a performance in Memphis, Smith and her manager were driving south on Highway 61, north of the Crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississippi, when their car struck an oncoming truck. The crash nearly severed Smith's right arm. She was taken to G.T. Thomas Hospital (now the Riverside Hotel) in Clarksdale where she died the following morning.

Bessie Smith is buried in Mount Lawn Cemetery in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.

Bessie Smith (v), Joe Smith (c), Charlie Green (tb), Buster Bailey (cl), Coleman Hawkins(ts), Fletcher Henderson (p), Charlie Dixon (bjo), Bob Escudero (bb) - Performed at 1925

Li-Fi

pureLiFi, the home of LiFi, is recognised as the leader in the field – the use of the visible light spectrum instead of radio frequencies to enable wireless data communication. pureLiFi provides ubiquitous high-speed wireless access that offers substantially greater security, safety and data densities than Wi-Fi along with inherent properties that eliminate unwanted external network intrusion. In addition, the integration of illumination and data services generates a measurable reduction in both infrastructure complexity and energy consumption.


LiFi is a disruptive technology which will shift business models and create opportunities ripe for exploitation. The dominance and lifetime of LED lighting has created a need for new business models in the lighting industry. The need to offer services, including new payment and financing models, creates an unprecedented opportunity for LiFi.


Features

Li-Fi features include benefits to the capacity, energy efficiency, safety and security of a wireless system with a number of key benefits over Wi-Fi but is inherently a complementary technology.

Capacity
Bandwidth: The visible light spectrum is plentiful (10,000 more than RF spectrum), unlicensed and free to use.
Data density: Li-Fi can acheive about 1000 times the data density of Wi-Fi because visible light can be well contained in a tight illumination area whereas RF tends to spread out and cause interference.
High speed: Very high data rates can be achieved due to low interference, high device bandwidths and high intensity optical output.
Planning: Capacity planning is simple since there tends to be illumination infrastructure where people wish to communicate, and good signal strength can literally be seen.

Efficiency
Low cost: Requires fewer components than radio technology.
Energy: LED illumination is already efficient and the data transmission requires negligible additional power.
Environment: RF transmission and propagation in water is extremely difficult but Li-Fi works well in this environment.

Safety
Safe: Life on earth has evolved through exposure to visible light. There are no known safety or health concerns for this technology.
Non-hazardous: The transmission of light avoids the use of radio frequencies which can dangerously interfere with electronic circuitry in certain environments.

Security
Containment: It is difficult to eavesdrop on Li-Fi signals since the signal is confined to a closely defined illumination area and will not travel through walls.
Control: Data may be directed from one device to another and the user can see where the data is going; there is no need for additional security such as pairing for RF interconnections such as Bluetooth.


What if every light bulb in the world could also transmit data? At TEDGlobal, Harald Haas demonstrates, for the first time, a device that could do exactly that. By flickering the light from a single LED, a change too quick for the human eye to detect, he can transmit far more data than a cellular tower — and do it in a way that's more efficient, secure and widespread.

Raspberry Pi Zero

Take a look at this new release of Raspberry Pi.

• A Broadcom BCM2835 application processor
• 1GHz ARM11 core (40% faster than Raspberry Pi 1)
• 512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM
• A micro-SD card slot
• A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output
• Micro-USB sockets for data and power
• An unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header
• Identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2B
• An unpopulated composite video header
• Our smallest ever form factor, at 65mm x 30mm x 5mm

Raspberry Pi Foundation

 

Ma Rainey - Louisiana Hoo Doo Blues

Recorded: Chicago , May, 1925
'Ma' Rainey And Her Georgia Band
Ma Rainey (vcl), George „Hooks" Tifford (sax), Thomas Dorsey (p), unknown (kazoo), Cedric Odorn (d)

If Bessie Smith is the acknowledged “Queen of the Blues,” then Gertrude “Ma” Rainey is the undisputed “Mother of the Blues.” As music historian Chris Albertson has written, “If there was another woman who sang the blues before Rainey, nobody remembered hearing her.” Rainey fostered the blues idiom, and she did so by linking the earthy spirit of country blues with the classic style and delivery of Bessie Smith. She often played with such outstanding jazz accompanists as Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson, but she was more at home fronting a jugband or washboard band.

A country woman to the core, Rainey was born in Columbus, Georgia, on April 26, 1886. She began performing at age 14 with a local revue and, in her late teens, joined the touring Rabbit Foot Minstrels. By all accounts, she was the first woman to incorporate blues into vaudeville, minstrel and tent shows. In fact, it is believed that Rainey coached a young Bessie Smith while touring with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. After more than a quarter-century as a performer, Rainey was signed to Paramount Records in 1923, at age 38. She recorded over a hundred sides during her six years at Paramount. Her most memorable songs were often about the harsh realities of life in the Deep South for poor blacks, including such classics as “C.C. Rider,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “Bo Weavil Blues.”

When the blues faded from popularity in the Thirties, the earthy Ma Rainey returned home to her Georgia hometown, where she ran two theaters until her death from a heart attack in 1939.

Bukka White - Old Lady Blues

Born on a farm near Houston, Mississippi, November 12, 1909, and named for the famed black educator, Bukka White was interested in music from an early age. His father taught him guitar at the age of nine, and a chance meeting with Charley Patton convinced the young White to "come to be a great man like Charley Patton." The son of a railroad worker, White was exposed to the sound of trains from an early age and was not afraid to hobo a train. He rode the rails from the Mississippi Delta to St. Louis, where he played poolrooms, barrelhouses, and parties for food and tips during the 1910s and 1920s.

During a 1930 stay in Memphis, White recorded fourteen songs, including three gospel numbers with Memphis Minnie supplying background vocals. Two 78s were released from the session, one containing two gospel sides and the other containing two blues numbers. Neither met with commercial success, but during this session White received the designation "Bukka" from a white record producer who had never heard of his famous namesake Booker T. Washington. He continued to travel during the 1930s, working as a professional boxer in Chicago and as a Negro League pitcher with the Birmingham Black Cats. During the summer of 1937, White shot an assailant in the thigh and was sentenced to Parchman Farm. Before beginning his sentence, he recorded two blues for the Vocalion label, including "Shake 'Em On Down," which sold in excess of 16,000 copies. Bluesman Big Bill Broonzy recorded "New Shake 'Em On Down," and scored another hit on that theme while White toiled at Parchman. Making the best of a bad situation, he recorded for folklorist Alan Lomax in 1939, while the latter was at the notorious prison recording for the Library of Congress.

Upon his release from prison in 1940, White traveled to Chicago for a follow-up session to "Shake 'Em On Down." The resulting twelve songs transcend blues as music, becoming powerful ruminations on imprisonment, isolation, loneliness, Jim Crow justice, and the freedom of the rails. White's post-Parchman success was short-lived, however, as a stint in the U.S. Navy during World War II curtailed his playing. During the 1940s, he occasionally played juke joints with Memphis legend Frank Stokes after the latter had moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi. White later settled in Memphis, playing occasional gigs and influencing his young guitar-playing cousin B.B. King. Like Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, and Son House, White was rediscovered during the 1960s "blues revival," and was once again celebrated for his slide guitar, throaty holler, and inspired compositions.

Bukka White died in Memphis, Tennessee, February 26, 1977. He is buried in Memphis.

CORINTHIANS - CAMPEÃO BRASILEIRO - 2015

CORINTHIANS!!! Hexacampeão Brasileiro!

É Festa na Favela! Alegria do bando de loucos! Campanha histórica e ainda vem uns recordes por aí....

Alguns números:


73,3% - É o aproveitamento dos pontos em 35 jogos, o maior da era dos pontos corridos.

18 - É o número de jogadores do elenco que marcaram gols no campeonato

64 - É o número de gols marcados no Brasileirão, o melhor ataque da competição.

48 - É o total de gols marcados dentro da área dos adversários.

17 - É a quantidade de gols marcados pela equipe nos 15 minutos finais de cada tempo.

90,1% - É o aproveitamento em Itaquera. O time conquistou 15 vitórias em 17 jogos.

23 - É o número de vitórias do Corinthians no Brasileirão. Um recorde após 35 rodadas.

2,31 - É a média de gols do time no segundo turno. No primeiro, ela foi de "apenas" 1,42 gol por jogo

E ainda faltam 3 rodadas para o fim do campeonato....

Son House - Scary Delta Blues

Born near Lyon, Mississippi, March 21, 1902, Son House (Eddie James House Jr) chopped cotton as a teenager while developing a passion for the Baptist church. He delivered his first sermon at the age of fifteen and within five years was the pastor of a small country church south of Lyon. His fall from the church was a result of an affair with a woman ten years his senior, whom he followed home to Louisiana. By 1926, House had returned to the Lyon area and began playing guitar under the tutelage of an obscure local musician named James McCoy. He developed quickly as a guitarist; within a year he had fallen in with Delta musician Rube Lacy and began emulating his slide guitar style. House shot and killed a man during a house party near Lyon in 1928. He was sentenced to work on Parchman Farm, but was released within two years after a judge in Clarksdale re-examined the case. Having been advised by the judge to leave the Clarksdale vicinity, House relocated to Lula and there met bluesman Charley Patton while playing at the Lula railroad depot for tips.

Patton befriended House, who began working as a musician around the Kirby Plantation. In 1930, Patton brought him, guitarist Willie Brown, and pianist Louise Johnson to Grafton, Wisconsin, for a recording session with Paramount Records. House's influence on the Delta School of musicians can be judged from a handful of recordings made in Grafton. His song "Preachin' The Blues Part I & II" was a six-minute biography of his life and served as inspiration for Robert Johnson's "Preaching Blues" and "Walking Blues." House's powerful vocals and slashing slide guitar style established him as a giant of the Delta School but did not lead to commercial success. House continued playing with Willie Brown during the 1930s and developed a relationship with a young Robert Johnson after moving to Robinsonville, Mississippi. After Johnson had learned to play guitar, he began to gig with House and Brown, learning the older musicians' licks.

House, Willie Brown, Fiddlin' Joe Martin, and Leroy Williams were recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax near Lake Cormorant, Mississippi, in 1941 for the Library of Congress. Lomax returned the next year to record House in Robinsonville, but the musician did not make another commercial record until the "blues revival" of the 1960s. His influence, however, would be felt through the recordings of Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Robert Nighthawk, and other successful blues artists.

Son House died October 19, 1988.

Les Paul - Sleepwalk

The name Les Paul is synonymous with the electric guitar. As a player, inventor and recording artist, Paul has been an innovator his entire life. Born Lester William Polfuss in 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Paul built his first crystal radio at age nine - which was about the time he first picked up a guitar. By age 13 he was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist and working diligently on sound-related inventions. In 1941, Paul built his first solid-body electric guitar, and he continued to make refinements to his prototype throughout the decade. It’s safe to say that rock and roll as we know it would not exist without his invention.

But Les Paul didn’t stop there. He also refined the technology of sound recording, developing revolutionary engineering techniques such as close miking, echo delay, overdubbing and multitracking. He also busied himself as a versatile bandleader and performer who could play jazz, country and pop.

The guitar that bears his name – the Gibson Les Paul – is his crowning achievement. It grew out of his desire, as a musician and inventor, to create a stringed instrument that could make electronic sound without distorting. What he came up with, after almost a decade of work, was a solid bodied instrument – that is, one that didn’t have the deep, resonant chamber of an acoustic guitar.

As he told writer Jim O’Donnell, “What I wanted to do is not have two things vibrating. I wanted the string to vibrate and nothing else. I wanted the guitar to sustain longer than an acoustical box and have different sounds than an acoustical box.” The fact that the guitar’s body was solid allowed for the sound of a plucked string to sustain, as its vibrating energy was not dissipated in a reverberant acoustic chamber.

He experimented with different designs until he had his non-vibrating guitar body, which he called “The Log.” Gibson Guitars initially turned him down, calling his invention “a broomstick with pickups” and pointing out that this meant guitarists would now have to carry around two instruments – one electric and one acoustic – which they viewed as prohibitively inconvenient. As a result, Paul was beaten to the marketplace by Leo Fender, whose Fender Broadcaster – the first mass-produced solidbody electric guitar – was introduced in 1948. That same year, however, Paul unveiled overdubbing, a breakthrough recording technique that would forever change music. Capitol Records released the Paul’s experimental eight-track recordings of “Lover (When You’re Near Me)” and “Brazil,” which he’d made in his garage workshop.

Paul’s career as a musician nearly came to an end in 1948, when he suffered near-fatal car accident in Oklahoma, skidding off a bridge into a river during a snowstorm. The guitarist shattered his right arm and elbow, and he also broke his back, ribs, nose and collarbone. He managed to salvage his career as a musician by instructing surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.

Paul subsequently made his mark as a jazz-pop musician extraordinaire, recording as a duo with his wife, singer Mary Ford (who was born Colleen Summers). Their biggest hits included “How High the Moon” (1951) and “Vaya Con Dios” (1953), both reaching #1. The recordings of Les Paul and Mary Ford are noteworthy for Paul’s pioneering use of overdubbing - i.e., layering guitar parts one atop another, a technique also referred to as multitracking or “sound on sound” recording. He also speeded up the sound of his guitar. The results were bright, bubbly and a little otherworldly - just the sort of music you might expect from an inventor with an ear for the future.

In 1952, Les Paul introduced the first eight-track tape recorder (designed by Paul and marketed by Ampex) and, more significantly for the future of rock and roll, finally saw the release of the the gold-top solid body electric guitar that bears his name. Gibson’s Les Paul Standard went on to become one of the most popular of all models of electric guitar. Built and marketed by Gibson, with continuous advances and refinements from Paul in such areas as low-impedance pickup technology, the Les Paul is a staple instrument among many of rock’s greatest guitarists. He introduced the latest model in 2008. According to Gibson U.S.A., its design amendments include “a new asymmetrical neck profile that makes it one of the most comfortable and playable necks ever offered on any guitar.”

The list of musicians associated with the Gibson Les Paul include Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Mike Bloomfield, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page. Paul is guitarist Steve Miller’s godfather. Jimi Hendrix consulted him about the construction of Electric Lady Studios. In a British periodical, Led Zeppelin’s Page once wrote of Paul, “He’s the man who started everything. He’s just a genius.” While sharing a stage with Paul, Eddie Van Halen once told him, “Without the things you’ve done, I wouldn’t be able to do half the things I do.”

Over the ensuing decades Les Paul has remained active on all fronts. He recorded a Grammy-winning album of instrumental duets with Chet Atkins, Chester and Lester, in 1976. From the mid-Eighties through the mid-Nineties, he performed weekly at Fat Tuesday’s, a New York City jazz club. In 2005, at the age of 90, he released American Made/World Played, which featured guest spots from several of his most illustrious rock and roll disciples and won him a pair of Grammys.

Paul performed weekly – at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club – and indulged his inventor’s curiosity in a basement workshop at home in Mahwah, New Jersey up until his death on August 13, 2009.

Visit: The Les Paul Foundation and Les Paul Official Web Site

Les Paul and Chet Atkins

The name Les Paul is synonymous with the electric guitar. As a player, inventor and recording artist, Paul has been an innovator his entire life. Born Lester William Polfuss in 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Paul built his first crystal radio at age nine - which was about the time he first picked up a guitar. By age 13 he was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist and working diligently on sound-related inventions. In 1941, Paul built his first solid-body electric guitar, and he continued to make refinements to his prototype throughout the decade. It’s safe to say that rock and roll as we know it would not exist without his invention.

But Les Paul didn’t stop there. He also refined the technology of sound recording, developing revolutionary engineering techniques such as close miking, echo delay, overdubbing and multitracking. He also busied himself as a versatile bandleader and performer who could play jazz, country and pop.

The guitar that bears his name – the Gibson Les Paul – is his crowning achievement. It grew out of his desire, as a musician and inventor, to create a stringed instrument that could make electronic sound without distorting. What he came up with, after almost a decade of work, was a solid bodied instrument – that is, one that didn’t have the deep, resonant chamber of an acoustic guitar.

As he told writer Jim O’Donnell, “What I wanted to do is not have two things vibrating. I wanted the string to vibrate and nothing else. I wanted the guitar to sustain longer than an acoustical box and have different sounds than an acoustical box.” The fact that the guitar’s body was solid allowed for the sound of a plucked string to sustain, as its vibrating energy was not dissipated in a reverberant acoustic chamber.

He experimented with different designs until he had his non-vibrating guitar body, which he called “The Log.” Gibson Guitars initially turned him down, calling his invention “a broomstick with pickups” and pointing out that this meant guitarists would now have to carry around two instruments – one electric and one acoustic – which they viewed as prohibitively inconvenient. As a result, Paul was beaten to the marketplace by Leo Fender, whose Fender Broadcaster – the first mass-produced solidbody electric guitar – was introduced in 1948. That same year, however, Paul unveiled overdubbing, a breakthrough recording technique that would forever change music. Capitol Records released the Paul’s experimental eight-track recordings of “Lover (When You’re Near Me)” and “Brazil,” which he’d made in his garage workshop.

Paul’s career as a musician nearly came to an end in 1948, when he suffered near-fatal car accident in Oklahoma, skidding off a bridge into a river during a snowstorm. The guitarist shattered his right arm and elbow, and he also broke his back, ribs, nose and collarbone. He managed to salvage his career as a musician by instructing surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.

Paul subsequently made his mark as a jazz-pop musician extraordinaire, recording as a duo with his wife, singer Mary Ford (who was born Colleen Summers). Their biggest hits included “How High the Moon” (1951) and “Vaya Con Dios” (1953), both reaching #1. The recordings of Les Paul and Mary Ford are noteworthy for Paul’s pioneering use of overdubbing - i.e., layering guitar parts one atop another, a technique also referred to as multitracking or “sound on sound” recording. He also speeded up the sound of his guitar. The results were bright, bubbly and a little otherworldly - just the sort of music you might expect from an inventor with an ear for the future.

In 1952, Les Paul introduced the first eight-track tape recorder (designed by Paul and marketed by Ampex) and, more significantly for the future of rock and roll, finally saw the release of the the gold-top solid body electric guitar that bears his name. Gibson’s Les Paul Standard went on to become one of the most popular of all models of electric guitar. Built and marketed by Gibson, with continuous advances and refinements from Paul in such areas as low-impedance pickup technology, the Les Paul is a staple instrument among many of rock’s greatest guitarists. He introduced the latest model in 2008. According to Gibson U.S.A., its design amendments include “a new asymmetrical neck profile that makes it one of the most comfortable and playable necks ever offered on any guitar.”

The list of musicians associated with the Gibson Les Paul include Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Mike Bloomfield, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page. Paul is guitarist Steve Miller’s godfather. Jimi Hendrix consulted him about the construction of Electric Lady Studios. In a British periodical, Led Zeppelin’s Page once wrote of Paul, “He’s the man who started everything. He’s just a genius.” While sharing a stage with Paul, Eddie Van Halen once told him, “Without the things you’ve done, I wouldn’t be able to do half the things I do.”

Over the ensuing decades Les Paul has remained active on all fronts. He recorded a Grammy-winning album of instrumental duets with Chet Atkins, Chester and Lester, in 1976. From the mid-Eighties through the mid-Nineties, he performed weekly at Fat Tuesday’s, a New York City jazz club. In 2005, at the age of 90, he released American Made/World Played, which featured guest spots from several of his most illustrious rock and roll disciples and won him a pair of Grammys.

Paul performed weekly – at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club – and indulged his inventor’s curiosity in a basement workshop at home in Mahwah, New Jersey up until his death on August 13, 2009.

Visit: The Les Paul Foundation and Les Paul Official Web Site

Les Paul Trio - Short Circuit 1947

The name Les Paul is synonymous with the electric guitar. As a player, inventor and recording artist, Paul has been an innovator his entire life. Born Lester William Polfuss in 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Paul built his first crystal radio at age nine - which was about the time he first picked up a guitar. By age 13 he was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist and working diligently on sound-related inventions. In 1941, Paul built his first solid-body electric guitar, and he continued to make refinements to his prototype throughout the decade. It’s safe to say that rock and roll as we know it would not exist without his invention.

But Les Paul didn’t stop there. He also refined the technology of sound recording, developing revolutionary engineering techniques such as close miking, echo delay, overdubbing and multitracking. He also busied himself as a versatile bandleader and performer who could play jazz, country and pop.

The guitar that bears his name – the Gibson Les Paul – is his crowning achievement. It grew out of his desire, as a musician and inventor, to create a stringed instrument that could make electronic sound without distorting. What he came up with, after almost a decade of work, was a solid bodied instrument – that is, one that didn’t have the deep, resonant chamber of an acoustic guitar.

As he told writer Jim O’Donnell, “What I wanted to do is not have two things vibrating. I wanted the string to vibrate and nothing else. I wanted the guitar to sustain longer than an acoustical box and have different sounds than an acoustical box.” The fact that the guitar’s body was solid allowed for the sound of a plucked string to sustain, as its vibrating energy was not dissipated in a reverberant acoustic chamber.

He experimented with different designs until he had his non-vibrating guitar body, which he called “The Log.” Gibson Guitars initially turned him down, calling his invention “a broomstick with pickups” and pointing out that this meant guitarists would now have to carry around two instruments – one electric and one acoustic – which they viewed as prohibitively inconvenient. As a result, Paul was beaten to the marketplace by Leo Fender, whose Fender Broadcaster – the first mass-produced solidbody electric guitar – was introduced in 1948. That same year, however, Paul unveiled overdubbing, a breakthrough recording technique that would forever change music. Capitol Records released the Paul’s experimental eight-track recordings of “Lover (When You’re Near Me)” and “Brazil,” which he’d made in his garage workshop.

Paul’s career as a musician nearly came to an end in 1948, when he suffered near-fatal car accident in Oklahoma, skidding off a bridge into a river during a snowstorm. The guitarist shattered his right arm and elbow, and he also broke his back, ribs, nose and collarbone. He managed to salvage his career as a musician by instructing surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.

Paul subsequently made his mark as a jazz-pop musician extraordinaire, recording as a duo with his wife, singer Mary Ford (who was born Colleen Summers). Their biggest hits included “How High the Moon” (1951) and “Vaya Con Dios” (1953), both reaching #1. The recordings of Les Paul and Mary Ford are noteworthy for Paul’s pioneering use of overdubbing - i.e., layering guitar parts one atop another, a technique also referred to as multitracking or “sound on sound” recording. He also speeded up the sound of his guitar. The results were bright, bubbly and a little otherworldly - just the sort of music you might expect from an inventor with an ear for the future.

In 1952, Les Paul introduced the first eight-track tape recorder (designed by Paul and marketed by Ampex) and, more significantly for the future of rock and roll, finally saw the release of the the gold-top solid body electric guitar that bears his name. Gibson’s Les Paul Standard went on to become one of the most popular of all models of electric guitar. Built and marketed by Gibson, with continuous advances and refinements from Paul in such areas as low-impedance pickup technology, the Les Paul is a staple instrument among many of rock’s greatest guitarists. He introduced the latest model in 2008. According to Gibson U.S.A., its design amendments include “a new asymmetrical neck profile that makes it one of the most comfortable and playable necks ever offered on any guitar.”

The list of musicians associated with the Gibson Les Paul include Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Mike Bloomfield, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page. Paul is guitarist Steve Miller’s godfather. Jimi Hendrix consulted him about the construction of Electric Lady Studios. In a British periodical, Led Zeppelin’s Page once wrote of Paul, “He’s the man who started everything. He’s just a genius.” While sharing a stage with Paul, Eddie Van Halen once told him, “Without the things you’ve done, I wouldn’t be able to do half the things I do.”

Over the ensuing decades Les Paul has remained active on all fronts. He recorded a Grammy-winning album of instrumental duets with Chet Atkins, Chester and Lester, in 1976. From the mid-Eighties through the mid-Nineties, he performed weekly at Fat Tuesday’s, a New York City jazz club. In 2005, at the age of 90, he released American Made/World Played, which featured guest spots from several of his most illustrious rock and roll disciples and won him a pair of Grammys.

Paul performed weekly – at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club – and indulged his inventor’s curiosity in a basement workshop at home in Mahwah, New Jersey up until his death on August 13, 2009.

Visit: The Les Paul Foundation and Les Paul Official Web Site


From Les Paul Trio - The Jazz Collector Edition
Laserlight Delta Distribution 1991
Recorded 1947 for the MacGregor radio sessions
Les Paul guitar, Paul Smith piano, Cal Gooden rhythm guitar, Bob Meyer bass

Bing Crosby And Les Paul Trio - It's Been A Long, Long Time

The name Les Paul is synonymous with the electric guitar. As a player, inventor and recording artist, Paul has been an innovator his entire life. Born Lester William Polfuss in 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Paul built his first crystal radio at age nine - which was about the time he first picked up a guitar. By age 13 he was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist and working diligently on sound-related inventions. In 1941, Paul built his first solid-body electric guitar, and he continued to make refinements to his prototype throughout the decade. It’s safe to say that rock and roll as we know it would not exist without his invention.

But Les Paul didn’t stop there. He also refined the technology of sound recording, developing revolutionary engineering techniques such as close miking, echo delay, overdubbing and multitracking. He also busied himself as a versatile bandleader and performer who could play jazz, country and pop.

The guitar that bears his name – the Gibson Les Paul – is his crowning achievement. It grew out of his desire, as a musician and inventor, to create a stringed instrument that could make electronic sound without distorting. What he came up with, after almost a decade of work, was a solid bodied instrument – that is, one that didn’t have the deep, resonant chamber of an acoustic guitar.

As he told writer Jim O’Donnell, “What I wanted to do is not have two things vibrating. I wanted the string to vibrate and nothing else. I wanted the guitar to sustain longer than an acoustical box and have different sounds than an acoustical box.” The fact that the guitar’s body was solid allowed for the sound of a plucked string to sustain, as its vibrating energy was not dissipated in a reverberant acoustic chamber.

He experimented with different designs until he had his non-vibrating guitar body, which he called “The Log.” Gibson Guitars initially turned him down, calling his invention “a broomstick with pickups” and pointing out that this meant guitarists would now have to carry around two instruments – one electric and one acoustic – which they viewed as prohibitively inconvenient. As a result, Paul was beaten to the marketplace by Leo Fender, whose Fender Broadcaster – the first mass-produced solidbody electric guitar – was introduced in 1948. That same year, however, Paul unveiled overdubbing, a breakthrough recording technique that would forever change music. Capitol Records released the Paul’s experimental eight-track recordings of “Lover (When You’re Near Me)” and “Brazil,” which he’d made in his garage workshop.

Paul’s career as a musician nearly came to an end in 1948, when he suffered near-fatal car accident in Oklahoma, skidding off a bridge into a river during a snowstorm. The guitarist shattered his right arm and elbow, and he also broke his back, ribs, nose and collarbone. He managed to salvage his career as a musician by instructing surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.

Paul subsequently made his mark as a jazz-pop musician extraordinaire, recording as a duo with his wife, singer Mary Ford (who was born Colleen Summers). Their biggest hits included “How High the Moon” (1951) and “Vaya Con Dios” (1953), both reaching #1. The recordings of Les Paul and Mary Ford are noteworthy for Paul’s pioneering use of overdubbing - i.e., layering guitar parts one atop another, a technique also referred to as multitracking or “sound on sound” recording. He also speeded up the sound of his guitar. The results were bright, bubbly and a little otherworldly - just the sort of music you might expect from an inventor with an ear for the future.

In 1952, Les Paul introduced the first eight-track tape recorder (designed by Paul and marketed by Ampex) and, more significantly for the future of rock and roll, finally saw the release of the the gold-top solid body electric guitar that bears his name. Gibson’s Les Paul Standard went on to become one of the most popular of all models of electric guitar. Built and marketed by Gibson, with continuous advances and refinements from Paul in such areas as low-impedance pickup technology, the Les Paul is a staple instrument among many of rock’s greatest guitarists. He introduced the latest model in 2008. According to Gibson U.S.A., its design amendments include “a new asymmetrical neck profile that makes it one of the most comfortable and playable necks ever offered on any guitar.”

The list of musicians associated with the Gibson Les Paul include Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Mike Bloomfield, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page. Paul is guitarist Steve Miller’s godfather. Jimi Hendrix consulted him about the construction of Electric Lady Studios. In a British periodical, Led Zeppelin’s Page once wrote of Paul, “He’s the man who started everything. He’s just a genius.” While sharing a stage with Paul, Eddie Van Halen once told him, “Without the things you’ve done, I wouldn’t be able to do half the things I do.”

Over the ensuing decades Les Paul has remained active on all fronts. He recorded a Grammy-winning album of instrumental duets with Chet Atkins, Chester and Lester, in 1976. From the mid-Eighties through the mid-Nineties, he performed weekly at Fat Tuesday’s, a New York City jazz club. In 2005, at the age of 90, he released American Made/World Played, which featured guest spots from several of his most illustrious rock and roll disciples and won him a pair of Grammys.

Paul performed weekly – at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club – and indulged his inventor’s curiosity in a basement workshop at home in Mahwah, New Jersey up until his death on August 13, 2009.

Visit: The Les Paul Foundation and Les Paul Official Web Site

Les Paul - How High the Moon

The name Les Paul is synonymous with the electric guitar. As a player, inventor and recording artist, Paul has been an innovator his entire life. Born Lester William Polfuss in 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Paul built his first crystal radio at age nine - which was about the time he first picked up a guitar. By age 13 he was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist and working diligently on sound-related inventions. In 1941, Paul built his first solid-body electric guitar, and he continued to make refinements to his prototype throughout the decade. It’s safe to say that rock and roll as we know it would not exist without his invention.

But Les Paul didn’t stop there. He also refined the technology of sound recording, developing revolutionary engineering techniques such as close miking, echo delay, overdubbing and multitracking. He also busied himself as a versatile bandleader and performer who could play jazz, country and pop.

The guitar that bears his name – the Gibson Les Paul – is his crowning achievement. It grew out of his desire, as a musician and inventor, to create a stringed instrument that could make electronic sound without distorting. What he came up with, after almost a decade of work, was a solid bodied instrument – that is, one that didn’t have the deep, resonant chamber of an acoustic guitar.

As he told writer Jim O’Donnell, “What I wanted to do is not have two things vibrating. I wanted the string to vibrate and nothing else. I wanted the guitar to sustain longer than an acoustical box and have different sounds than an acoustical box.” The fact that the guitar’s body was solid allowed for the sound of a plucked string to sustain, as its vibrating energy was not dissipated in a reverberant acoustic chamber.

He experimented with different designs until he had his non-vibrating guitar body, which he called “The Log.” Gibson Guitars initially turned him down, calling his invention “a broomstick with pickups” and pointing out that this meant guitarists would now have to carry around two instruments – one electric and one acoustic – which they viewed as prohibitively inconvenient. As a result, Paul was beaten to the marketplace by Leo Fender, whose Fender Broadcaster – the first mass-produced solidbody electric guitar – was introduced in 1948. That same year, however, Paul unveiled overdubbing, a breakthrough recording technique that would forever change music. Capitol Records released the Paul’s experimental eight-track recordings of “Lover (When You’re Near Me)” and “Brazil,” which he’d made in his garage workshop.

Paul’s career as a musician nearly came to an end in 1948, when he suffered near-fatal car accident in Oklahoma, skidding off a bridge into a river during a snowstorm. The guitarist shattered his right arm and elbow, and he also broke his back, ribs, nose and collarbone. He managed to salvage his career as a musician by instructing surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.

Paul subsequently made his mark as a jazz-pop musician extraordinaire, recording as a duo with his wife, singer Mary Ford (who was born Colleen Summers). Their biggest hits included “How High the Moon” (1951) and “Vaya Con Dios” (1953), both reaching #1. The recordings of Les Paul and Mary Ford are noteworthy for Paul’s pioneering use of overdubbing - i.e., layering guitar parts one atop another, a technique also referred to as multitracking or “sound on sound” recording. He also speeded up the sound of his guitar. The results were bright, bubbly and a little otherworldly - just the sort of music you might expect from an inventor with an ear for the future.

In 1952, Les Paul introduced the first eight-track tape recorder (designed by Paul and marketed by Ampex) and, more significantly for the future of rock and roll, finally saw the release of the the gold-top solid body electric guitar that bears his name. Gibson’s Les Paul Standard went on to become one of the most popular of all models of electric guitar. Built and marketed by Gibson, with continuous advances and refinements from Paul in such areas as low-impedance pickup technology, the Les Paul is a staple instrument among many of rock’s greatest guitarists. He introduced the latest model in 2008. According to Gibson U.S.A., its design amendments include “a new asymmetrical neck profile that makes it one of the most comfortable and playable necks ever offered on any guitar.”

The list of musicians associated with the Gibson Les Paul include Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Mike Bloomfield, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page. Paul is guitarist Steve Miller’s godfather. Jimi Hendrix consulted him about the construction of Electric Lady Studios. In a British periodical, Led Zeppelin’s Page once wrote of Paul, “He’s the man who started everything. He’s just a genius.” While sharing a stage with Paul, Eddie Van Halen once told him, “Without the things you’ve done, I wouldn’t be able to do half the things I do.”

Over the ensuing decades Les Paul has remained active on all fronts. He recorded a Grammy-winning album of instrumental duets with Chet Atkins, Chester and Lester, in 1976. From the mid-Eighties through the mid-Nineties, he performed weekly at Fat Tuesday’s, a New York City jazz club. In 2005, at the age of 90, he released American Made/World Played, which featured guest spots from several of his most illustrious rock and roll disciples and won him a pair of Grammys.

Paul performed weekly – at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club – and indulged his inventor’s curiosity in a basement workshop at home in Mahwah, New Jersey up until his death on August 13, 2009.

Visit: The Les Paul Foundation and Les Paul Official Web Site

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer (Official)

Les Paul & Mary Ford - Live Medley

The name Les Paul is synonymous with the electric guitar. As a player, inventor and recording artist, Paul has been an innovator his entire life. Born Lester William Polfuss in 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Paul built his first crystal radio at age nine - which was about the time he first picked up a guitar. By age 13 he was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist and working diligently on sound-related inventions. In 1941, Paul built his first solid-body electric guitar, and he continued to make refinements to his prototype throughout the decade. It’s safe to say that rock and roll as we know it would not exist without his invention.

But Les Paul didn’t stop there. He also refined the technology of sound recording, developing revolutionary engineering techniques such as close miking, echo delay, overdubbing and multitracking. He also busied himself as a versatile bandleader and performer who could play jazz, country and pop.

The guitar that bears his name – the Gibson Les Paul – is his crowning achievement. It grew out of his desire, as a musician and inventor, to create a stringed instrument that could make electronic sound without distorting. What he came up with, after almost a decade of work, was a solid bodied instrument – that is, one that didn’t have the deep, resonant chamber of an acoustic guitar.

As he told writer Jim O’Donnell, “What I wanted to do is not have two things vibrating. I wanted the string to vibrate and nothing else. I wanted the guitar to sustain longer than an acoustical box and have different sounds than an acoustical box.” The fact that the guitar’s body was solid allowed for the sound of a plucked string to sustain, as its vibrating energy was not dissipated in a reverberant acoustic chamber.

He experimented with different designs until he had his non-vibrating guitar body, which he called “The Log.” Gibson Guitars initially turned him down, calling his invention “a broomstick with pickups” and pointing out that this meant guitarists would now have to carry around two instruments – one electric and one acoustic – which they viewed as prohibitively inconvenient. As a result, Paul was beaten to the marketplace by Leo Fender, whose Fender Broadcaster – the first mass-produced solidbody electric guitar – was introduced in 1948. That same year, however, Paul unveiled overdubbing, a breakthrough recording technique that would forever change music. Capitol Records released the Paul’s experimental eight-track recordings of “Lover (When You’re Near Me)” and “Brazil,” which he’d made in his garage workshop.

Paul’s career as a musician nearly came to an end in 1948, when he suffered near-fatal car accident in Oklahoma, skidding off a bridge into a river during a snowstorm. The guitarist shattered his right arm and elbow, and he also broke his back, ribs, nose and collarbone. He managed to salvage his career as a musician by instructing surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.

Paul subsequently made his mark as a jazz-pop musician extraordinaire, recording as a duo with his wife, singer Mary Ford (who was born Colleen Summers). Their biggest hits included “How High the Moon” (1951) and “Vaya Con Dios” (1953), both reaching #1. The recordings of Les Paul and Mary Ford are noteworthy for Paul’s pioneering use of overdubbing - i.e., layering guitar parts one atop another, a technique also referred to as multitracking or “sound on sound” recording. He also speeded up the sound of his guitar. The results were bright, bubbly and a little otherworldly - just the sort of music you might expect from an inventor with an ear for the future.

In 1952, Les Paul introduced the first eight-track tape recorder (designed by Paul and marketed by Ampex) and, more significantly for the future of rock and roll, finally saw the release of the the gold-top solid body electric guitar that bears his name. Gibson’s Les Paul Standard went on to become one of the most popular of all models of electric guitar. Built and marketed by Gibson, with continuous advances and refinements from Paul in such areas as low-impedance pickup technology, the Les Paul is a staple instrument among many of rock’s greatest guitarists. He introduced the latest model in 2008. According to Gibson U.S.A., its design amendments include “a new asymmetrical neck profile that makes it one of the most comfortable and playable necks ever offered on any guitar.”

The list of musicians associated with the Gibson Les Paul include Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Mike Bloomfield, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page. Paul is guitarist Steve Miller’s godfather. Jimi Hendrix consulted him about the construction of Electric Lady Studios. In a British periodical, Led Zeppelin’s Page once wrote of Paul, “He’s the man who started everything. He’s just a genius.” While sharing a stage with Paul, Eddie Van Halen once told him, “Without the things you’ve done, I wouldn’t be able to do half the things I do.”

Over the ensuing decades Les Paul has remained active on all fronts. He recorded a Grammy-winning album of instrumental duets with Chet Atkins, Chester and Lester, in 1976. From the mid-Eighties through the mid-Nineties, he performed weekly at Fat Tuesday’s, a New York City jazz club. In 2005, at the age of 90, he released American Made/World Played, which featured guest spots from several of his most illustrious rock and roll disciples and won him a pair of Grammys.

Paul performed weekly – at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club – and indulged his inventor’s curiosity in a basement workshop at home in Mahwah, New Jersey up until his death on August 13, 2009.

Visit: The Les Paul Foundation and Les Paul Official Web Site


The popular hit-making couple string three songs together in one memorable performance: "I Really Don't Want to Know", "There's no Place Like Home", and "Tiger Rag". This comes from their appearance on the public domain TV series, "The Colgate Comedy Hour", originally aired on March 21, 1954.

ELVIS PRESLEY - Mystery Train

"Mystery Train" is a song recorded by American blues musician Junior Parker in 1953. Considered a blues standard, Parker, billed as "Little Junior's Blue Flames", recorded the song for producer/Sun Records owner Sam Phillips and it was released on the Sun label. The song was written by Junior Parker (aka Herman Parker), with a credit later given to Phillips.

Elvis Presley's version of "Mystery Train" was first released on August 20, 1955 as the B-side of "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" (Sun 223). Presley's version would be ranked #77 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list in 2003. It was again produced by Sam Phillips at Sun Studios, and featured Presley on vocals and rhythm guitar, Scotty Moore on lead guitar, and Bill Black on bass.

Les Paul - Brazil (1948)

The name Les Paul is synonymous with the electric guitar. As a player, inventor and recording artist, Paul has been an innovator his entire life. Born Lester William Polfuss in 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Paul built his first crystal radio at age nine - which was about the time he first picked up a guitar. By age 13 he was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist and working diligently on sound-related inventions. In 1941, Paul built his first solid-body electric guitar, and he continued to make refinements to his prototype throughout the decade. It’s safe to say that rock and roll as we know it would not exist without his invention.

But Les Paul didn’t stop there. He also refined the technology of sound recording, developing revolutionary engineering techniques such as close miking, echo delay, overdubbing and multitracking. He also busied himself as a versatile bandleader and performer who could play jazz, country and pop.

The guitar that bears his name – the Gibson Les Paul – is his crowning achievement. It grew out of his desire, as a musician and inventor, to create a stringed instrument that could make electronic sound without distorting. What he came up with, after almost a decade of work, was a solid bodied instrument – that is, one that didn’t have the deep, resonant chamber of an acoustic guitar.

Elvis Presley - Suspicious Mind

"Suspicious Minds" is a song written by American songwriter Mark James. After James' recording failed commercially, the song was handed to Elvis Presley by producer Chips Moman, becoming a number one song in 1969, and one of the most notable hits of Presley's career. "Suspicious Minds" was widely regarded as the single that returned Presley's career success, following his '68 Comeback Special. It was his seventeenth and last number-one single in the United States. Rolling Stone later ranked it No. 91 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Session guitarist Reggie Young played on both the James and Presley versions.

Les Paul - Lover - 1948

The name Les Paul is synonymous with the electric guitar. As a player, inventor and recording artist, Paul has been an innovator his entire life. Born Lester William Polfuss in 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Paul built his first crystal radio at age nine - which was about the time he first picked up a guitar. By age 13 he was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist and working diligently on sound-related inventions. In 1941, Paul built his first solid-body electric guitar, and he continued to make refinements to his prototype throughout the decade. It’s safe to say that rock and roll as we know it would not exist without his invention.

But Les Paul didn’t stop there. He also refined the technology of sound recording, developing revolutionary engineering techniques such as close miking, echo delay, overdubbing and multitracking. He also busied himself as a versatile bandleader and performer who could play jazz, country and pop.

The guitar that bears his name – the Gibson Les Paul – is his crowning achievement. It grew out of his desire, as a musician and inventor, to create a stringed instrument that could make electronic sound without distorting. What he came up with, after almost a decade of work, was a solid bodied instrument – that is, one that didn’t have the deep, resonant chamber of an acoustic guitar.

As he told writer Jim O’Donnell, “What I wanted to do is not have two things vibrating. I wanted the string to vibrate and nothing else. I wanted the guitar to sustain longer than an acoustical box and have different sounds than an acoustical box.” The fact that the guitar’s body was solid allowed for the sound of a plucked string to sustain, as its vibrating energy was not dissipated in a reverberant acoustic chamber.

He experimented with different designs until he had his non-vibrating guitar body, which he called “The Log.” Gibson Guitars initially turned him down, calling his invention “a broomstick with pickups” and pointing out that this meant guitarists would now have to carry around two instruments – one electric and one acoustic – which they viewed as prohibitively inconvenient. As a result, Paul was beaten to the marketplace by Leo Fender, whose Fender Broadcaster – the first mass-produced solidbody electric guitar – was introduced in 1948. That same year, however, Paul unveiled overdubbing, a breakthrough recording technique that would forever change music. Capitol Records released the Paul’s experimental eight-track recordings of “Lover (When You’re Near Me)” and “Brazil,” which he’d made in his garage workshop.

Paul’s career as a musician nearly came to an end in 1948, when he suffered near-fatal car accident in Oklahoma, skidding off a bridge into a river during a snowstorm. The guitarist shattered his right arm and elbow, and he also broke his back, ribs, nose and collarbone. He managed to salvage his career as a musician by instructing surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.

Paul subsequently made his mark as a jazz-pop musician extraordinaire, recording as a duo with his wife, singer Mary Ford (who was born Colleen Summers). Their biggest hits included “How High the Moon” (1951) and “Vaya Con Dios” (1953), both reaching #1. The recordings of Les Paul and Mary Ford are noteworthy for Paul’s pioneering use of overdubbing - i.e., layering guitar parts one atop another, a technique also referred to as multitracking or “sound on sound” recording. He also speeded up the sound of his guitar. The results were bright, bubbly and a little otherworldly - just the sort of music you might expect from an inventor with an ear for the future.

In 1952, Les Paul introduced the first eight-track tape recorder (designed by Paul and marketed by Ampex) and, more significantly for the future of rock and roll, finally saw the release of the the gold-top solid body electric guitar that bears his name. Gibson’s Les Paul Standard went on to become one of the most popular of all models of electric guitar. Built and marketed by Gibson, with continuous advances and refinements from Paul in such areas as low-impedance pickup technology, the Les Paul is a staple instrument among many of rock’s greatest guitarists. He introduced the latest model in 2008. According to Gibson U.S.A., its design amendments include “a new asymmetrical neck profile that makes it one of the most comfortable and playable necks ever offered on any guitar.”

The list of musicians associated with the Gibson Les Paul include Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Mike Bloomfield, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page. Paul is guitarist Steve Miller’s godfather. Jimi Hendrix consulted him about the construction of Electric Lady Studios. In a British periodical, Led Zeppelin’s Page once wrote of Paul, “He’s the man who started everything. He’s just a genius.” While sharing a stage with Paul, Eddie Van Halen once told him, “Without the things you’ve done, I wouldn’t be able to do half the things I do.”

Over the ensuing decades Les Paul has remained active on all fronts. He recorded a Grammy-winning album of instrumental duets with Chet Atkins, Chester and Lester, in 1976. From the mid-Eighties through the mid-Nineties, he performed weekly at Fat Tuesday’s, a New York City jazz club. In 2005, at the age of 90, he released American Made/World Played, which featured guest spots from several of his most illustrious rock and roll disciples and won him a pair of Grammys.

Paul performed weekly – at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club – and indulged his inventor’s curiosity in a basement workshop at home in Mahwah, New Jersey up until his death on August 13, 2009.

Visit: The Les Paul Foundation and Les Paul Official Web Site

Elvis Presley - In the Ghetto

"In the Ghetto" (originally titled "The Vicious Circle") is a song written by Mac Davis and made famous by Elvis Presley, who had a major comeback hit with it in 1969. It was released in 1969 as a 45 rpm single with "Any Day Now" as the flip side. It was recorded during Presley's session in the American Sound Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. It was Presley's first creative recording session since the '68 Comeback. Other hits recorded at this session were "Suspicious Minds", "Kentucky Rain", and "Don't Cry Daddy".

The song was Presley's first Top 10 hit in the US in four years, peaking at number 3, and his first UK Top 10 hit in three years, peaking at #2. It hit #1 on Cashbox. It was a number 1 hit in Germany, Ireland, Norway, Australia and New Zealand.

Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer

Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of late-'60s hits with Atlantic Records--"Respect," "I Never Loved a Man," "Chain of Fools," "Baby I Love You," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Think," "The House That Jack Built," and several others--earned her the title "Lady Soul," which she has worn uncontested ever since.

Mick Jagger and Tina Turner - It's Only Rock'n'Roll

Mick Jagger and  Tina Turner prforming It's Only Rock'n'Roll.
 

Aretha Franklin - Chain Of Fools

Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of late-'60s hits with Atlantic Records--"Respect," "I Never Loved a Man," "Chain of Fools," "Baby I Love You," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Think," "The House That Jack Built," and several others--earned her the title "Lady Soul," which she has worn uncontested ever since.

Chuck Berry - Sweet Little Sixteen

Chuck Berry (vocals, guitar; born 10/18/26)

Chuck Berry is the poet laureate of rock and roll. In the mid-Fifties, he took a fledgling idiom, born out of rhythm & blues and country & western, and gave it form and identity. A true original, Berry crafted many of rock and roll’s greatest riffs and married them to lyrics that shaped the rock and roll vernacular for generations. He has written numerous rock and roll classics that have been covered by multitudes of artists and stood the test of time. In all essential ways, he understood the power of rock and roll – how it worked, what it was about and who it was for.

While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Berry arguably did more than anyone else to put the pieces together. As rock journalist Dave Marsh wrote, “Chuck Berry is to rock and roll what Louis Armstrong is to jazz.” On “Maybellene” – Berry’s first single, released in 1955 – he played country & western guitar licks over a base of rhythm & blues. The distorted sound of Berry’s guitar captured the rough, untamed spirit of rock and roll. The song included a brief but scorching solo built around his trademark double-string guitar licks. It kicked off Berry’s career in style and paved the way for a steady stream of classics over the next decade.

Berry’s quick-witted, rapid-fire lyrics focused on cars, romance and rock and roll. He wrote for a teenage audience, reflecting their interests and attitudes in songs like “School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)” and “Sweet Little Sixteen.” His propulsive, riff-driven music caught the spirit of a nation on the move in the postwar era, chasing the promise of the open road in fast cars. Of hearing “Maybellene” on the radio, Berry wrote, “There is no way to explain how you feel when you first hear your first recording for the first time in your first new car.”

During this high-spirited decade, Berry hailed America as a land of fun and opportunity. The mid-Fifties was a period of rising prosperity for the growing middle class, and the social landscape was slowly improving for African-Americans as the civil rights era dawned. In the lyrics for “Back in the U.S.A.,” written after returning from an Australian tour, Berry saluted such everyday pleasures as the drive-ins and corner cafes “where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day/Yeah, and a jukebox jumping with records like in the U.S.A.”

Berry was born in St. Louis in 1926. He got his first taste of the stage at 15, performing Jay McShann’s “Confessin’ the Blues” at a high school assembly. Berry played guitar, learning the basics from a neighborhood jazz guitarist named Ira Harris. He would also develop competence on piano, saxophone, bass and drums. He sat in with bands at clubs and parties, learning a variety of styles – jump blues, jazzy ballads, boogie-woogie and hillbilly music – that would form the backbone of his approach to rock and roll. Toward the end of 1952, he joined the Sir John Trio, which played at the Cosmopolitan Club in East St. Louis. Pianist Johnnie Johnson was the ostensible leader, but it was Berry who began stealing the show. During their sets of jazz and blues, he’d throw in an occasional “hillbilly” song. The sight of a black man singing white music appealed to a crowd that became progressively more integrated. This is where the essence of Berry’s act came together.

On a weekend in May 1955, Berry visited Chicago to check out the blues scene on the city’s South Side. He approached Muddy Waters after a show, asking for advice about how to get recorded. The blues legend suggested he contact Leonard Chess, founder of Chess Records. After meeting with Chess, Berry returned to St. Louis and cut a four-song demo. Ironically, it was not Berry's blues numbers that convinced Chess to sign Berry on a return visit but his high-spirited rewrite of a country number called "Ida Red."

The song had long been a standard in the country repertoire. Roy Acuff cut “Ida Red” in 1927, and Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys had a Top 10 country hit with "Ida Red Likes the Boogie" in 1950. Berry wrote a new set of lyrics – with verses about a high-speed drag race between a Ford and Cadillac, and a chorus chiding an unfaithful woman – and titled the song "Maybellene." Hall of Fame inductee Willie Dixon (whom Berry inducted) played standup bass, Jerome Green (of Bo Diddley’s band) shook maracas, and either Jasper Thomas or Ebby Hardy – sources differ on this point – played drums.

Berry recorded “Maybellene” on May 21, 1955 – a red-letter date in music history, as this song helped ignite the rock and roll revolution. Released in August, "Maybellene" went to Number Five in Billboard, making Berry a relative rarity for that time: a black artist with a major hit on the largely white pop charts. Asked why he crossed over with “Maybellene” and other hits while many other deserving artists were locked out, Berry replied: "I think it had a lot to do with my diction. The pop fan could understand what I was saying better than many other singers."

His success also had much to do with his knack for turning a phrase. With his witty and casually eloquent use of language, Berry described what it meant to be a teenager in the changing world of the Fifties. Whether describing the boredom of classroom-bound students in "School Day" ("Soon as three o'clock rolls around/You finally lay your burden down") or the liberating appeal of "Rock and Roll Music" ("It's got a backbeat/ You can't lose it"), Berry keenly observed and recorded that world with skillful ease. In his words, "Everything I wrote about wasn't about me, but about the people listening."

Accompanied by long-time piano player (and Hall of Fame inductee) Johnson and members of the Chess Records house band, including bassist Dixon, Berry wrote and performed rock and roll for the ages. To this day, the cream of Berry’s repertoire – which includes “Johnny B. Goode,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Rock and Roll Music” and “Roll Over Beethoven” – is required listening for any serious music fan and required learning for any serious rock musician. Berry gave rock and roll an archetypal character in "Johnny B. Goode.” “The character is more or less myself, although I wrote it intending it to be a song for Johnnie Johnson,” wrote Berry.

Berry was also responsible for one of rock’s most recognizable stage moves, the duckwalk. He introduced the duckwalk – kicking his right foot across the stage and dragging the left behind it, playing guitar all the while – during a 1956 concert in New York.

Seven more Top 40 hits followed “Maybellene” over the ensuing half-decade: “Roll Over Beethoven” (Number 29), “School Day” (Number Three), “Rock and Roll Music” (Number Eight), “Sweet Little Sixteen” (Number Two), “Johnny B. Goode (Number Eight), “Carol” (Number 18), and “Back in the U.S.A.” (Number 37). Berry also appeared in several rock and roll movies from the Fifties, including Rock, Rock, Rock!, Mister Rock and Roll and Go, Johnny, Go!

Berry’s first album, After School Session, was released in 1957. It was the second LP ever released by Chess Records – a testament to his success as a rock and roller on what had largely been a blues label. After School Session contained such classics as "School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)," "Too Much Monkey Business," "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" and "Havana Moon." Neither it nor its successors – One Dozen Berrys (1958), Chuck Berry Is On Top (1959), Rockin' At the Hops (1960), New Juke Box Hits (1961), Chuck Berry Twist (1962), re-released as More Chuck Berry) or Two Great Guitars (an album of instrumentals with Bo Diddley) – made Billboard's album charts, as rock and roll largely remained a singles medium during Berry’s heyday.

Indeed, singles were the best way for Berry’s teen fans to digest his output during what would subsequently be referred to as his “golden decade,” spanning 1955-1965. Berry’s albums mixed his rock and roll hits with the more sophisticated blues, ballads and instrumentals he enjoyed playing away from the spotlight. It’s worth noting that Berry was considerably older than the teenagers for whom he was writing rock and roll music. When “Sweet Little Sixteen” became a hit in 1958, he was nearly twice the age of the music-smitten adolescent he wrote the song about.

His repertoire – not only the hits, but lesser-known songs like "Little Queenie," “Around and Around,” “Come On” and "Let It Rock" – were devoured and mastered by an army eager apprentices in Britain, such as Keith Richards and John Lennon. Indeed, Berry’s repertoire of licks and lyrics from the Fifties and early Sixties paved the way for the British Invasion. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, the Animals and many other U.K. acts covered Berry’s songs while developing their own styles. The Stones continued to include Berry’s songs in their repertoire throughout their career. Even the Beach Boys, youthful architects of West Coast surf and pop songs, turned to Berry for inspiration. Their 1963 hit "Surfin' U.S.A." appropriated the melody and rhythm of "Sweet Little Sixteen." Berry successfully sued for copyright infringement and won a songwriting credit.

In 1966, Berry left Chess and signed with Mercury Records. His Mercury recordings included Live at the Fillmore Auditorium, with backing by the Steve Miller Band. Berry’s popularity was in decline at this time, as new forms of rock took hold, and there would be a seven-year break between hits. His Mercury output was plainly inferior to his work at Chess, and he returned to that label in 1970, hoping to reprise his earlier success there. The focus had shifted from singles to albums, and the long players Berry made during his second tenure at Chess – including Back Home, San Francisco Dues and Bio – rank among his best. The song “Tulane,” released as a single, successfully updated the fast-tongued storytelling style of his Fifties hits to a contemporary setting involving a hippie couple on the run from the law.

Berry became a fixture at rock festivals and rock and roll revival shows in the late Sixties and early Seventies, appealing to latter-day hippies and Fifties nostalgists. The most surprising moment in his career came in 1972, when he scored his only Number One pop hit, "My Ding-A-Ling." It was a risqué novelty song, initially recorded by Dave Bartholomew back in 1952 and first cut by Berry as “My Tambourine” on his 1968 album From St. Louis to Frisco. "My Ding-A-Ling" appeared on The London Chuck Berry Sessions. One side was quickly made in a London studio with Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones of the Faces and British guitarist Derek Griffiths, while the other contained songs from a February 1972 concert in Coventry, including "My Ding-A-Ling" and “Reelin’ & Rockin’” (which itself became a minor hit). The London Chuck Berry Sessions was his highest-charting album, reaching Number Eight, and his only gold album as well.

Berry’s songs had become so entrenched in the fabric of American popular culture that he didn't even tour with a band. Pianist Johnnie Johnson’s 30-year association with Berry ended in 1973. Berry traveled alone with a suitcase and guitar, requiring promoters to provide a backing band for each gig. His contract also spelled out the amps he wanted onstage and mandated full prepayment of his performance fee. His experiences in the music business had left him wary, and his business acumen made him shrewd. By traveling only with his guitar, he cut down on expenses and payroll. Moreover, it gave a lot of young musicians a chance to apprentice with a living legend. If you knew anything about rock and roll, you had to know how to play the songs of Chuck Berry. Musicians including Bruce Springsteen and Brownsville Station were among those who backed up the master.

In 1979, Berry performed at the White House and released the album Rock It on Atco Records. There have been several compilations and anthologies of Berry’s work during the CD era, but no newly recorded music has come from the rock and roll pioneer since Rock It.

Berry’s life has been fraught with occasional controversy and incarceration. As a young man, he served three years in prison for armed robbery. (He wrote the song “Thirty Days” about the experience.) In 1961, he was convicted on a morals charge and served two years in a federal penitentiary. After his release, Berry proved he had more classic songs left in him, including "Nadine (Is It You?), "No Particular Place to Go," "You Never Can Tell" and "Promised Land.” He also served a prison stint in 1979 for tax evasion.

The late Eighties witnessed a career renaissance for Berry. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1985 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame that year as well. He was part of the first class inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. His presenter was Keith Richards, who cracked, "It's hard for me to induct Chuck Berry, because I lifted every lick he ever played!" The film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, a documentary about Berry’s life and times, appeared in 1987. Spearheaded by Richards and director Taylor Hackford, it culminated with a concert in St. Louis that reunited him with Johnnie Johnson.

Berry’s candid autobiography was published in 1987. He spent eight years writing the book. It contains these illuminating lines, which get to the heart of his uniqueness as a rock and roll stylist and indebtedness to those who influenced him: “The kind of music I liked then, thereafter, right now and forever, is the kind I heard when I was a teenager. So the guitar styles of Carl Hogen, T-Bone Walker, Charlie Christian, and Elmore James, not to leave out many of my peers who I’ve heard on the road, must be the total of what is called Chuck Berry’s style.... As you know, and I believe it must be true, ‘there is nothing new under the sun.’ So don’t blame me for being first, just let it last.”

Berry has continued receiving numerous awards and honors into the 21st Century. In 2000, he received a Kennedy Center honor. In 2003, Rolling Stone named him number six on its list of the Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2011, a statue of Berry was erected on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. And in 2012, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum honored Berry with its American Music Masters Award. And Berry Continues to do his monthly performances at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis.

Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin - Georgia On My Mind and It Takes Two to Tango

Very special duet with "The Queen" and Ray!

Chuck Berry - My Ding-A-Ling

Chuck Berry (vocals, guitar; born 10/18/26)

Chuck Berry is the poet laureate of rock and roll. In the mid-Fifties, he took a fledgling idiom, born out of rhythm & blues and country & western, and gave it form and identity. A true original, Berry crafted many of rock and roll’s greatest riffs and married them to lyrics that shaped the rock and roll vernacular for generations. He has written numerous rock and roll classics that have been covered by multitudes of artists and stood the test of time. In all essential ways, he understood the power of rock and roll – how it worked, what it was about and who it was for.

While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Berry arguably did more than anyone else to put the pieces together. As rock journalist Dave Marsh wrote, “Chuck Berry is to rock and roll what Louis Armstrong is to jazz.” On “Maybellene” – Berry’s first single, released in 1955 – he played country & western guitar licks over a base of rhythm & blues. The distorted sound of Berry’s guitar captured the rough, untamed spirit of rock and roll. The song included a brief but scorching solo built around his trademark double-string guitar licks. It kicked off Berry’s career in style and paved the way for a steady stream of classics over the next decade.

Berry’s quick-witted, rapid-fire lyrics focused on cars, romance and rock and roll. He wrote for a teenage audience, reflecting their interests and attitudes in songs like “School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)” and “Sweet Little Sixteen.” His propulsive, riff-driven music caught the spirit of a nation on the move in the postwar era, chasing the promise of the open road in fast cars. Of hearing “Maybellene” on the radio, Berry wrote, “There is no way to explain how you feel when you first hear your first recording for the first time in your first new car.”

During this high-spirited decade, Berry hailed America as a land of fun and opportunity. The mid-Fifties was a period of rising prosperity for the growing middle class, and the social landscape was slowly improving for African-Americans as the civil rights era dawned. In the lyrics for “Back in the U.S.A.,” written after returning from an Australian tour, Berry saluted such everyday pleasures as the drive-ins and corner cafes “where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day/Yeah, and a jukebox jumping with records like in the U.S.A.”

Berry was born in St. Louis in 1926. He got his first taste of the stage at 15, performing Jay McShann’s “Confessin’ the Blues” at a high school assembly. Berry played guitar, learning the basics from a neighborhood jazz guitarist named Ira Harris. He would also develop competence on piano, saxophone, bass and drums. He sat in with bands at clubs and parties, learning a variety of styles – jump blues, jazzy ballads, boogie-woogie and hillbilly music – that would form the backbone of his approach to rock and roll. Toward the end of 1952, he joined the Sir John Trio, which played at the Cosmopolitan Club in East St. Louis. Pianist Johnnie Johnson was the ostensible leader, but it was Berry who began stealing the show. During their sets of jazz and blues, he’d throw in an occasional “hillbilly” song. The sight of a black man singing white music appealed to a crowd that became progressively more integrated. This is where the essence of Berry’s act came together.

On a weekend in May 1955, Berry visited Chicago to check out the blues scene on the city’s South Side. He approached Muddy Waters after a show, asking for advice about how to get recorded. The blues legend suggested he contact Leonard Chess, founder of Chess Records. After meeting with Chess, Berry returned to St. Louis and cut a four-song demo. Ironically, it was not Berry's blues numbers that convinced Chess to sign Berry on a return visit but his high-spirited rewrite of a country number called "Ida Red."

The song had long been a standard in the country repertoire. Roy Acuff cut “Ida Red” in 1927, and Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys had a Top 10 country hit with "Ida Red Likes the Boogie" in 1950. Berry wrote a new set of lyrics – with verses about a high-speed drag race between a Ford and Cadillac, and a chorus chiding an unfaithful woman – and titled the song "Maybellene." Hall of Fame inductee Willie Dixon (whom Berry inducted) played standup bass, Jerome Green (of Bo Diddley’s band) shook maracas, and either Jasper Thomas or Ebby Hardy – sources differ on this point – played drums.

Berry recorded “Maybellene” on May 21, 1955 – a red-letter date in music history, as this song helped ignite the rock and roll revolution. Released in August, "Maybellene" went to Number Five in Billboard, making Berry a relative rarity for that time: a black artist with a major hit on the largely white pop charts. Asked why he crossed over with “Maybellene” and other hits while many other deserving artists were locked out, Berry replied: "I think it had a lot to do with my diction. The pop fan could understand what I was saying better than many other singers."

His success also had much to do with his knack for turning a phrase. With his witty and casually eloquent use of language, Berry described what it meant to be a teenager in the changing world of the Fifties. Whether describing the boredom of classroom-bound students in "School Day" ("Soon as three o'clock rolls around/You finally lay your burden down") or the liberating appeal of "Rock and Roll Music" ("It's got a backbeat/ You can't lose it"), Berry keenly observed and recorded that world with skillful ease. In his words, "Everything I wrote about wasn't about me, but about the people listening."

Accompanied by long-time piano player (and Hall of Fame inductee) Johnson and members of the Chess Records house band, including bassist Dixon, Berry wrote and performed rock and roll for the ages. To this day, the cream of Berry’s repertoire – which includes “Johnny B. Goode,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Rock and Roll Music” and “Roll Over Beethoven” – is required listening for any serious music fan and required learning for any serious rock musician. Berry gave rock and roll an archetypal character in "Johnny B. Goode.” “The character is more or less myself, although I wrote it intending it to be a song for Johnnie Johnson,” wrote Berry.

Berry was also responsible for one of rock’s most recognizable stage moves, the duckwalk. He introduced the duckwalk – kicking his right foot across the stage and dragging the left behind it, playing guitar all the while – during a 1956 concert in New York.

Seven more Top 40 hits followed “Maybellene” over the ensuing half-decade: “Roll Over Beethoven” (Number 29), “School Day” (Number Three), “Rock and Roll Music” (Number Eight), “Sweet Little Sixteen” (Number Two), “Johnny B. Goode (Number Eight), “Carol” (Number 18), and “Back in the U.S.A.” (Number 37). Berry also appeared in several rock and roll movies from the Fifties, including Rock, Rock, Rock!, Mister Rock and Roll and Go, Johnny, Go!

Berry’s first album, After School Session, was released in 1957. It was the second LP ever released by Chess Records – a testament to his success as a rock and roller on what had largely been a blues label. After School Session contained such classics as "School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)," "Too Much Monkey Business," "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" and "Havana Moon." Neither it nor its successors – One Dozen Berrys (1958), Chuck Berry Is On Top (1959), Rockin' At the Hops (1960), New Juke Box Hits (1961), Chuck Berry Twist (1962), re-released as More Chuck Berry) or Two Great Guitars (an album of instrumentals with Bo Diddley) – made Billboard's album charts, as rock and roll largely remained a singles medium during Berry’s heyday.

Indeed, singles were the best way for Berry’s teen fans to digest his output during what would subsequently be referred to as his “golden decade,” spanning 1955-1965. Berry’s albums mixed his rock and roll hits with the more sophisticated blues, ballads and instrumentals he enjoyed playing away from the spotlight. It’s worth noting that Berry was considerably older than the teenagers for whom he was writing rock and roll music. When “Sweet Little Sixteen” became a hit in 1958, he was nearly twice the age of the music-smitten adolescent he wrote the song about.

His repertoire – not only the hits, but lesser-known songs like "Little Queenie," “Around and Around,” “Come On” and "Let It Rock" – were devoured and mastered by an army eager apprentices in Britain, such as Keith Richards and John Lennon. Indeed, Berry’s repertoire of licks and lyrics from the Fifties and early Sixties paved the way for the British Invasion. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, the Animals and many other U.K. acts covered Berry’s songs while developing their own styles. The Stones continued to include Berry’s songs in their repertoire throughout their career. Even the Beach Boys, youthful architects of West Coast surf and pop songs, turned to Berry for inspiration. Their 1963 hit "Surfin' U.S.A." appropriated the melody and rhythm of "Sweet Little Sixteen." Berry successfully sued for copyright infringement and won a songwriting credit.

In 1966, Berry left Chess and signed with Mercury Records. His Mercury recordings included Live at the Fillmore Auditorium, with backing by the Steve Miller Band. Berry’s popularity was in decline at this time, as new forms of rock took hold, and there would be a seven-year break between hits. His Mercury output was plainly inferior to his work at Chess, and he returned to that label in 1970, hoping to reprise his earlier success there. The focus had shifted from singles to albums, and the long players Berry made during his second tenure at Chess – including Back Home, San Francisco Dues and Bio – rank among his best. The song “Tulane,” released as a single, successfully updated the fast-tongued storytelling style of his Fifties hits to a contemporary setting involving a hippie couple on the run from the law.

Berry became a fixture at rock festivals and rock and roll revival shows in the late Sixties and early Seventies, appealing to latter-day hippies and Fifties nostalgists. The most surprising moment in his career came in 1972, when he scored his only Number One pop hit, "My Ding-A-Ling." It was a risqué novelty song, initially recorded by Dave Bartholomew back in 1952 and first cut by Berry as “My Tambourine” on his 1968 album From St. Louis to Frisco. "My Ding-A-Ling" appeared on The London Chuck Berry Sessions. One side was quickly made in a London studio with Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones of the Faces and British guitarist Derek Griffiths, while the other contained songs from a February 1972 concert in Coventry, including "My Ding-A-Ling" and “Reelin’ & Rockin’” (which itself became a minor hit). The London Chuck Berry Sessions was his highest-charting album, reaching Number Eight, and his only gold album as well.

Berry’s songs had become so entrenched in the fabric of American popular culture that he didn't even tour with a band. Pianist Johnnie Johnson’s 30-year association with Berry ended in 1973. Berry traveled alone with a suitcase and guitar, requiring promoters to provide a backing band for each gig. His contract also spelled out the amps he wanted onstage and mandated full prepayment of his performance fee. His experiences in the music business had left him wary, and his business acumen made him shrewd. By traveling only with his guitar, he cut down on expenses and payroll. Moreover, it gave a lot of young musicians a chance to apprentice with a living legend. If you knew anything about rock and roll, you had to know how to play the songs of Chuck Berry. Musicians including Bruce Springsteen and Brownsville Station were among those who backed up the master.

In 1979, Berry performed at the White House and released the album Rock It on Atco Records. There have been several compilations and anthologies of Berry’s work during the CD era, but no newly recorded music has come from the rock and roll pioneer since Rock It.

Berry’s life has been fraught with occasional controversy and incarceration. As a young man, he served three years in prison for armed robbery. (He wrote the song “Thirty Days” about the experience.) In 1961, he was convicted on a morals charge and served two years in a federal penitentiary. After his release, Berry proved he had more classic songs left in him, including "Nadine (Is It You?), "No Particular Place to Go," "You Never Can Tell" and "Promised Land.” He also served a prison stint in 1979 for tax evasion.

The late Eighties witnessed a career renaissance for Berry. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1985 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame that year as well. He was part of the first class inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. His presenter was Keith Richards, who cracked, "It's hard for me to induct Chuck Berry, because I lifted every lick he ever played!" The film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, a documentary about Berry’s life and times, appeared in 1987. Spearheaded by Richards and director Taylor Hackford, it culminated with a concert in St. Louis that reunited him with Johnnie Johnson.

Berry’s candid autobiography was published in 1987. He spent eight years writing the book. It contains these illuminating lines, which get to the heart of his uniqueness as a rock and roll stylist and indebtedness to those who influenced him: “The kind of music I liked then, thereafter, right now and forever, is the kind I heard when I was a teenager. So the guitar styles of Carl Hogen, T-Bone Walker, Charlie Christian, and Elmore James, not to leave out many of my peers who I’ve heard on the road, must be the total of what is called Chuck Berry’s style.... As you know, and I believe it must be true, ‘there is nothing new under the sun.’ So don’t blame me for being first, just let it last.”

Berry has continued receiving numerous awards and honors into the 21st Century. In 2000, he received a Kennedy Center honor. In 2003, Rolling Stone named him number six on its list of the Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2011, a statue of Berry was erected on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. And in 2012, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum honored Berry with its American Music Masters Award. And Berry Continues to do his monthly performances at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis.