Still Electric

Posted December 19, 2007 by Tom Benford

The solid-body electric guitar that bears his name has been a huge seller since the Gibson company introduced it more than half a century ago. In fact, Les Paul told his audience one recent night at the Iridium jazz club in Manhattan, “Some people think I am a guitar.”They might be right. Paul was enshrined in the Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 2005 for creating the modern solid-body electric guitar. He also pioneered multi-track recording, and influenced generations of jazz guitarists with his slippery-smooth sound and lightning speed.

Despite arthritic fingers (and a right arm that was surgically locked at a right angle after a car crash in 1949), Paul, now 92, plays two shows with his quartet every Monday at the Iridium. “It gives me a reason to get out of bed other than to go to the bathroom each morning,” he quips. “Sometimes I feel like I’m 90, sometimes I feel like a kid. I’m sure it’s the playing that keeps me from going totally stiff.”

A Wisconsin native, Paul rose to fame in New York and Los Angeles, but he has lived in Mahwah almost 60 years. He loves to putter in his home studio and lab, “still searching for the perfect sound.” The speed of young guitarists doesn’t faze him. “It’s the guy that plays the melody and reaches the heart that wins,” he says.

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