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July 3, 2005Les Paul Tribute Concert at Carnegie Hallby Rick Landers.
"Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'...into the future."
Now in his ninetieth year, inventor, innovator and jazz guitar legend Les Paul has given the world the solid body electric guitar, multi-track recording, reverb, delay and a long series of revolutionary sound technology. The JVC Jazz Festival 2005 event was part of JVC's scheduled jazz concerts that aim to promote jazz in all of its traditional and exploratory forms. Shows are scheduled in Chicago, Newport, the Hollywood Bowl and as far away as Paris and Warsaw. A top sponsor of the Les Paul Tribute Concert was the Gibson Guitar Company, the originator and builder of Gibson Les Paul guitars and adorned the stage with a ten foot inflatable Les Paul guitar and a small herd of of real LPs. To warm up the Carnegie audience before the Steve Miller Band, JVC dialed in the crowd with a short video portraying Les's life from his youthful days as Red Hot Red and Rhubard Red to the icon his is today. Video vignettes of Carlos Santana, Lenny Kravitz, Zakk Wylde, and Ace Frehley complemented the tenor of the evening's display of affection with Carlos likening Mr. Paul's contributions to the world to the inventive genius of such creative luminaries Nikola Tesla and Albert Einstein. Master of Ceremonies for the evening was Bob Buckman, who invited guitarists on stage to bear witness to the power and broad spectrum of Les Paul's inventiveness and ingenuity.
The Carnegie crowd could have been forgiven if it failed to recognize the first guitarist to appear. A trimmed down Steve Miller stepped toward the podium at the June 19, 2005 birthday celebration clad in the blue suit uniform of a Wall Street broker. Of course, most blue suiters aren't carrying an axe. The instantly recognizable opening of "Fly Like an Eagle" captured the spirit of the evening as its loopy riffs swooped and soared throughout the cavernous hall and up to the rafters. Miller informed the audience that Les and his father had been friends and that when he was a little boy, Les Paul kindly taught him his first guitar chords. A fitting beginning to an evening filled with familiar guitar riffs, sentimentalism, well-deserved pleasantries and a bit of jazz from the honoree. Next up was devil-locked-blonde Kenny Wayne Shepherd harnessed in a sunburst Stratocaster rolling out some hardass blues with "Shame, Shame, Shame" from his Ledbetter Heights CD. It seemed as if the folks running the show were vigilant to Carnegie Hall overtime costs and choreographed the guest guitarists' appearances to maximize their personal tributes without breaking the bank. For the most part, guitarists gave enthusiastic single song performances then promptly waved goodbye to the cheering audience.
Looking around, the surrounding seats were filled with a blended diversity of patrons, young and old, starched and wrinkled, with musical tastes stretching all over the map, including one lone soul sporting a well-worn Danger of Deaf t-shirt announcing his enthusiasm for the U.K. group Ten Benson, the penultimate lunacy of British fringe rock. Sitting square behind a stunning custom LP gold-top finished Baldwin grand piano, white maned Texas blues wrangler Edgar Winter handed everyone the aching quiet beauty of his classic "Dying to Live." The quiet didn't last long.
Multi-platinum alien Joe Satriani just riddled the place with "Satch's Boogie" coifed in his dorkingly stylish pull down black and green fuzzy hat. Joe looks like a diminutive little creation of some adolescent coming of age feature film, until he unleashes a torrent of fuel driven riffs, then breaks out in the most enthusiastic of and knowing bright white smiles. Very cool Satch. Very cool.  The night was filled with highlight after highlight and no one was disappointed when Neal Schon plugged in his pitch black Neal Schon Signature LP and was joined by exhuberant quadruple Tony Award winner, Emmy Awardee and very hot purple dressed mama Lillias White.
Australian master Tommy Emmanuel showed up next telling all how great it was for him to "Honor the great Les Paul and even better to spend Fathers' Day with him because he's such a great Dad!" Nice words from a guitarist once called "the greatest guitarist on the planet" from guitar leviathan Chet Atkins.
Tommy pulled out the stops rendering the audience hopelessly joyous goners when he grabbed a drummer's brush to slap his guitar silly with a good old fashioned wanking. As the song ended, the crowd arose from the first row to the high altitude seats - the first standing ovation of the evening. The only other guitarist blessed with such a display of affection and gratitude was the acclaimed honoree of the night. Long curly locks forever gone, Peter Frampton happily walked out on the stage with a short cropped head of gray with Steve Lukather backing him up as they headed back to the 1976 Atlanta Rhythm Section's hit song, "So Into You." Steve and Peter traded licks throughout turning the rolling tune into a raucous romp with "Off the Hook."  Winner of Downbeat magazine's 2004 reader poll Guitar Player of the Year Award, Pat Martino arrived with a sweet soulful rendition of Bobby Hebb's 1966 classic "Sunny" just before the lights went up for intermission.  The time had come for all to "meet" the man they came for - Lester William Polfus. Gibson Guitar Company Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz walked on stage carrying a very special Gibson Les Paul guitar made especially for Les. The LP had a graphic of Les in his earlier days, along with a parade of musical notes along its edge that Juszkiewicz said were significant to Les' career. The guitar was a token of appreciation for a lifetime of achievements that have brought the world sounds and recording capabilities that were previously unknown - gifts to us that more fully open the human spirit.  Then out from the left side of the stage, the electronic wizard of modern sound was there in front of us! Dressed in black trousers and light blue turtleneck, Les smiled graciously as the audience erupted into applause and, as one, stood up to greet and acknowledge their adoration of the man and his lifetime achievements. Briefly, Les had a problem getting sound out of his 1971 Les Paul Recording guitar and affectionately threw out a comment aimed at Henry, "I knew I should have got a Fender!" evoking a shake of the head and a smile from Gibson Guitar's top executive. After some cordial ribaldry, Henry gave Les the custom Les Paul, with the crowd ready and eager to hear Les play.  It was now Les Paul's turn at bat, but not before the entire audience sang him an extemporaneous "Happy Birthday!" Les told the crowd that he had just finished his latest album, Les Paul and Friends and it included guitarists like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. He and his three band mates, Lou Pallo (Guitar), John Coliani (Piano) and Nicky Parrott (Bass) rolled out some stylish tunes including Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies," the "Tennessee Waltz," "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," and a strutting version of "Sweet Georgia Brown." Another jazz great and Les's closest pal Bucky Pizzarelli took to the stage and the boys played with a delight that only best friends can fully enjoy. Les grabbed his handerchief and blew his nose, then handed the hanky to Bucky. Pizzarelli declined the offer from Les who beckoned Pizzarelli to take it with an offer to autograph it for him.  Can Les still play? Yes. Paul still deftly works his way around his brainchild. Sure, he has arthritis and there are a few misses in the execution, but there was this one bend he made that night that poured out such beauty, even serenity, that the audience again was moved to applause - by a single note. As he approaches 100, Les Paul is still, the man.
Slide guitar master Derek Trucks laid down a steely "Good Night Irene" with Les smiling and playing along. Derek proved to be masterful on slide, but did seem a bit in awe of his duet partner to the point of shyness. Then a man in sunglasses was escorted to a chair on stage. The audience reverentially whispered their recognition. Everyone knows Jose Feliciano. Gracious and gentle, Jose began with a statement, "The world is a better place for having Les Paul in it." Les and Jose waltzed into the Les Paul and Mary Ford gigantic hit of 1951, "How High the Moon" - one of the first sound on sound recording in history.  Feliciano explained his next song, "Bilbao" as a story about a pitched battle between the Spanish and the British where he would portray the scene from the approach of the British beginning with marching, charging of horsemen, the fitful bombastic artillary, the British bagpipers' martial groaning to the feverish clash of the battle itself. Everything was there, all discernible and it was as wonderfully troubling as it was captivating. The young man Les Paul taught guitar chords to back in 1948 returned to the stage to sing a personal tribute to Mr. Paul from that time. With heartfelt emotion, Steve Miller sang a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Nat King Cole's 1948 hit, "Nature Boy" to the man who gave him the gift of music. And then one day But as much as the concert was a sincere tribute, it was also a time for fun and celebration, motivating respected bluesman Jon Paris to get the joint jumpin'. With all the guest musicians back on stage, Paris led the final parade, nodding to each guitarist to "do their thing!" The whole lot of them ripped it up with a roaring "Let the Good Times Roll." One after another, the guest celebrities wailed away in a manner to make a musician father proud.  The Father of the Electric Guitar beamed a smile as he waved goodnight to his many adoring fans who arose once again to show that they did, indeed, love him in return.  Related Articles Related Links 1. ... (intro) * * *
About Photographer Joseph A. Rosen Joseph A. Rosen is a New York City-based professional photographer whose work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated and many other publications. Corporate clients include JP Morgan/Chase Bank, American Express, Nordstrom, PepsiCo and IBM. His music clients are some of the greatest names in the industry from blues, R&B, soul, rock, Cajun/Zydeco, the record companies for whom they record and their management groups. Joe received the prestigious Keeping the Blues Alive in Photography and Art Award for 2002. The award is presented by the Blues Foundation of Memphis, Tennessee, to an artist who has created a body of work which has brought the blues to the public through photography and "made a significant contribution to the blues world."
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The Steve Miller Band opens the Les Paul Tribute Concert at Carnegie Hall with a wink and a nod to Father Time whose relentless push past the moment runs hand-in-hand with the forward leaning life of the ninety-year-old honoree - master guitarist and inventor, Les Paul. 
Steve Lukather, Tommy Emmanuel, Stanley Jordan, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Bucky Pizzarelli and others demonstrated the genius of Les Paul's conversions of hardwired technologies into the more supple transmissions of twang, crunch, surf, metal, blues, punk, jazz, reggae, and staggering Louisiana heat. 
Hendrix showed up in the form of a finely crafted rendition of "Little Wing" by Toto guitarist Steve Lukather that had the crowd cheering. Steve was followed up by guitarist extraordinaire Stanely Jordan, who enchanted the audience with his light tapping and caressing of strings in a solo performance without equal. 
Winter grabbed his silver sax and hitched a ride with his pal Kenny Wayne Shepherd, now armed with a more politically correct Gibson LP. The guys launched into Rick Derringer's foot stomping rocker "Rock and Roll, Hootchie Koo", pumping up both the volume and the adrenaline. 
White struggled hard to shake herself apart during "I Wanna Know You," with her red and white feathered headress flapping, staccato hips stuttering, and pillowy voice bellowing thunder. Schon couldn't hold back his joy, spewing out his own thunder and lightning retorts to White's turgid vocals. 
Everyone held on while Emmanuel stoked up his scruffy acoustic guitar for what turned out to be a chunky, rollicking, slam dunk of a piece called "Mombasa". 
Others guests joined the patriarch of the electric guitar, including Madeleine Peyroux who sang a lovely "It's Been A Long, Long Time" and later slid up to Mr. Paul to give him a birthday smooch. 
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