Les, born Lester William Polsfuss in 1915, had a regular Monday night gig in the last years of his life at the Iridium jazz club in Manhattan.
I know it's an exaggeration, but only a slight one, that EVERY guitarist of any stature at all dropped by at least once to pay homage.
Defining Les is tough.
What was he exactly?
A musician or an inventor?
A pop artist with a country twang or one of the most virtuosic jazz guitarists who ever lived?
If you've ever used overdubbing, delay effects, phasing effects, or multitrack recording or even just picked up a solid body guitar, you're walking down the trail he blazed. As a kid he also made a neck-worn harmonic holder for himself, the design of which is still being used today.
He never learned to read music and had only a few unsuccessful music lessons on the piano as a child.
Interestingly listening to Art Tatum records inspired him massively - to step away from the piano and try his hand at something else.
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