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Les Paul At The Iridium Club, Nyc


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Hey, guys. I had the priviledge of jamming two sets with the master, last Monday, (9/17/07), in NYC. Before the show, Les called me into his dressing room where we talked for about an hour. There, I experienced the genious in his own element. We are friends.

I welcome all inquiries as to that wonderful evening with Lester Poulus.

Dale Colgrove

Ft. Worth, Texas

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Hey

ok, tell us about it lol :) What did you play? Did you pick up anything from him about playing or interpretation?

Cheers

John

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Congrats Dale!!

Les Paul is a true master and a quite amazing man! Not only a master musician, but a technical genius who has given the music world so much. Hope you caught his PBS special that aired several times this past June/July in the "American Masters" series. Fascinating program about a fascinating person.

Quite an opportunity!! Learn all you can from him!

:) John B.

Edited by voclizr
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OK. but before I begin, I have to say something that is no secret to the world....Les Paul has a brain as big as a house, a heart bigger than that and sense of humor even bigger than that!. A true national treasure who at 92...can still play his ever-lovin' ASS off!!! He is witty, humble and nothing less than brilliant.

History: For years, my brother, Rick and I have owned and operated an Arturus disc lathe. We have known, for about 6 years, that Les was looking for one to put in his museum or the Smithsonian. I decided to see if Les might like to buy it, cheap, for the museum. Through a series of encounters with 'guardian angels' who held my hand through the process of contacting Les Paul, he called me on my cell and we talked for about 20 minutes about the lathe and music in general. My heart was beating as we became instant friends. He told me he invented a lathe, (1929), with a belt-driven Cadillac flywheel, (turntable), then gave it away and forgot about it. Later, he was injured in an auto accident and when he got out of the hospital, he took a trip to CBS where he was introduced by the studio engineer to the 'Arturus' lathe, which turned out to be a beefed-up version of Les' invention. It was during that first phone conversation when I decided to donate the system to the Les Paul museum in Wachesha, Wis., his home town.

FYI: I made sure to tell Les about my being a professional musician who specializes in traditional jazz trumpet and vocals. I have performed with Dixieland bands and many other genres of music fo more than 35 years. I'm a multi-instrumental entertainer, recording artist and composer of film scores and commercials. I also am an animation voice talent, broadcast announcer. I have community theater acting /direction experience, and am a full time band director in a large publc school system in North Texas.

Over the summer, I've been traveling...First, to Fort Lauderdale, working on an indie film with Mal Arnold, star of Herschell Gordon Lewis' classic gore film, 'Blood Feast'. We also interviewed the "Godfather of Gore", himself in his Florida penthouse. While I was there, I got a surprise call from Les Paul. He called to thank me again for the lathe and wanted to know more technical stuff about the equipment and discuss how we were going to ship it all to Wisconsin. Understand that up until this time, my motives were to give him the lathe without any thought or mention from me about my sitting-in with him at the Iridium Club.

After that, I flew to Los Angeles to visit my Mom. We were in a noisy thrift store, just looking around, when I got another call from Les Paul. He informed me of his plans to have the lathe picked-up at my house and delivered to the museum. That was on a Tuesday. He told me that PBS was showing his documentary, 'Chasing Sound', that very evening, and to be sure to watch. (I got a personal invitation from Les Paul to watch his documentary film. What a trip!) He also asked alot more questions about me. I answered him as completely and truthfully as I could. It was during that phone encounter when he invited me to come to NYC and jam with his group. He had not heard me play....ever.

I was leaving from Mom's in Los Angeles to fly up to San Francisco for a jazz festival. I thought to myself,

"School is going to start back soon and I am running out of time. It's going to get cold in NYC and Les isn't getting any younger".

I knew that others regularly sit-in with Les Paul at the Iridium: Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Steve Miller, Tony Bennet...

I decided to go to NYC on the Monday after 9/11/07.

I flew into La Guardia, taking with me a good Jersey buddy, Dennis, (who plays some great guitar, folks!). I had my King 'Special 20' cornet with me. We got to the Iridium Club at about, 4:30, when Les has sound check and a short rehearsal. There was already a line forming outsite the club. I asked for the boss and introduced myself. He already knew about me and about the lathe. Les had told him weeks before. He then escourted Dennis and I into the club, seating us at a table where I could have room to get out my axe and be ready to blow. Aside from the crew, Dennis and I were the only ones in the club at that time.

Then Les arrived. He immediately greeted me and hugged me. Instant friends. Les signed my vintage copy of 'Guitar Player' with Les holding his Gibson, 2X4 prototype with wings. He signed Dennis' pick gurad. We talked for about 15 minutes, then he asked to get my horn ready and BAM...that was it. Confirmed. I was going to sit-in with the legendary, LES PAUL!!

Les went to the stage and fired-up his axe. He twanged one note, E, for a solid 10 minutes, adjusting his guitar's pick-up height with a jeweler's screwdriver, then adjusting his hearing aids, and back to the guitar. About then, Les had another visitor, Teye, maker of the Electric Gypsy guitar. What beautiful work!! Turquise and engraved chrome. He took it to Les who played a few notes on it. Moments later, Les' rhythm guitarist, Al DiMiola came in, hooked up and jamed a riff with Les for another 10 minutes. Then in comes the beautiful and sexy, KILLER upright bass player, Nikki, from Austrailia, and pianist, John, who is one of the most prolifically accurate, fluid and inventive players I've ever heard. They ran through a number and broke set to get ready to open the doors in about an hour. This is when Les eats a chicken dinner with the band.

I went outside for a few minutes to have a quick smoke and to just stand there absorbing the sights, sounds and smells of Times Square. Now, the line was all the way down the block. I breathed deep and went back in.

I found my chair by Dennis. A few minutes in, Les called me back into his dressing room. There, we talked about everything from music to God. We laughed together and he told stories of his life...people he's known through the years...Bing Crosby, in particular, who gave him his first Ampex portable R-R tape recorder. That's the one he added a record head to and invented sound-on-sound. He told me of his friend, Al Lansing, who was a real estate millionaire at the time and Les didn't know it. Les gave Lansing ideas for sound equipment design and several prototypes he had built himself.

At one point of the conversation, after about 45 minutes, Les Paul asked me this question: "Dale, do you believe in God?"

My mouth flew open...speechless. I knew what I wanted to say, but I couldn't readily formulate what I was compelled to say. After a moment, I stammered this reply: "Les, I have seen God's hand move in my life, many times." He then said to me: "Dale, I have been listening to you and discerning for myself what kind of person you are. I was right about you. You are exactly who you have represented yourself to be. What are you going to play tonite?"

The first, (8PM), show I played cornet and sang, 'Jada', followed by 'Back Home Again in Indiana'. After 'Jada', Les told the audience that he knew the guy who wrote that song. The audience was most appreciative to our performance. Les asked me back for the second show. I returned, (10PM), and did, 'Rosetta' and 'Ain't Misbehavin''. I got a standing ovation. What a thrill!! The last set was a little difficult for him because of the hearing aids. One gave out during the last third of the show. He kept playing...later telling me he couldn't hear a thing.

After the show, I went backstage again. We hung for another 20 minutes or so. It was now nearly 1AM. People were lined up in the club with guitars, memorabilia, etc. for him to sign. I said to Dennis: "This guy is one hard-working dude!! He'll be here until 3AM just signing autographs!"

Several folks aked me to pose for pictures. There were alot of Texans there that night.

Dennis and I had to catch a shuttle from our hotel, The Belvedere..at 2:30AM, to go back to the airport. We said our goodbyes to everyone and split.

I had called in a substitute to cover my band classes on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, I came home and Les Paul calls me, AGAIN! He wanted to thank me again for the gift to the museum and to compliment me again for my performance with him at the Iridium Club. He then asked me to return sometime, and folks, I sure will!

Last year, Les Paul received his SIXTH Grammy. As a musician, that says it all. In my opinion, there's be nothing short of the Nobel Prize to honor this man for his contributions to the world of music and recorded entertainment.

It was almost like meeting God....and getting to jam same JAZZ with HIM.

Nah, Les Paul is a human being....an INCREDIBLE human being.

Dale

I have photos to share, but they're too large to post here on this page. Please advise me if there's another way to get them to you all.

Thanks, People!

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Hey

Great experience :)

You can add images to the gallery, although there are limitations in place until you get to 10 posts. You can set up your gallery, and blog if you want, through your control panel (my controls in the menu above the boards)

Cheers

John

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I must clarify that the lathe belonged to my brother, Rick, who is sick and in hospital. He agreed to donate it, having resurrected it from pieces and bits 30 years ago and getting it up and running. Rick was also a very talented clarinet/sax player. We performed side-by-side for many years. Since his unfortunate illness, I have taken stewartship in his behalf, liquidating much of his vintage recording equipment and antiques.

I have been involved in the disc-cutting process only as an interested observer. Rick has been the lathe Guru.

I told Les that I should have come with Rick. Les was TOTALLY cool about it.

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That was a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing with us! If you open an account with flikr or photo bucket (Both Free) you can upload all the pics you want and link to them. :)

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That was a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing with us! If you open an account with flikr or photo bucket (Both Free) you can upload all the pics you want and link to them. :)

Here's a couple of pix for you:

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Greychurch/da...007?i=0&s=1

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