Date Posted: Apr 1, 2016

June 9th, — would have been the 100th birthday of the great Les Paul, the jazz guitarist and inventor whose solid body guitar, helped, ironically, to make the careers of legions of pop and rock stars.

What is less known  than his early mega hits like Its Been a Long, Long Time (1945), Lover, and How High the Moon is his early jazz discography.  Created during and after WWII, it includes Jazz At The Philharmonic (1944). Other overlooked discs introduce artists like Peggy Lee, Art Tatum, Sweets Edison and Jay McShann. The lucky ones got to hear Paul and his Trio for more than 30 years every week in NYC, the final 15 on Mondays at the Iridium.  Luckier still was a Litchfield favorite bass player/singer, Nicki Parrott who played with him for 10 of those years! Nicki plans to join us at Litchfield Jazz Camp this summer and tell us more of the Les Paul story, thanks to support from the Les Paul Foundation.  Visit les-paul.com and lespaulfoundation.org. Many great clips can be found at lespauliridiumjazzclub at YouTube.