Even though last night’s sold-out Les Paul Tribute concert was held at Nashville’s hallowed Ryman Auditorium, it invoked a far more intimate setting, one which the late Les Paul was very familiar with — New York’s Iridium Jazz Club, where Paul played every week right up until his death this past August.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame President Terry Stewart, who hosted the tribute event, said the evening had been designed to honor not only Paul but his weekly sit-downs at the Iridium with musicians of all stripes. Indeed. Paul’s famous friends turned up in droves to share remembrances via video recordings and live tributes that yielded tales of his indomitable wit and brilliant spirit.
Without a doubt the other star of the evening was the namesake guitar that Paul created and loved, the most famous electric guitar in the world. Les Paul’s son Russ, who was recovering from surgery and couldn’t make the event, thanked the crowd in a videotaped message, wherein Russ held up a Les Paul guitar and said, “This was my dad’s life — to make this come alive.”
Throughout the evening, beams of smoky light captured performances by everyone from Wynonna Judd to Zakk Wylde, Charlie Daniels to Steve Cropper, with each act backed by either a house band of esteemed Music City musicians or the Les Paul Trio itself. Here are but a few of the many magical moments that endeavored to honor such a vibrant musician, inventor and human being.
Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz
“What I remember most is Les’ bright, glaring blue eyes that were so full of life even in his last years,” said Juszkiewicz, who co-hosted the evening and told of a humorous first meeting with Paul at Fat Tuesday’s in New York. “I had just bought Gibson and was so excited to meet Les because I was a guitarist. I went to see him play and sat in a far corner. And as he was playing the toggle switch on his Les Paul pops out and onto the floor, and Les stops and says, ‘I understand the guy who owns Gibson is here and he made this guitar. I’d like him to stand up.’” Juszkiewicz also took a moment to unveil the Les Paul Tribute 1952 guitar and Gibson’s forthcoming Dusk Tiger, designed with a low impedance switch in honor of Les, who so often argued that low impedance was one of the most important things about a guitar.
Steve Cropper
With a gleaming Les Paul in hand and a wailing Wurlitzer organ accompanying him, Steve Cropper took everyone’s breath away by playing one of Paul’s earliest hits, “Summertime.” Then came some incredible video tributes by Richie Sambora, Joan Jett, Skunk Baxter, Billy Gibbons, Keb’ Mo’, Chad Kroeger, Slash, Steve Lukather and Sammy Hagar.
Wynonna Judd
With her usual swagger and a toss of her crimson hair, Wynonna Judd strolled on stage and captured everyone’s attention. “I’m a Gibson girl,” she said. “One of the reasons I play Gibson is because of Les. The next generation must not forget these legends and we’re losing a lot of them right now.” Judd called upon another legend, Bill Withers, by singing a sultry “Ain’t No Sunshine.”
John Rich
Big & Rich’s John Rich took the stage solo to speak of Paul’s influence and to perform his own “I Built Myself a Bar in the Back of My Car and Drove Myself to Drink.” “I’ve always known how important an instrument was to a young man, and a Gibson always felt good in my hands,” said Rich, with a rhinestone-encrusted J-200 slung around his neck. “They even put rhinestones on ’em if you need ’em, gussy ’em up.”
Charlie Daniels & Lee Roy Parnell
The great Charlie Daniels, in a white 10-gallon hat, earned a standing ovation with his hell-raising version of “Further On Up On the Road,” performed majestically on a pair of twin Les Pauls with Lee Roy Parnell. Of his song choice Daniels explained, “I have always admired Les Paul so much. I had the opportunity to sit in with him at the Iridium club and I didn’t know any of his songs and he didn’t know any of my songs so we decided on a blues song.” Parnell himself had taken the stage earlier and said, “If Les was here he would be digging this and all the pretty girls backstage. I had the pleasure of joining him on three different Iridium nights and he never ceased to embarrass me.”
Jennifer Batten
The onetime Michael Jackson guitarist dropped jaws with her hysterically paced solo recreation of Les Paul’s 1948 instrumental version of “Lover,” acknowledged to be the very first multi-track recording in history. Paul himself witnessed Batten perform the song at a 2008 tribute to him in Cleveland, Ohio.
Sarah Partridge
Emerging in a red velvet jacket from the center aisle of the crowd, jazz singer Partridge nailed one of Paul’s favorite songs, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” which she had performed with him at the Iridium. The song was sung as a video duet with Les Paul, as Partridge's live voice blended perfectly with a recording of one of Paul's old shows.
Les Paul Trio’s Lou Pallo
Besides paying homage to Paul (whom he referred to as “like a brother”) with the Les Paul Trio’s performances of “Vaya Con Dios” and “How High The Moon,” Pallo shared a funny story from Paul’s last days. “I was in the hospital visiting him three weeks before he passed and he was in great spirits,” said Pallo. “A priest walked in and says, ‘There’s a fly in here.’ And Les said, ‘It wasn’t until you walked in the room.’”
Zakk Wylde
Wylde drew the most raucous applause of the night, but took a backseat to his usual hard-rocking persona and pulled up a chair to perform a searing version of Leon Russell’s “A Song For You.” After the song was over, Wylde said nothing but simply kissed the face of his Les Paul guitar and held it into the air before walking off stage.
Steve Miller
Perhaps the evening’s most heartfelt words — and there were a lot of them — came from Les’ godson Steve Miller, who opened and closed the show. “I was four and a half when I met Les,” said Miller. “My dad was a tape recorder nut and every night my dad would take me into this nightclub and I would watch Les and Mary Ford play. I looked at my dad and said, ‘Man I wanna do that. That looks like so much fun.’ Les taught me how to hold a guitar; he taught me my first chords. He said, ‘You’re really going to go places, Steve,’ and I believed him. I loved him very much. He had the biggest heart of any man I ever knew.”
The event also featured amazing performances by JD Souther, Emerson Drive, Anna Wilson and Monty Powell, every one of which paid great tribute to the life of a man very much loved, and now missed by many.