Yo, Les Paul’s got game! His Google tribute doodle gets a second day of play. Bloggers and music enthusiasts are scuttling to transcribe their favorite rock chords. And a new generation, feeding off the high fructose corn syrupy allure of Justin Bieber, is getting a real lesson in jazz history.
This revival of Les’s influence will inevitably reveal another giant who preceded him: Django Reinhardt. Reinhardt was a pioneer of a guitar sound known as Gypsy swing. It’s derived from the esoteric sounds of his ancestors but mixed with propulsive, groovy rhythms. The master guitarist has been commemorated by the likes of Woody Allen to Al DiMeola to Les Paul. He had great reverence for Django.
Paul used the swing guitar articulations as blueprint for his own daffy style. In the way a comedian weaves everyday observations into a standup act, Paul stumbled upon a fluffy little niche somewhere between jazz and country-western music. He made it a brand. Les Paul was lickety-split when he played. He left his fingerprints across a variety of acts, such as Rhubarb Red on radio and Georgia White in the barrelhouses. An innovator in multi-track recording, Paul made over six dozen singles and a stash of albums.
It is no small wonder Les Paul would get the web developer treatment with the Google team, he had a flair for the techy side of guitar. He developed new designs to allow his unique fingering to flow like whiskey.
Now that the world is on Day Two of Google’s tribute guitar doodle, how-to videos and writeups have amassed. Imagine the human hours amassed, too.
Now I’m about to clock mine. While most of you are on chords like “Stairway to Heaven,” I struggle through “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
NOTE: Les Paul would have been 96 years old on June 9th. That electric guitar of his lives on.
