Les Paul Trio- this is the one!
Allen Strange | Bainbridge Island, WA United States | 01/11/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you have only one Les Paul Trio CD in your collection, this is the one to have. These tracks foreshadow all the licks, tricks, harmonic signatures and ideas Les used to develop his "new sound" several years later. Those familiar with his work in the late forties through the early sixties will immediately recognized the genesis of his multi-track "sound." The playing is outstanding and there are a couple of gems with the likes of Joe Venuti and Kay Starr.
Allen Strange"
Why Les Paul (the player) Belongs with Christian and Django
Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 08/16/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Formerly these tracks were available only on an inferior, poorly documented label (still a bargain)--Laserlight. Besides the tracks on "Crazy Rhythm" there are plenty more, but this will do for a start, proving why Les as a musician is the member of a triumvirate of contemporaneous great jazz players--Charlie, Django and Les. The point is that you have to go to the trios before Mary, multi-tracking, "Lover" and 1948 to appreciate the musicianship underneath the inventor-visionary-savant. He was the first guitarist (opposite Nat King Cole's piano) to play Jazz at the Philharmonic (1944), lighting up the house (look for it--"The Body and Soul Concert" on Jasmine), and in his early career he was conflicted between making money (as Rubarb Red) and playing jazz with the likes of Art Tatum.
These trio sides are miniature masterpieces--tight, often complex, yet full of Paul's dazzling technique (along with the brilliant piano artistry of Paul Smith). They're equal to the genius of the Nat Cole and Benny Goodman Trio recordings--sparkling gems, golden nuggets, chamber jazz played to perfection by the wizard who couldn't read music (he never found the time to learn). And each performance had to be brought in at under 3 minutes--a challenge the Paul group handles as deftly as Shakespeare does the sonnet, neither missing a single particle (whether a word or, as in this instance, a note).
The pop material (on the vast majority of Paul collections) is mostly nostalgia; "Lover" is mere historical curiosity; "Via Con Dias" is tepid 1950s hit-making. The trios are where the action is. They can still jump out of your speakers."
Track Listings (18) - Disc #1