A Harmonious Homage to a Guitar Legend
We were privileged to be invited by the Mahwah Museum, in conjunction with the Les Paul Foundation, to the hometown celebration, on the campus of Ramapo College, for what would have been Les Paul’s 110th birthday. Those in attendance were treated to a wonderful afternoon of music and stories from the people who knew him well. The hosts also provided refreshments, including a birthday cake.
We were a little surprised to see Les’ guitar tech and right-hand man of forty-five years, Tommy Doyle and his wife Sandy set up and ready to play when we arrived, as he was supposed to be the last of three acts to perform. The reason became apparent when we saw the all of the equipment, they needed to do their tribute to Les and Mary Ford. It was too much to set up in between sets, so the started the musical portion of the day. After an introduction by Wade Morgan, board member of the Mahwah Museum, they kicked off the afternoon with a rousing version of Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).” This was followed by a recreation of one of the commercials Les and Mary were famous for, Reingold Extra Dry. Tommy told the story of how the multi-track recorder was create by Les and proceeded to play on one of their signature recordings, “Mr. Sandman,” with both his guitar and Sandys voices on tape as well as live, and if you closed your eyes, you would swear it was 1954. Sandy’s vocals were flawless, and Tommy mentioned that she did all the multi-track lyrics in one take. Up next up was another single released two years earlier, “Bye, Bye Blues.” Sandy played rhythm guitar on a beautiful version of the jazz standard, “I’ll See You in My Dreams.” She then switched to congas and flute to accompany Tommy’s dexterous finger picking, while her pitch perfect voice was just that, for Cole Porters “Night and Day.” The post World War 1 song, “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise,” was enhanced by multi-tracking, as was the classic “Sweet Georgia Brown, with Sandy on vocals and guitar. Tommy explained that in addition to multi-tracking “Tiger Rag,” Les also sped it up, and he proceeded to match the original live with his fingerpicking on the guitar. It was followed by the Tin Pan Alley version Les and Mary originally did of “Alabamy Bound.” They finished the set with Les and Mary’s biggest hit, “How High the Moon,” which Tommy told us sold fifteen million copies in the first two years after its release.
After a short intermission, DnA, the original opener, took the stage. This acoustic duo is singer Dani Zanoni on vocals, and Alex Kerssen on his vintage Guild Dreadnaught and backing vocals. Dani, who is a 2019 graduate of Ramapo, and currently handles social media for the Mahwah Museum, told us that she was in the music program in college, but had never played on that stage. Their nicely curated eight song set spanned the mid-sixties to the mid-nineties, beginning with what has become a standard of that era, Bill Withers “Just the Two of Us.” From there it was on to a spirited version of Hall & Oates, “You Make My Dreams.” Danni’s voice was a good fit for Tracy Chapman’s nineties hit, “Give Me One Reason,” and the Jonny Nash classic, “I Can See Clearly Now,” was given a lovely reading with guitar and vocals meshing seamlessly. Another good choice from that era followed with one hit wonders, Stealers Wheel song, “Stuck in the Middle with You.” A soulful rendition of the Otis Redding tune “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” reminded me of that great musician, who left us much too soon. They finished with a rousing version Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” which segued in and out of “Billy Jean,” a nice touch.
This meant that the Ed Laub Quartet had now become closing act. Joining him on this afternoon were Jerry Vezz on piano, Hal Slapin on upright bass, and John Vortsis on the skins. Ed had an enduring relationship with Les and he opened he remarks citing Eddie Lang, the long-time guitarist for Bing Crosby, and mentor to Les Paul. Les went on to record with Bing; a relationship that produced the number one hit in 1945, “It’s Been a Long, Long Time.” Ed told us he played for seventeen years in a duo with Bucky Pizzarelli and they always opened their shows with that tune, and on this day, they performed with a wonderful version of the song. Ed, on his signature seven string guitar and vocals was in fine form and you could tell it was coming from the heart. They then moved to a Bossa Nova style rendition of the George Gershwin standard “S Wonderful,” with Jerry taking his solo to the delight of the audience. Next was a song Ed said Louis Prima got top billing for in 1946, and was made famous by Etta James, “Sunday Kind of Love.” I liked the effect of John’s playing, with a stick in one hand and a brush in the other. Ed’s vocals on the Van Heusen/Mercer composition, “I Thought About You,” were spot on and the groups playing was restrained, which worked well on this number. As Ed prefaced the following tune, “you can’t go wrong with Gershwin,” the open strains of the melody proved him right on “But not For Me.” The Harry Warren title, “The More I See You,” was highlighted by Hal’s fine bass solo. They closed out the set with another standard, “Deed I Do,” which began with Ed singing over Hal’s bass and included a nice drum solo by John.
It was a great afternoon of music and stories, honoring the legacy of Les Paul, one of the titans of twentieth century music. Kudos to the Mahwah Museum and the Les Paul Foundation, as well as the musicians who performed this day, in keeping his spirit alive and well in the twenty-first century.