Friends Gathered In Memory of Les Paul

On Wednesday August 19, 2009 at the Gibson Guitar Entertainment Showroom in New York, friends and family gathered to pay respect to the memory of Les Paul who passed away earlier in the month at the age of 94.

Les Paul’s son, Russ Paul joined an impromptu jam session with some of music’s most talked about artists including Chad Smith, Drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, guitarists Frank Vignola and Joe Satriani. Also attending were Ace Frehley, Jeff « Skunk» Baxter, Joan Jett, Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Al Di Meola, Johnny A, Pat Martino, Steve Conte and of course members of the Les Paul Trio including Lou Pallo, John Collani and Nicki Parrott.

While Les‘ music played throughout the venue and nostalgic photos of Les Paul were shown on video screens, many who attended spent hours reminiscinig about Les‘ career, his inventions and most importantly the undeniable mark he left on the music business. As the inventor of multi-track recording and a true electric guitar innovator the Les Paul name will live on through the Gibson Guitar company, producer of the Les Paul model guitar that bears his signature.

«It is simply impossible to conceive what music would be like today if Les Paul had not lived,» said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. «During the month of September Gibson will celebrate Les Paul through various promotions and events insuring his legacy lives on. The Les Paul Studio and Les Paul Standard guitar remains the best selling guitar of all time and in honor of Les we will give fans the opportunity to purchase very special limited versions while enjoying numerous features and anecdotes about Les on the Gibson website at www.gibson.com. We want generations to come to have the chance to experience the brilliance of our friend Les Paul.»

Gibson Guitar plans on celebrating the life of Les Paul with commemorative events in September tied to the anniversary of Les Paul’s #1 Billboard Pop Single of 1953 Vaya Con Dias and the anniversary of Les Paul’s 2005 release American Made: World Played. In November the guitar maker will offer consumers an exclusive tribute model with limited features and adornments honoring Paul. Interested fans can visit http://www.gibson.com regularly for updates.

Caroline Galloway

Links:

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/les-paul-passes-away-at-94-813/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb5_DEhmDAM

http://www.myspace.com/lesfreakinpaul

Contact:

Caroline Galloway, Gibson Guitar Corp., 615-423-4904

Gibson Guitars, 309 Plus Park Blvd., Nashville, TN 37217 United States

E-mail: caroline.galloway@gibson.com