Chester & Lester [Extra tracks]

Les Paul, Chet Atkins, ??????????&?????? | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 24, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 1976
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000ROAL8A
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,951 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #5 in Music > Country > Instrumental
  • #19 in Music > Country > Classic Country > Nashville Sound
  • #69 in Music > Country > Classic Country > General AAS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Genius guitar innovators duet on pop standards, August 21, 2007

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chester & Lester (Audio CD)

Recorded in 1975, this LP (augmented here by four bonus tracks) found two innovators of electric guitar playing in easy-going sessions filled with friendly instrumental interplay. The elder of the two, Les Paul, had been effectively retired for a decade when Atkins lured him into the studio. The seeds had been planted a few months earlier when the guitarists met up in a New York hotel room for an informal jam session; the music flowed so smoothly that it suggested a recording date was in order.

The connection between Paul and Atkins happened many years before they met. Paul's jazz trio featured Atkins' half brother Jimmy as a vocalist and rhythm guitarist at the end of the 1930s, and as the younger Atkins followed his brother's work, he picked up the band leader's fingerings. Atkins' love of Merle Travis led him more towards country, but like Paul, he always kept a love of pop and jazz in his playing. Aktins even acquired one of Les Paul's guitars, and used it on his very first session for RCA.

By the mid-70s Les Paul was retired and Chet Atkins was increasingly absorbed by executive work at RCA Nashville. In 1974 Atkins paired himself with Merle Travis for an album, The Atkins-Travis Travelling Show, which prompted a friend to suggest he try a pairing with Les Paul. The two guitarists worked out a song list that collected pop and jazz standards, with arrangements that merged details from each of their lengthy recording and performing careers.

With Atkins' guitar stage left, and Paul's stage right, the disc plays like a conversation, with each taking turns at lead between some coordinated unison playing. The difference in their styles is subtle but immediate, with Atkins' staccato inflections often more country and blue than the cool of Paul's jazz fingerings. The use of head (non-written) arrangements gave these sessions a very organic feel, with the Nashville rhythm section (piano, drums, bass, guitar) integrated seamlessly with the guitarists. There's some friendly competition, with each showing off their remarkable chops and goading the other to greater heights, and there's plenty of friendly verbal jousting before, after and during the takes. Paul used his renowned overdubbing on only a pair of tracks ("Caravan" and "Lover Come back to Me"), so the sessions remained quite spontaneous.

The four bonus tracks include an alternate version of "Caravan," as well as a rehearsal of "Moonglow / Picnic" that picks up slowly as the duo finds their way through the medley, and eventually dissolves into their own instant review of the performance. Superstar pairings have become such common "events" that they've lost a great deal of their magic, but this one - two genius innovators getting together just to play - is still as musically rich as the day it was originally recorded. [©2007 hyperbolium dot com]

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic meeting of the Greatest!, July 20, 2005

By 

P. Wagner "pwdog" (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chester & Lester (Audio CD)

If you don't get any other Chet and/or Les album/CD's, get this one.
It's a wonderful chance to hear two of the greatest electric guitarists together. The vastly different styles of these two are a perfect blend, and the meeting of two old pros is classic. It's a lot of fun and great music.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is why those Brits picked up their axes!, July 11, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (The Valley of The Smokes (L.A.)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chester & Lester (Audio CD)

The playful joy found in the interplay between These two masters of the guitar make you wish this record wouldn't stop! Part of the fun comes from the between songs banter between the "boys" left in tact. My only wish is that it was longer. Just can't get enough of these two together.