Customer Reviews

Five O'Clock Bells/Mo' Breau (2 on 1)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
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Lenny Breau is often named as a "guitarist's guitarist"--one of the most technically remarkable players to touch the instrument. He's unlikely to ever be that well-known to the wider jazz public because his disastrous personal life (serious drug problems which ended with his being found murdered at the bottom of a swimming pool, age 43) meant that he never got his career together, & his recorded legacy is small. This CD doubles up two of his finest LPs, two solo discs recorded in 1977-78 & released as _Five O'Clock Bells_ & _Mo' Breau_. Despite the rather casual nature of the recordings--they preserve a false start, some fluffs & a couple samples of Breau's wistful, uncertainly pitched singing--this is one of the very best jazz recordings of the 1970s, & easily rivals the best of Joe Pass from the period. Breau's ability to play simultaneous lead & accompaniment is absolutely breathtaking, & though his primary influence is Bill Evans his synthesis of this influence with country, classical, flamenco & rock influences is deeply personal & absolutely right-sounding. _Five O'Clock Bells_ is the better of the two albums, simply for its inclusion of Breau's favourite setpiece, "Visions", a McCoy Tyner tune played over a throbbing ostinato; this tune functioned in his repertoire rather like "Nardis" in Bill Evans'--as the medium for the performer's deepest & most searching explorations. Breau's performances of standards are typically freewheeling & digressive, & the line between freeform improvisation & standard is pretty blurred--"Marlborough Street" begins as an improvisation on "Beautiful Love" before moving off, while "Lone Pine" is in fact "I'll Remember April" medleyed with a blues & a countrified coda at the end. The readings of standards & blues are casual, sometimes verging on the throwaway, yet full of vibrancy, wit & unexpected twists & turns. Other tracks, like the freeform originals "Toronto", "Amy (for Cinde)" & "Other Places, Other Times", sound like Breau turning over his thoughts & memories & moods.

Breau's reputation as a technical wizard is well-earned. But what really makes his work stand out is that the music has the kind of emotional fullness that distinguishes Bill Evans' work from the prettified versions of his style that one often encounters in lesser pianists. Breau's ability to combine sparkle with gravitas, even when handling garden-variety jazz standards, is very satisfying. -- Those who enjoy this disc should also pick up Breau's _Live at Bourbon Street_, a double-CD of guitar/bass duets recorded at the end of his life.

I love these albums/CD's. You can hear the depth of feeling that Lenny plays with on some of the material here more than a lot of his earlier stuff.

I have been a fan of Lenny Breau for many years, but in the last few I have really started buying everything available.

As a young guitarist my self, back in 1979, I was able to meet Lenny. In a guitar class with the great John Pisano at Los Angeles Valley Community College, I was in class, and guess who walks in with his guitar? A short, kind of quiet, unknown friend of John's. Mr. Pisano introduced him and asked him to jam with him. All of us young wannabee's weren't that impressed, until they started jamming. I don't remember what songs they did, but I think my jaw scraped the floor by the the 2nd or 3rd bar. Their interplay, taste, technique, restraint, and respect for each other were beyond reproach.

I was in this class because I was totally into Joe Pass, and as fate would have it, Mr. Pisano had played on several Joe Pass albums. But here he played fingerstyle nylon string guitar and that was what this class was about. That was one of Lenny's forte's as well. I remember he taught us a killer lick of descending or ascending triplets based on the classic pentatonic blues rock scale with notes in 4ths on 3 adjacent strings. I still use it to this day at times. The man was dedicated to his art!

It took me a few years to put all this together and rightly place these almost-famous guitarists, unfortunately with Lenny's still-unsolved murder in 1984.

I have every CD listed on this website, and much more. Every single one has a genius spark of creativity combined with a seemingly unlimited musical vocabulary. Do your ears a favor and listen to Lenny do his thing. He is gone but his music seems immortal to me. His originals, and his versions of standards are sublime. The only living guitarist that has attained his level (that I have a huge collection of) is Tuck Andress of Tuck & Patti. Please let Lenny live in your life.

Sorry for my bad spelling, I'm not from the U.S.A
I`m not going to explain very much abauth this album, the other reviwes are just fine.
I will tell you a little of Lenny Breau
If you, like me, have a larg collection of guitar cd`s, I must warn you.
When I first baught this cd, I had newer heard Lenny.
I had read all the fine reviews of this album, but it is not possible to explain the music of Lenny Breau.

Wat happened was, well first of all I got a shook, had newer heard anything like this.
Then after som days lissening to Lenny, I found out, that all my collection of hundreds of cd`s had lost some of i'ts glory.

Dont get me wrong, I love meny other guitarist, Barney Kessel, Chet Atkins, wes, and so many others,,,but I have never admire any guitarist
the way I use to, since I started lissening to Lenny.


No guitarist I have heard have bean able to express fealings and pasion, through his guitar, like Lenny Breau.
And hin knowledge of the instrument and the music is endless
When it comes to technique I have never heard any one like Lenny..

Well he do not not play three or four things at the same time, all the time,,like som other Guitarists like Thuck Andress,
But Lenny was able to play free, without his technique getting in the way. He made musich,,,and uset his incredible technique to express
his feealings.

His harmonic are,,,well I have newer heard anyone able to play harmonic so free and so intimate...
I have admired Chet Atkins playing harmonic,,,and with all respekt for Mister Guitar,,, Lenny Breau was far ahead of Chet.

In fakt, Lenny learned harmonic from Chet,,then lather Chet learned from Lenny.

The book "one long tune" Ron Forbes-Roberts do not have high taughts abouth this album, the last sessions and cabin fever. He points outh that Lenny's playing is aimless, and he was not in good shape, focused, and not at all at his best on these albums. Most of the tunes falls apart, and so on.
Well that may be so, buth I still love these albums. Maby these things just ad to the passion that you can hear on mannư of the tunes?

So wat are the best Lenny Breau cd's??

For the last 8-9 months I have bean lissening to Lenny Breau every day...
I would say that this is one of the Most essential of the Lenny Breau cd's
along with "The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau"


But there are especially 2 other Lenny Breau cd`s that stand outh

Cabin fever,,,wich is one the most beautiful and honest guitar album I have ever heard,,
And there is "live at bourbon st" the most increddible and beutiful eletrich guitar work you are likely to ever hear..

Other must have are "the complete living romm tapes", and svvingin` on a Seven String

So what do you do? Take the risk?

well I'm glad I discovered the genius of Lenny Breau...to me,,,,the greatest guitar player ever.

There is little one can say to over emphasize just how amazing a guitarist Lenny was. Even the tentative singing does little to dispell the magic contained on these two discs. It's all here; the multiple lines played simultaneously, the mind blowing "harp harmonics", and the fleet flowing bebop lines that could send any great sax player running for cover. It's almost a one man bebop band on "Ebony Queen/Pam's Pad", and he glides effortlessly through complex tunes like "Days Of Wine And Roses" and "Autumn Leaves". Anyone can enjoy this collection for the great music it contains. If you are a guitar player, prepare to feel small.

The maximum is 5 stars? Give it 10! 20! Lenny Breau does it all. Master of the guitar, on this CD, he shows all of his influences: flamenco, modern jazz, C and W, blues. My personal favorite is Little Blues, but every track is spectacular. Even the two tracks on which he sings are great -- he was a fine composer. With his untimely death, the guitar world lost one of its brightest stars.

I've listened to Lenny Breau: 5 O'clock bells and Mo' Breau. Music on the CD is a very nicely recorded solo studio session that seems to be unedited. When you listen to this work, you will experience an unexpressable warmth and truth. The work and art on this CD will do something to you, and make you little different from the way you were before you experienced it.

You can tell a human made this music. There is spontaneity and joy in this CD. It is a gift and a treasure. Lenny's work on this CD will take you on a voyage.

Mine certainly is, as I listen to Lenny Breau, put raw emotion, so far above technique in his truly beautiful version of My Funny Valentine, particularly in the opening phrases. Anyone who has the great fortune to have been made aware of Lenny knows that with Lenny, technique is more of a given, than it is with perhaps any other guitarist, ney musician, period. To me his true beauty, is the way he managed, to avoid being trapped by his technique. Instead he harnessed it to it's real end, the method by which he could express and share his deep emotional palette.
Let us look at the time frame that he recorded these astonishing performances. Wes, like Django, was long gone. Tal having left the sign paintbrush behind and Kessel, now forgotten by the Poles, were toiling in the MOR jazz produced by Concord, along with Ellis, Byrd and Almeida. Bonfa back in obscurity in Brazil. Grant Green like Lenny racked by heroin, was racing towards his own early demise. The under appreciated George Barnes enjoying what he thought would be a long semiretirement in Concord, would be gone by the time the 2nd of these albums was released. Bucky, Van Eps and Burrell , were all still out there, but sadly too few were paying attention. George Benson was literally giving birth to what would become the dreaded "smooth Jazz". The "jazz" airwaves, limited as they were at the time, were for the most part dedicated to the fusion guitarists Dimeola (fresh from RTF), McLaughlin, Jeff Beck (with Jan Hammer) and Santana (with McLaughlin) who were both (Beck and Santana) really just dabbling in jazz. Steely Dan was being passed off as Jazz around this time.
All that left was the lonely figure of Joe Pass. He remained the only serious Jazz guitar player, getting any real attention at the time. Much as I love Pass's playing, he could swing, had technique to spare, was very tasteful as soloist or accompanist, he rarely moved my emotions and his playing never seemed revelatory of his own emotions.
That makes it all the more amazing that here we had Lenny Breau, with all of the best musical characteristics of most of the greats listed above. He added his truly deep love for and in depth knowledge of flamenco, C&W's best and his own new, elaborate and eloquent extensions of Tal's harmonics concepts. Yet he managed to somehow soar (and he certainly did) under the radar, with these brilliant efforts.

If you have not heard these recordings or Lenny yet, this is a great place to start. Some may have argued, that he was not in the best shape when he recorded these, it is not apparent in the performances.

Five stars are tossed around so much that they have lost any real meaning. These are truly the types of performances 5 stars were really meant for and should be reserved for.

Wait no longer...

BUY THESE NOW !!! THEY ARE A STEAL AT THIS, OR ANY PRICE !!!!

I had both of these albums in 80's and missed them a great deal.To get them both back and for this price is incredible.These are my personal favorites of Lenny's because they are all solo tunes,really show his abilitys with harmonics and include his own material.If you want lenny and only lenny,you need these two.

My personal introduction to Lenny Breau was through this album after seeing the video biography, "The Genius of Lenny Breau".

This is a fantastic 2 album set with some great improv. It's neet to hear him mix in so many different styles / influences. I also reccomend the album, "Last Sessions" - same type of feel between the two albums.

This coming from a guy who's not big on Jazz. And as Frank Zappa once said, "Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny..."

But I really appreciate and enjoy what Lenny has done for the art of Guitar Playing. Any album of his is great. This just happens to be one of the albums that I like the most.

The kind of playing that makes you want to quit playing guitar altogether... beware. If you like this check out
robert-taylor.ca another canadian guitarist deserving of your attention.