One Long Tune: The Life and Music of Lenny Breau [Hardcover]

Ron Forbes-Roberts (Author), Gene Lees (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2006

"Mr. Guitar" Chet Atkins called Lenny Breau (1941-1984) "the greatest guitarist who ever walked the face of the earth." Breau began playing the instrument at age seven, and went on to master many styles, especially jazz. Between 1968 and 1983 he made a series of recordings that are among the most influential guitar albums of the century.

Breau's astonishing virtuosity influenced countless performers, but unfortunately it came at the expense of his personal relationships. Despite Breau's fascinating life story and his musical importance, no full-length biography has been published until now. Forbes-Roberts has interviewed more than 175 people and closely analyzed Breau's recordings to reveal an enormously gifted man and the inner workings of his music.

"Lenny Breau was, and will always be, a great treasure. We need him today more than ever."--Mundell Lowe, jazz guitarist

"In his brilliantly written and exhaustively researched biography, Forbes-Roberts gets to the essence of the creative process itself and the meaning of what it is to be an underappreciated genius."--Bill Milkowski, author of Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius

"[A] thorough and fascinating biography, which includes a discography and analysis of Breau's recordings."--Toronto Globe and Mail

"Forbes-Roberts does a credible job of depicting the variables that fostered Breau's total devotion to his instrument and subsequent descent into heroin addiction. Where Forbes-Roberts does his best work, though, is in his technical explanations of Breau's unique guitar system and his comprehensive critical analyses of the artist's recording sessions."--All About Jazz

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A thorough and fascinating biography, which includes a discography and analysis of Breau''s recordings.” --Toronto Globe and Mail

(> )

“Forbes-Roberts does a credible job of depicting the variables that fostered Breau’s total devotion to his instrument and subsequent descent into heroin addiction. Where Forbes-Roberts does his best work though, is in his technical explanations of Breau’s unique guitar system and his comprehensive critical analyses of the artist’s recording sessions.” --All About Jazz

(> )

“Forbes-Roberts walks the line between adulation and research, music nerd and general interest reporter, with aplomb, and most importantly delivers a very readable account of a personality most readers should find endearing (if heartbreaking), even if they’d never previously heard of Breau.”--Boston Phoenix

(> )

“The author has delivered a comprehensive, well-written book that evokes both sympathy and admiration for [Breau], with painstaking documentation of his technical approach.” --The Toronto Star

(> )

“Lenny Breau was, and will always be, a great treasure. We need him today more than ever.” --Mundell Lowe

(> )

“In his brilliantly written and exhaustively researched biography, Forbes-Roberts gets to the essence of the creative process itself and the meaning of what it is to be an underappreciated genius.” --Bill Milkowski, author of Jaco

(> )

From the Author

Ron Forbes-Roberts

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: University of North Texas Press (May 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574412108
• ISBN-13: 978-1574412109
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,562,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Last. A fantastic biography of the world's greatest guitarist!, May 11, 2006

By 

Bassman (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Long Tune: The Life and Music of Lenny Breau (Hardcover)

I knew Lenny Breau professionally and personally even before he made his first RCA album and have been a fan of his music all my life. I'd never read anything that really did him justice and honestly I didn't have high expectations for this biography. But I've read this fantastic biography twice and the author captures the real Lenny Breau beautifully on every page of this well researched and excellently written book. Roberts is obviously a schooled musician and a scholar of Lenny's music. I'm a professional jazz musician and have listened to Lenny for 40 years and this book reveals things about his playing that I'd missed or had never known. The detail in this book is amazing and the author creates a picture of Lenny in all his glory that is so true to life, its eerie.
I have only one small criticism. The pictures in the book are great but I would like to have seen more of them. But that's a minor point. This is the best biography on a musician I've ever read and anyone remotely interested in Lenny, jazz guitar or just a great story about a great artist who gave his whole life to his art needs to read this book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great New Lenny Breau Biography, May 16, 2006

By 

evita tee "evita tee" (vancouver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Long Tune: The Life and Music of Lenny Breau (Hardcover)

Was Lenny Breau really the greatest guitarist who ever walked the face of the earth, like Chet Atkins said? Maybe, maybe not, but he's my favorite guitarist and I really enjoyed this book about Lenny. The author balances the story of Lenny's life and the development of his music very well and offers lots of insights into both and gets totally inside of Lenny's head. There are many quotes and anecdotes from people he knew, sometimes whole paragraphs of friends talking about Lenny in a very intimate revealing way. I especially found the description of his childhood really moving-happy and sad at the same time. No wonder he had problems as an adult. His drug problem is well handled without being sensational and the writer has some real insights into his addiction and problems with alcohol and depression.
With all due respect to Joe Pass picker, I was SHOCKED by the ending of the book because I'd always heard that he either drowned while drunk or stoned, or was offed for a drug debt or something. Roberts did an amazing job of describing the incidents that led up to his death. True, there was no interview with his wife (who was a total monster!) but there are quotes from her where she does tell her side of the story. Roberts practically comes out and says who did it. The killer got off scott free but if there's anything that might push the cops to look into the case again, it would be reading this book, if it's accurate that is. It seems to be because there are quotes from the detectives who investigated the murder that back it up and there's some interesting stuff from other people who were involved and quotes from the coroners report.
Anyway, I read One Long Tune in one long sitting and I'll probably read it again soon.
One caveat though. In one part of the book especially there are some long descriptions of theory stuff that Lenny was into. I'm a bit of a musician and I found it interesting: most of it anyway. But if you don't know much about music, you might want to skim these parts. You wouldn't lose too much because there's lots of other really good stuff in this great book. Also, I agree that there should have been more pictures. (Loved the one of Lenny as a little baby in his nighty!)

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best, May 13, 2006

By 

R. Patrick Smith "Guitarist" (Coralville, IA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: One Long Tune: The Life and Music of Lenny Breau (Hardcover)

Lenny Breau was my favorite guitarist. I knew him breifly and I was interviewed by Ron for this book. I knew quite a bit of Lenny's story but this book filled in all the gaps. It is well written and I found it to be quite a page turner. I asked Ron why there weren't more pics and was told it had to do with the size of the book. Anyway, it is a terrific book and I am very happy it is here to tell the story of a wonderful guitarist.