Customer Reviews

One Long Tune: The Life and Music of Lenny Breau

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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!)

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.

I'm a huge fan of jazz and jazz guitar but never really understood what the big deal was about Lenny Breau. I'd heard two of his albums back in the 90's and wasn't at all impressed. Then a friend gave me this book and I was just mesmerized from the first page. Breau's childhood was fascinating and the description of the world he and his parents-both pro country musicians--lived and performed in is an incredible tale in itself. Breau came up in a world of smoky, nocturnal jazz clubs in late fifties/sixties Canada and Forbes-Roberts' portrayal of that world is amazing.
But the really amazing story here is the life of Breau himself and his struggle to stay with his music through some very difficult times. Forbes-Roberts doesn't leave anything out. It's alternately beautiful and disturbing but without sentimentality and sensationalistic nonsense.
Also, the author does extensive analysis of Breau's style and his recordings. He totally disses the two albums (Last Sessions and Cabin Fever) I heard which made me track down some of his other stuff. After hearing these CDs, I went from being pretty cold on him to being one of his greatest fans.
If you have the slightest interest in Breau, jazz guitar, jazz, music in general, the plight of the true artist in a world of mediocre superstars, or just a great story, you have to read this book.

I play in a trio with Denny Breau. We are the Denny Breau trio and have been playing together for about three years now. I have had the pleasure of meeting and playing with Betty Cote. I also know Denny's brothers and his children and a number of his relatives. I have just finished this book and it is the real deal. Denny in particular, who is an amazing guitar player and song writer in his own right, is proud of this book and very proud of his brother. I have had the pleasure of hearing a lot of stories about Lenny first hand and this book nails it right on the head. There is some serious research into this book and some of the stories surprised me and brother Denny as well. Lenny Breau is by far one of the greatest. You should check out his little brother!

Lenny Breau was an amazing character and a genius of the guitar.
This well researched book sheds light for the first time on many of the subtler aspects of Lenny's family origins and his musical development, his downfall due to drugs, his comeback, and his tragic murder.
Deciphering and understanding the person that was behind all that amazing music is a fascinating journey - and this book can take you on that journey.

This is one of the most well written, thorough, and well researched biographies I've ever read. I couldn't be more pleased since Lenny is one of my favorite musicians. Mr. Forbes-Roberts also writes with the authority of a musician and a guitarist himself, which gives him great additional insight into Lenny's music and guitar playing. I'm a guitarist myself (as I'm sure the majority of readers of this book will be), and was extremely pleased with all the "guitar nerd" information included, including a thorough history of the different instruments Lenny owned and played, and something I've been curious about for a long time, his use of alternate tunings on 12 string guitar. I can't imagine, though, that a non-musician would be be put off by the technical jargon. The musical and guitaristic explanations are told in straightforward language, and don't form anywhere close to the majority of the content of the book.

The most compelling thing about Lenny, of course, is the fascinating story of the man himself, and Mr.Forbes-Roberts also gives us a deeply personal and moving insight into not only Lenny's heart rending troubles, but also his deep, soulful genius, his playful sense of creativity, and his kind, loving nature.

I found this biography complete, insightful, in-depth, rich, and haunting. I read it and can't get Lenny out of my head. Another troubled guitarist who died too soon? Yes and no. Lenny was and still is almost completely unique as a guitar player. As a person he was typical of many drug and alcohol abusers and addicts.

Many passages of his sadder choices remind me of my life as a young guitar player/addict, and the friends and family I have lost to drugs and "domestic dysfunction," to put it politely. I felt my griefs and regrets again after finishing this book the other night. But I thank God/The Powers That Be that I made different choices and haven't been lost like that for over 15 years.

The descriptions of his music are fantastic, with critical but accurate reviews of his playing on his relatively few albums. I met the man once in 1978-79 at a guitar class taught by John Pisano at Los Angeles Valley College. I was probably in almost as bad shape as Lenny was back then. I wish he could have had a way out of his last, worst relationship, and survived. I miss him and still try to look for those players who knew him, picked up guitar lessons from him, or cite him as an influence.

A great but sad biography of a magnificent original the like of whom I don't expect to ever see again.

I was intrigued about Lenny Breau from the moments I heard high praise & extraordinary rumors from a Berklee alumnus years ago. Really quite soon after that I got to hear stories for literally hours about the man & his playing & social interactions & life from a more direct source. It's weird that an artist could have such legend built up about them deservedly & yet their recordings be so hard to procure, & documentation of their story be so scant. Since those days, many of his albums have been re-released, & his daughter Emily helped put together a terrific video documentary of his life (The Genius of Lenny Breau), & experiencing these I've frankly had my life changed by Lenny--his has become one of the spirits enlightening my cosmic journey. At least as significant as the video is Ron's new book! I'd long anticipated it it's everything I'd hoped a biography on Lenny Breau would be. I can't really communicate how valuable the story behind the music is to a fellow artist deeply inspired, but I can say this book gives the story! It's superb in its thoroughness of research & yet it's editing, organization & the pacing of its delivery make it just as entertaining as it is informative. I recommend it highly to anyone curious about Breau! Thank you, Ron!

Lenny Breau is one of my favorite guitarists, but I didn't know much about him until I read "One Long Tune". It's well researched both in the musical content & the the life of the subject. Lenny always seemed to swim against the current created by society by staying afloat his guitar to play another day. A pity he is not better known to the public, but this enjoyable book will help to spread his legacy. I know of no American guitarist who could play Jazz, Flamenco, or Western Swing better than he did. "One Long Tune" will appeal to both the Jazz aficianado & the finished musician. Also a great discography showing his total recorded output & which albums are extant. For guitar lovers this book is a must to have.