Customer Reviews

Les Paul - Chasing Sound

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I saw this documentary last night on TV and would recommend it to anyone who appreciates music, history, inventors, musicians, electronics. It is one of the best things I have ever seen on television. Buy it - you will not be disappointed.

I too, like many other reviewers, saw this program on PBS. Outstanding! I was glued to the set. Seeing how Les Paul evolved; inventing and creating trends of sound for and with the likes of other great artists, is just amazing. Truly an American icon, one of our nations greatest ambassador to music. Not just every guitarist should want to watch this dvd, every musician, artist, oh heck, everyone should watch this. It's a great look at early radio, electronics, jazz, American culture and history. It provides a great window into the past to witness this man's contribution to music. A must have documentary for music lovers.

Anyone who listens to recorded music owes a nod to this man. Any musician who performs professionally, owes their sound in part to this man.
In this documentary, you see and hear from Les about career, his inventions and life from the early to now. You hear him tell his side of the story in his work with music greats, the people he performed with, where he learned his chops and cut his teeth. Then you'll see and hear from respected industry pro's he impacted and see the effect of his recordings and his 'sound' upon those who are well known household names and those behind the scenes. This is Les Paul's life throughout the ages, from young inventor, to well respected jazz guitarist, to serviceman, to band leader, all throughout his career, retirement and comebacks. It shows takes from early clips and photos, the TV shows, previous anniversaries and dedication events. Happy Birthday Les and thank you. You are the real life Thomas Edison and Indiana Jones of Music.

Koch Vision present "CHASING SOUND" (2007) (120 mins/Color) (Dolby Digital) --- Les Paul (born Lester William Polsfuss on June 9, 1915) is an American jazz guitarist and inventor --- He is one of the most important figures in the development of modern electric musical instruments and recording techniques --- He is a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar (the Gibson Les Paul, which he helped design, is one of the most famous and enduring models), multitrack recording, and various reverberation and echo effects.

He is the Godfather of the electric guitar ... Inventor of multi-track recording, overdubbing, reverb, and echo --- Music as we know it would literally not be possible without the recording processes he pioneered --- His virtuosic playing, and the mythical Gibson electric guitar that bears his name, inspired the legends of the rock & roll revolution --- Waukesha, Wisconsin Hometown Hero ... Jazz Pioneer ...1950's Pop Superstar ... Guitar Wizard ... Inventor ... Architect of Rock & Roll ... American Original ... that's just the first 90 years! --- Strap in for a ride with this larger-than-life rascal - still playing every Monday night at a joint in Manhattan - as he tells his own rags-to riches story, joined by a cast of legendary musicians, admirers, and industry insiders.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
1. Full-length performances from the Iridium Jazz Club with Les Paul and His Trio.
2. Vintage duets with Keith Richards, Kay Starr, Merle Haggard and Chet Atkins.
3. Interviews with B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Tony Bennett, Jeff Beck, Merle Haggard, Steve Miller and many more.
4. Classic TV appearances (Les Paul and Mary Ford at Home, Omnibus and more)
5. Extended conversations with Les Paul.
6. Photo Gallery

Great job by Koch Vision for releasing "Chasing Sound" with Les Paul in the forefront, the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print ---.looking forward to more high quality releases --- order your copy now from Amazon or Koch Vision where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch musical entertainment --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 120 mins on DVD ~ Koch Vision KOCV6432 ~ (8/14/2007)

After that ridiculous tribute that seemed more like a "cover-up"--"American Made/ World Played"--I was beginning to suspect the 90-year-old (now 92) legend was all illusion, more Wizard of Oz than Wizard of Waukesha. Rest assured that Les is no, not yet at least, mere icon or totem. Far from a barely preserved specimen wheeled out on stage in a rocker, he maintains his balance on a precarious stool and serves as ringmaster for the Monday night festivities at the Iridium. Of course, he's surrounded by and partly carried by some ace New York musicians, who enable Les to bask, deservedly, in the spotlight and evade anything resembling breakneck virtuosity on the instrument.

This is a five-star DVD for the 90-minute PBS history alone--OR for the 90 minutes worth of extras, such as the Iridium set. Add the two together, factor in the bargain price, and this disc is nothing less than 180 minutes of indispensable, must viewing. The audio fidelity and production values are first rate, whether the music is vintage Lester or his more recent musical activities which, for the most part, have gone unrecorded for the past 30 years. The extras include "honest" musical exchanges with Keith Richards and a rare opportunity to see and hear a latter-day Kay Starr, no worse for wear than Les, singing "Exactly Like You." Then there's Merle Haggard and Les doing "Pennies from Heaven," both of them practically honoring the tune's simple melody. And a delightful duet on "Avalon" with Chet Atkins circa 1990 (The secret's out. The supposedly "intuitive" musician Les knows keys! Rather than holding down one finger to signal one flat, he mouths "F" to the piano player for his solo turn).

One can only hope that some of the guitarists on the "American Made/World Played" CD will discover this DVD and subsequently go to some of the pre-1948 Les Paul recordings. He may not have been a harmonic-melodic genius, but he was a superb technician and tasteful musician in the Django tradition. His early trio recordings are 2-3 minute masterpieces, and as the featured jazz guitarist to appear at the first Jazz at the Philharmonic in 1944, he and fellow headliner Nat King Cole managed to bring down the house, whether on up-tempo blues or the challenging but always welcome (in fact, the most-recorded pop standard of all time) "Body and Soul."

This DVD is such a joyous celebration of Les Paul and his life, his influence on the recording industry and his influence on musicians, that for a reviewer, especially a novice one like myself, with so many positives aspects to discuss about this DVD, it would probably be best if I just said, "Buy it."

But, I can't... because there just aren't that many quality biographical DVD's out there that have no flaws.

In "Les Paul Chasing Sound," you have the life of guitarist extraordinaire Les Paul and his amazing story of taking his guitar talents first to Chicago, and all its jazz clubs, then to New York City, and finally to Hollywood. As he takes this journey, he shares with the viewer the reasons for his choices, and how each one built upon another. The editing is superb, with the director choosing clarity for the viewer over continuity, as pieces of interviews conducted in several environments are interwoven to give the viewer an excellent, well thought-out story.

Then, there is the story of Les Paul the inventor, as he recounts the set-backs he encountered in developing a solid core electric guitar, first for Epiphone, then Gibson. It was only after Leo Fender developed the Fender Strat in the early 1950's did Gibson come a calling for Les to show them what his solid body guitar do for them. It is disputed between McGinty of Gibson and Les Paul as to Paul's actual involvement in the process, but there is not doubt that having the name "Les Paul" on the head stock didn't hurt sales any.

The story isn't always a happy one, the automobile accident on a snowy road broke his right arm so badly that the doctor wanted to cut-it-off; however, another doctor said, "This man is an amazing musician. We cannot end his musical career that way." So, it was decided to set his arm in such as way to allow him to continue to play the guitar.

The late 40's and early to mid-50's were glorious times for Les Paul and his wife Mary Ford (original name Colleen Summers, but renamed by Les so that her name would be short in length, like his, and it would fit better on the billboards), as they had Top-Ten hit after hit. Then, Rock-and-Roll came and his music fell out of favor.

I could go on-and-on about the program, but I won't, why should I tell you everything, but what I will tell you is that this DVD is worth its price just for the extras: the clips of Les playing with Keith Richards, Chet Atkins, Kay Starr, et. al., the full-length performances of him and the Les Paul Trio playing at he Iridium Jazz Club in New York City, clips from TV appearances, and extended conversations featured in the movie that you can view easier as an extra to the DVD.

Finally, there's one other reason music lovers and musicians, guitarist or otherwise, should buy and listen to this DVD on Les Paul, there is the exuberance that Les Paul, at 90 years young, still shows for life.

I entitled this review "A Joyous Celebration of Sounds Caught and Thrown Back to Others," because, to me, Les Paul took and developed those recording sounds we take for granted today... sound-on-sound, sound with sound, echo, over-dubbing, and he, like one of those fishermen on a TV fishing show does when he catches a 10 pound bass, throws those concepts back so that others can learn them and make better recordings.

This DVD is a celebration, it is a joy to watch, and it gives us so much insight into Les Paul, the evolution of music, especially jazz, in the mid-1900's.

Les Paul is an icon to all us guitar players.... As such, it's really difficult to construct an adequate description of him..... He has given so much to the music world and, in turn, to the world at large in his nearly 100 years on this planet.... His contribution is pretty astounding.

From his original concept of "sound on sound" recording and the first true solid body guitar to his succesful efforts to obtain Django Reinhardt's rightful recording royalties to Django's widow, Naguine.... Les Paul's legacy is literally chasing him down....

This DVD is a must for anyone who has ever had even the slightest brush with the genius of Les Paul. In my house, his recordings with Chet Atkins called "Chester and Lester" rank right up there with the family Bible and the invention of hair in degrees of importance.... Along with all of my beautiful Les Paul guitars of course...

If you love popular music, Les Paul has had an influence on you, perhaps without you even knowing it......

Buy this DVD........ It bloody well rules.....!! I don't even have a DVD player and it still plays...THAT's how good it is.......

I love the scene with Eddie Van Halen blushing and kissing Les on the cheek onstage.... It kinda helps put it all into perspective.... All of us career musicians of the last 50+ years owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Les and his genius.........

Plus you get to see Django Reinhardt's own Selmer Maccaferri guitar...

How cool is that.....?

Timothy A. Di Pietro
Certified Django Reinhardt Junkie

Ever so briefly. I do not know if or when Les Paul has ever been accorded with a more deserving or similar accolade than the tele-documentary "Les Paul: Chasing Sound." I just saw the show on PBS/OBP (Oregon's Public Broadcasting "affiliate" if you will - this state may be lovely, but do they have to "pretend" they invented or own the concept of Public Broadcasting? - I THINK NOT!).

Les Paul IS, without any question, the Greatest Musical Creator. And not just (an obviously bleached out blonde) Richard Carpenter, but anyone who claims to love or have a clue about guitars, music, harmonics, arrangements should be in his (as well as Mary Ford)'s debt.

In this age of techno-this & automated-that, nothing will ever compare with his (or their) unsung contributions! LONG LIVE LES PAUL! And Mary Ford!

I came across the PBS special by chance and watched the entire thing with glued interest....it was truly amazing to see how Paul basically created teh modern era of music...i had no idea of his true impact.....i had simply always heard about his great guitars....the story of Les Paul truly teaches one to never, ever, ever stop trying to attain your goals.....go buy it now.

I've been a Les Paul fan for many years, and even have a 78 of his Les Paul Trio. The video "Chasing Sound" is an excellent biography of a legendary man, musician, and inventor. From his childhood, to the present day, this dvd tells his story in his own voice. Talking about Mary Ford and their meeting is a bonus as well. It doesn't disappoint the old fans and will introduce new ones. Live on Les Paul!.