New York’s jazz club The Iridium brought out their first release – Les Paul Trio and Friends: A Jazz Tribute to Les, dedicated to guitarist Les Paul.
The album consists of the repertoire he has played with his trio at Iridium every Monday from 1996 to 2009 in a program called “Les Paul Mondays”. After his death, his trio, guitarist Lou Pallo, bassist Nicky Parrot and pianist John Colliani continued performing Mondays at Iridium paying tribute to this extraordinary guitar player by featuring guest guitarists.
The CD is filled with trio material performing with guests like guitarist and composer Nelson Cline, guirarists Stanley Jordan and Bucky Pizzarelli and singer Jane Monheit.
The Iridium started a record label for audiophiles, concentrating their effort on recording all their material on technicaly advanced equipment the club uses for HD audio/video broadcasts of concerts on Facebook and their website.
Club Iridium stands for jazz in New York. The Wall Street Journal described it as “the small club that welcomes millions” and Guitar World gave them a title “the city’s – if not the country’s – new home of the guitar”.
Known as Les Paul, Lester William Polfus was an American musician, composer and inventor. He invented the electric guitar Gibson Les Paul that made rock’n’roll possible, and he was among pioneers who used overdubbing, delay and phasing effects.
He sold millions of records he has recorded with his wife during the 50ies. His work was a major influence to guitarists like Chuck Barry, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Brian May, Paul McCartney…