Lenny Breau, I don’t know that you will hear a better guitar player than Lenny.
The late Lenny Breau was an uncrowned king of jazz fingerstyle guitar. A relatively unknown voice on the instrument, he startled newcomers to his music by his ability to comp chords behind himself sounding like two guitarists, ring out lengthy bell-like harmonic passages, tastefully blend his influences of country, jazz and flamenco and fluidly improvise in this style. On August 12, 1984, he was found dead in a Los Angeles swimming pool. An autopsy revealed that he had been strangled in an unsolved murder that shocked those that knew this gentle, warm man. His friend and musical mentor Chet Atkins laments, “Lenny was one of the great little individuals and characters that’s ever been in this world. Everybody loved him so much. Except the person who strangled him. I guess.” Sadly, after a career of ups and mostly downs, Breau was just gaining greatly deserved respect and recognition, at least among guitar players. He leaves behind a representative but not easily found sampling of his music that is worth the search.
Brawner Smoot
“The Hallmark Sessions”, recorded at Hallmark Studios in Toronto, Canada on November 28, 1961, were recorded when Lenny Breau was only twenty years old. This is Lenny’s first professionally recorded Jazz session and, until now, has never been released. The original analog reel-to-reel master tapes have been in the possession of Lenny’s former manager, George B. Sukornyk, for over forty years. In addition to several Jazz standards such as: It Could Happen To You and I’ll Remember April, Lenny also performs several solo Flamenco and Country & Western pieces, as well as four previously unheard original compositions. Lenny recorded seven tracks with acoustic bassist Rick Danko and drummer Levon Helm, as well as six solo guitar pieces at Hallmark Studios. In addition to the trio and solo tracks, there are also six bonus tracks that contain the Stereo versions of the trio pieces. All tracks have been professionally mastered using 24-bit digital technology.
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Tags: Chet Atkins, Guitar, king of jazz, lenny breau, Music
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