Hi, I'm Marc from JazzGuitarLessons.net and you're listening to Album Deep Dives.
Let's start this episode with one of my favourite quotes about one of the most impressive guitarists in history, our man Lenny Breau.
This is what Carol Kaye, one of Lenny’s friends, and an astounding bass player, said regarding the night when The Velvet Touch album was recorded live at Shelly’s Manne Hole:
If you had dropped a bomb on the place that night you'd have wiped out all the guitar players in the world. They were all down there, from Howard Roberts to George Van Eps to Joe Pass... He conquered Hollywood because we all loved him as a player and we loved him as a person.
Lenny Breau was an amazing Canadian guitarist and is widely considered one of the most innovative guitar players in jazz history. Once you hear him play, you’ll realize it’s not even an exaggeration.
Unfortunately, Breau is one of those tragic figures that not a lot of people outside the jazz guitar world know about.
He had a tortuous addiction to alcohol and drugs, and this had a big impact on his personal life and his music. Sadly, he died mysteriously at the very young age of 43.
[Music Clip: “Tuning Time” 00:10 – 1:05]
The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau is an album that was recorded during three nights in April 1969 in LA under the RCA label.
What we just heard is both a simple joke Lenny cracked to break the ice at the beginning of the set and one of the best examples of why he is considered such an innovative guitarist.
Throughout his short life, Breau did a lot of exploration on many different genres and techniques and extended the boundaries of what the guitar as an instrument could do.
His use of harmonics, for example, makes the instrument sing in such a delicate way that it almost reminds us of bells or chimes—and keep in mind, Lenny was only tuning his guitar in the example we just heard!
So the recording we’re exploring in this episode had the fortune of capturing Lenny’s playing, not only at his best technically, but also painting an accurate picture of his curiosity, explorations, and innovations as an outstanding musician.
[Music Clip: “No Greater Love” 04:35 – 05:05]
“No Greater Love” which is the first tune of the album here, is coincidentally the first tune the trio played on each night of the recording. It is said to have served as a warm-up to get into the musical mood of the night.
In this particular version now, we can hear the vast range of emotions that Lenny was capable of transmitting through his instrument.
He masterfully plays the melody and accompanies himself with lush chords that reminds us of Bill Evans.
As well as he is improvising in chordal style, highlighting the melodic richness of the tune, and Lenny also goes into fast and frantic lines that not only show his mastery of the guitar and bebop language, but also fills the atmosphere with almost childlike energy and excitement.
[Music Clip: “The Claw” 00:00 – 00:20]
In the next track, the trio performs Jerry Reed’s “The Claw”, this is where we can hear yet another facet of Lenny’s musicianship.
He used a nylon string guitar on that track, this is a famous country jazz tune, by the way, and his mastery of this technique makes perfect sense, of course, as he was the son of two professional country players: Harold Breau and Betty Cody.
Lenny used to play together with his parents at their shows from a very early age, and this gave him a deep love and understanding of country music that we can all clearly appreciate here.
[Music Clip: “Indian Reflections for Ravi” 01:25 – 01:55]
Now, if you thought that country and jazz were the only influences of Lenny, you couldn’t be further from the truth.
Actually, this next tune is very interesting because it melts together the two worlds into one 12-string guitar.
Lenny said that this tune was the result of what he felt when he heard players like Ravi Shankar, who is the most famous exponent of Indian classical music, and a master of the sitar.
So listen here to Lenny making use of these extended techniques like:
Feedback
Hitting the body of the guitar
This is all to the effect of producing an otherworldly atmosphere that fits perfectly with the tune’s intention.
[Music Clip: “That’s All” 03:00 – 03:37]
The next track is a real treat. We hear Merle Travis’ clever lyrics on That’s All, and we get to hear Lenny singing and scatting.
This is particularly interesting when we take into consideration that Lenny once commented that his scatting was inspired by Miles Davis’ playing.
We can definitely hear that in his minimalistic approach and use of space in his solo.
It's also a treat to hear how well the trio interacts on this track. Listen to:
Lenny’s use of space while scatting
How the band quickly jumps into the feel change from swing to straight eighth notes at the end of Lenny’s solo
[Music Clip: “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” 03:30 – 04:00]
Now, the next track on this record is a version of “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”, the tune written for Cannonball Adderley by Joe Zawinul.
The song starts as it should, with a funky groove that slowly builds up as more instruments come in.
And then, the tune slowly starts to morph into a very different beast, as one would expect after listening to you know, the other tracks on this album.
Lenny slowly takes the song into a dark, foreign-sounding vamp that evaporates beautifully, culminating with droning guitar feedback before returning to the head of the song.
So the tune is a perfect example of what this entire record is about:
It’s about stretching the boundaries of what jazz standards can be.
[Music Clip: “A Taste of Honey” 02:48 – 03:13]
After listening to this entire album, we have a much clearer idea of just how unique and innovative Lenny’s playing was.
This album paints such a good picture of what Lenny was about because it contains samples of all his main influences blended with his own voice.
If you are interested in going deeper into Lenny’s world, I would suggest listening to his first major release, which is called “Guitar Sounds from Lenny Breau”.
Although his playing is a bit less organic on that album, it is still a great listen.
I would also encourage you to check out the players that were heavily influenced by Lenny.
For instance, amazing Canadian legends such as:
Ed Bickert
Lorne Lofsky
Reg Schwager
These musicians were heavily influenced by Lenny and are still taking his legacy to new horizons.
