Rock’s Scientist Gets a Fittingly Small Tribute
By TAMMY LA GORCE
MAHWAH, N.J.
THE way that Les Paul’s possessions wound up in a tiny local museum a few miles from his sprawling house makes sense in its own way, according to some who knew him.
“Les had an idea of how to handle people, and what he liked was a small, intimate room,” said Lou Pallo, a longtime member of the Les Paul Trio, the guitarist and inventor’s band. “He didn’t like it when people were so far away he couldn’t touch them.”
Before his death in 2009 at age 94, Mr. Paul decided to allow the Mahwah Museum, which has about 1,000 square feet of display space, to present the first exhibition of many of his artifacts, a decision that reflected his preference for small audiences. “This is absolutely how he would have wanted people to see this stuff,” Mr. Pallo, 77, of Wanaque, said.
The exhibition, “Les Paul: A Tribute,” which opened in September, will run until June 30, according to Charles Carreras, the museum’s vice president and the chairman of the exhibition; some of the objects will remain permanently, he said.
Nearly 800 visitors had come through as of early January, Mr. Carreras, 70, of Mahwah, said. The museum usually gets “very small numbers,” he said.
“And part of the beauty of this exhibit is that it appeals to people of all ages, including younger people,” he added. “It’s a whole different audience for us.”
Mr. Carreras met with Mr. Paul, who lived in Mahwah for more than 50 years, several times in 2008 and 2009 to discuss a future exhibition. Mr. Paul had approached the museum with the idea for such a project, but he died before the details of what would eventually be displayed were settled.
Plans for the exhibition finally came together in 2010, when Jim Wysocki, a local friend to whom Mr. Paul had given several artifacts, offered to let the Mahwah Museum house the objects as a permanent loan, Mr. Carreras said. A private collector of Les Paul memorabilia from Westchester County also contributed pieces, and some items, like a section of the elaborately hand-carved wooden wall from Mr. Paul’s home studio, were obtained courtesy of the Les Paul Foundation, based in Manhattan. Gibson Guitar, based in Nashville, also lent three guitars and helped with promotion.
One highlight of the exhibition is the eight-track multitrack recorder that Mr. Paul invented in 1956, which changed the music industry. The exhibition also includes a 1940s-era lathe that allowed Mr. Paul to layer sounds on his recordings; the machine resembles a magnifying glass attached to a flywheel on one side and an upside-down cookie jar on the other.
Younger visitors have been attracted by the famous names incorporated into the display by Tetsu Amagasu, the design chairman for the museum’s exhibitions, including this one, Mr. Carreras said.
“A lot of times people won’t remember Les Paul and his radio show like I do,” Mr. Carreras said, referring to the early 1950s NBC program named for Mr. Paul, who played jazz guitar into his 90s and was a celebrated country and rock guitarist. “But they do know who Keith Richards and Paul McCartney are.” Mr. Richards and Mr. McCartney both played guitars that Mr. Paul had a hand in designing for Gibson, and they were also musically indebted to Mr. Paul, as noted on a wall of testimonials pinned alongside photos of rock stars at the exhibition.
The photos and quotes form the backdrop for a stage set with gleaming guitars, among them a 1953 model designed by Mr. Paul and produced by Gibson that is the exhibition’s oldest. (The show also contains one of his solid-body “logs,” a watershed instrument for pioneering rock-’n’-rollers made by Mr. Paul around 1941.) Three video kiosks show vintage clips including Mr. Paul and his second wife, Mary Ford, performing their mid-1950s TV show, “The Les Paul and Mary Ford Show,” from Mahwah.
Mr. Pallo, who carries on a tradition started by Mr. Paul by playing weekly at the Iridium jazz club in Manhattan, will give a gallery talk on Jan. 24. Another gallery talk by the jazz artists Bucky Pizzarelli, a longtime friend of Mr. Paul’s, and Ed Laub is set for Feb. 7; both evenings are limited to 25 attendees and cost $15.
Perhaps the ultimate in interactivity, though, is a continuing series of “guitar nights” the museum has set up. There are about a dozen guitars in the exhibition, and $25 buys 45 minutes of play on any of them except two whose lenders’ guidelines preclude it. The playable ones include signature Jimmy Page, Peter Frampton and Billie Joe Armstrong models, as well as several that were taken from Mr. Paul’s home.
“People are coming from all over for this,” Mr. Carreras said. Four guitar nights have already been held, with four more sold out. But the museum has scheduled about a dozen additional guitar nights from March through June.
“What happens is you bring in your family or friends, a couple of people, and you sit down and play for your audience right here in the museum,” Mr. Carreras said. Guitar players, mostly men so far — only two women have signed up to date — “really think this is great,” he said.
Mr. Paul might have thought it was great, too, Mr. Pallo said: “As much as Les was a genius and an inventor, he loved people. He would have loved watching people sit down and play those guitars.”
“Les Paul: A Tribute” is at the Mahwah Museum, 201 Franklin Turnpike, Mahwah, through June 30; (201) 512-0099 or mahwahmuseum.org; open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m.
