# Lenny Breau



## epy33 (Mar 7, 2006)

How many of you have heard of Lenny Breau? My brother is really into his stuff, I find it interesting. Who else is into it? It's to bad he passed away he was a great guitarist.


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## Xanadu (Feb 3, 2006)

I've never heard of him, what kind of stuff did he play?


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## Lester B. Flat (Feb 21, 2006)

Yeah, Lenny was a monster. He just may have been the best guitar player _ever_. He could play stuff you would'nt think possible. He used to do this club gig in N.Y.C. and all the famous guitarists would show up to drool. Chet Atkins took him under his wing for a while. I heard an album of stuff he recorded when he was 14 or 15 and it's just amazing. He did'nt have the personality for fame and got messed up on drugs, but guitar players know who he is.
evilGuitar:


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## epy33 (Mar 7, 2006)

Xanadu said:


> I've never heard of him, what kind of stuff did he play?


He is a jazz guitar virtuoso. (thats saying something lol)


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

In the 60's he was considered one of the best guitarists in the world. If you can get your hands on any of the old recordings, prepare to be blown away.


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## epy33 (Mar 7, 2006)

i've got his cabin cd. which isn't the best recording but it is still some of the best guitar work i've ever heard. His other cd's are incredibly hard to find.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

I'm a huge LB fan. Got to meet him a few times too. He wasn't just the best guitar player I've ever heard, he was the best musician period. And a very sweet guy, despite, or because of his problems. A lot of his stuff is available on the net. I read recently that someone was writing a biography. There is also a fantastic documentary about him that you can get at Randy Bachman's site.
He was very eclectic, started out playing country, moved to jazz with afew stops along the way.


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## epy33 (Mar 7, 2006)

^^^my uncle's brother in law once jammed with him, thats where i heard the name from. I never knew he started off playing country. He was from the region though aparently.


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## drift_boat (Feb 2, 2006)

Randy Bachman tells in his bibligraphy how he used to go over to Lenny's place (in Winnipeg) and get a lesson. I am guessing but if you ever listen to the guitar solo in BTO's "Looking Out For Number 1"......you can hear some strong jazz infuence there.....presumbably a Breau influence.


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## Lester B. Flat (Feb 21, 2006)

Here's a link to find some of his recordings. I guess some previously unreleased stuff is now available including a session with Rick Danko and Levon Helm.

http://www.lennybreau.com/index.html


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## Tybone (Feb 12, 2006)

I think there was a very good (CBC?) documentary about Lenny. It had is daughter and mom in it as well as Uncle Chet (Atkins).


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Tybone said:


> I think there was a very good (CBC?) documentary about Lenny. It had is daughter and mom in it as well as Uncle Chet (Atkins).


I saw that. Amazing stuff. The guy was definitely a genius. I imagine SRV's "Lenny" was named after him.


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## faracaster (Mar 9, 2006)

Lester B. Flat said:


> Yeah, Lenny was a monster. He just may have been the best guitar player _ever_. He could play stuff you would'nt think possible. He used to do this club gig in N.Y.C. and all the famous guitarists would show up to drool. Chet Atkins took him under his wing for a while. I heard an album of stuff he recorded when he was 14 or 15 and it's just amazing. He did'nt have the personality for fame and got messed up on drugs, but guitar players know who he is.
> evilGuitar:




Geez...I'd say he was THE Monster. Just unbelievable. I saw him once at Bourbon Street in Toronto with Don Thompson. Absolutely jaw dropping and beautiful all at the same time. There is a CD of those shows that week. It was either 78' or 79'. There is also a great live one of him at Shelly's Mann Hole in NYC. I think it's called The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau. The album he did with Chet Atkins is a lot of fun too. It's called Standard Brands. If you ever get a chance to talk to Randy Bachman about Lenny, he is passionate about just how good he was. I think Randy has had something to do with the Cabin Fever release and maybe a couple of others. 

Pete


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

davetcan said:


> I saw that. Amazing stuff. The guy was definitely a genius. I imagine SRV's "Lenny" was named after him.


Actually, it was named after his wife, like the song of the same name.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

faracaster said:


> Geez...I'd say he was THE Monster. Just unbelievable. I saw him once at Bourbon Street in Toronto with Don Thompson. Absolutely jaw dropping and beautiful all at the same time. There is a CD of those shows that week. It was either 78' or 79'. There is also a great live one of him at Shelly's Mann Hole in NYC. I think it's called The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau. The album he did with Chet Atkins is a lot of fun too. It's called Standard Brands. If you ever get a chance to talk to Randy Bachman about Lenny, he is passionate about just how good he was. I think Randy has had something to do with the Cabin Fever release and maybe a couple of others.
> 
> Pete


Randy founded his label (gUITARCHIVES) specifically to keep Lenny's music alive.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

New biography;
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/AS...63648/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_0_1/702-8520343-8852042


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## Jaggery (Mar 12, 2006)

TVO showed that documentary a few times on the Masterworks series.
Very cool. I think they mention that even at a very advanced stage he used to practice like 8-10 hours a day.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

Jaggery said:


> TVO showed that documentary a few times on the Masterworks series.
> Very cool. I think they mention that even at a very advanced stage he used to practice like 8-10 hours a day.


Yeah, when he was ON heroin


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

drift_boat said:


> Randy Bachman tells in his bibligraphy how he used to go over to Lenny's place (in Winnipeg) and get a lesson. I am guessing but if you ever listen to the guitar solo in BTO's "Looking Out For Number 1"......you can hear some strong jazz infuence there.....presumbably a Breau influence.


I think it was on the Running Back To Saskatoon TV special (is it on DVD, too?) where Bachman talks about how one of the songs was basically put together with jazz "endings" that Bachman pieced together after one of the lessons from Breau. LB showed him a few endings and Bachman took those and the basic principal behind them and made an entire song. When he called LB and told him, Lenny said, in effect, "You can't do that!"

It might be "Looking Out For Number One", now that I thnk about it.


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## netoman (Aug 13, 2008)

Lenny Breau was amazing. All the big names admired this guy and everybody wonders why he didn't become more famous.... you can check out a little bit about Lenny Breau at http://www.great-guitar-players.com/Lenny_Breau.html and also his guitar influences  here


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

There's a CBC documentary called "The Genius of Lenny Breau" that is well worth checking out. 

Want to see the who's who of the guitar world gushing with praise?


He was amazing, almost a savante. People use the word genius far too liberally in my opinion. In Lenny's case it may be appropriate.


Search Lenny on Youtube.

Here's a cool one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9SvTtaQLC4&feature=related


And another
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXJ2UqWdQOI&feature=related


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

Good to see this thread revived. 
Lenny was indeed a genius, and a nice gentle guy as well. I had the great honour of meeting him on a few occasions.
I have a lovely note that he wrote me when I asked him to sign a sketch my father did of him, that is one of my most prized posessions.
A friend of mine has done a fantastic book of transcriptions of his tunes, but is having trouble finding a publisher.
RIP Lenny


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

He did, and got no response.


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