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Lenny Breau (August 5, 1941–August 12, 1984) was a brilliantly innovative American-born Canadian jazz guitarist who brought together country, classical, flamenco and jazz guitar techniques. Breau developed a great deal of technical ability; inspired by country guitarists like Chet Atkins, Breau used a fingerstyle not often used in Jazz guitar. Largely unknown in popular music, he is known today as a musician's musician.
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[edit] Biography
Breau was born August 5, 1941, in Auburn, Maine. His francophone parents, Hal "Lone Pine" Breau and Betty Cody (nee Coté), were professional country and western musicians who performed and recorded from the end of the Second World War until the late 1950s. Their son began playing guitar at the age of eight, and by the age of twelve he was the lead guitarist for his parents' band, billed as "Lone Pine Junior", playing Merle Travis and Chet Atkins instrumentals and occasionally singing. Breau made his first professional recording in Maine at the age of 15, appropriately titled Boy Wonder.
The Breau family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1957, and their new band travelled and performed around the city and province as the CKY Caravan. Their shows were broadcast live on Winnipeg's CKY on Saturday mornings from various remote locations. One of their regular listeners was Randy Bachman, who was sixteen years of age at the time. On one occasion Bachman bicycled to a Caravan performance in his West Kildonan neighborhood and ended up meeting Breau. Breau and Bachman soon became friends, and Breau informally began teaching Bachman, who has since described those lessons as "...the beginning of my life as a guitar player."
Around 1959 Lenny Breau left his parents' band and sought out local jazz musicians, performing at Winnipeg venues including "Rando Manor" and the "Stage Door". He met pianist Bob Erlendson, who began teaching him more of the foundations of jazz. In 1961 Breau left for Toronto and soon created the jazz group Three with singer/actor Don Francks and Don Henstridge on acoustic bass.
Three performed in Toronto, Ottawa, and New York City. Their music was featured in the 1962 National Film Board documentary Toronto Jazz, and they recorded a live album at a New York jazz club and appeared on US network television on the Jackie Gleason and Joey Bishop shows. Returning to Winnipeg, Breau became a regular session guitarist recording for CBC Radio and CBC Television, and contributed to CBC-TV's Teenbeat, Music Hop, and his own Lenny Breau Show. To many Canadians, Breau's jazz is still an evocative memory of the sound of CBC in the sixties.
Lenny had continual drug problems until his death. On August 12, 1984 Lenny's body was found in a swimming pool at his apartment complex in Los Angeles, California. The coroner reported that he had been strangled, and his murder is still unsolved.
A documentary entitled The Genius Of Lenny Breau was produced in 1999 by Lenny's daughter Emily Hughes. It includes interviews with Chet Atkins, Ted Greene, Pat Metheny, George Benson, Leonard Cohen, Randy Bachman and Lenny's family members.
[edit] Recordings
Lenny Breau had made numerous appearances and recordings throughout his short life.
[edit] Quotations
- "The sound of silence is intense."
- "It's got words to it...but it's more of an instrumental - with lyrics." from the song Five O'Clock Bells.
