| Guitar Sounds from Lenny Breau | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Studio | RCA "Nashville Sound" Studio, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 47:44 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Producer | Chet Atkins, Danny Davis | |||
| Lenny Breau chronology | ||||
| ||||
Guitar Sounds from Lenny Breau is an album by Canadian jazz guitarist Lenny Breau that was released in 1968.
Breau befriended Chet Atkins, which resulted in Breau's first two albums for RCA. Atkins and Breau also collaborated on Standard Brands in 1981. Breau spent much time around Atkins's office in Nashville during and after these two RCA albums. They played clubs regularly. [1]
Atkins helped Breau get his first recording contract after hearing one of his studio tapes. Atkins stated in an interview for Frets magazine, "Paul Yandell first brought Lenny to my attention around 1966. I immediately knew that here was one of the great players of this world. He had taken some of my fragmentary ideas, and gone on and on into musical areas I had never dreamed of." [2]
The songs were recorded, accompanied by fellow Winnipegers Ron Halldorson and Reg Kelln, during two sessions under the supervision of Atkins. A technical difficulty delayed the release of the album until late winter. Breau was displeased with the track selection and sequencing, preferring the more straight ahead jazz tunes the trio had recorded versus the pop material Atkins chose to include. [3]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [4] |
| Rolling Stone | (positive) [5] |
Rolling Stone reviewer John Burke called Breau's playing "tender" and "understated" and stated in his review: "... part of the fascination in hearing an imaginative player like Breau lies in how he reinterprets each song so that you hear it as if for the first time... Within the pop/country, rock/jazz frame he has set for himself, you feel Breau extend himself to the fullest. A handsome first effort." [3] Music critic Thom Jurek of Allmusic called it "an impressive debut as any you're likely to find because of Breau's startling originality on the instrument." [4]
Only tracks 1–10 appeared on the original 1968 release. The album was reissued on CD in 2005 by Wounded Bird Records with the addition of one bonus track, "Call Me".
Chester Burton Atkins, also known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music style which expanded its appeal to adult pop music fans. He was primarily a guitarist, but he also played the mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and ukulele, and occasionally sang.
Leonard Harold Breau was an American-Canadian guitarist. He blended many styles of music, including jazz, country, classical, and flamenco. Inspired by country guitarists like Chet Atkins, Breau used fingerstyle techniques not often used in jazz guitar. By using a seven-string guitar and approaching the guitar like a piano, he opened up possibilities for the instrument.
Ladies Love Outlaws is an album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Nashville in 1972. Together with Jennings' previous album Good Hearted Woman, it marks his transition toward his Outlaw Country image and style. "Ladies Love Outlaws" coined the use of the term "Outlaw" to refer to the country music subgenre, which was developing at the time of its release.
Lonesome, On'ry and Mean is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1973. It was, after Good Hearted Woman and Ladies Love Outlaws, the third in a series of albums which were to establish Jennings as one of the most prominent representatives of the outlaw country movement. Photographer Mick Rock shot the album's cover.
Red Clay is an album recorded in 1970 by jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. It was his first album on Creed Taylor's CTI label and marked a shift toward the soul-jazz fusion sounds that would dominate his recordings in the later part of the decade. It entered at number 20 on Billboard’s Top 20 Best Selling Jazz LPs, on June 20, 1970.
Finger-Style Guitar is the sixth studio album by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1956.
Chet Atkins' Workshop is the fourteenth studio album recorded by American guitarist Chet Atkins. Full of pop and jazz stylings and no country, this became his best-selling LP to date, peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Pop album charts.
Christmas with Chet Atkins is the sixteenth studio album recorded by Chet Atkins. It is his first Christmas album.
Chet Atkins' discography is large and diverse. Not only did he release principal studio albums as a solo artist, he was a prolific and much sought-after collaborator. He also played as a sideman on many more. His major collaborations were with Hank Snow, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra, The Country All-Stars, The Nashville String Band, Jerry Reed, Merle Travis, Doc Watson, Lenny Breau, Les Paul, Mark Knopfler, Suzy Bogguss, Floyd Cramer, Johnny Gimble, and Tommy Emmanuel. He frequently guested on a track or two with other friends. Several of his recordings won or were nominated for Grammy Awards.
Me and My Guitar is the forty-eighth studio album by American guitarist Chet Atkins. It was nominated for the Best Country & Western Instrumental Performance Grammy in 1978. Atkins joined Floyd Cramer and Danny Davis that same year to produce Chet Floyd & Danny which was also nominated.
The Essential Chet Atkins is a two-disc compilation recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 2007 on the Legacy label.
The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau – Live! is a live album by Canadian jazz guitarist Lenny Breau that was released in 1969.
Standard Brands is an album by guitarists Lenny Breau and Chet Atkins that was released in 1981.
The Best of Chet Atkins & Friends is a compilation recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1976. It peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Country Albums charts in 1977.
The Legendary Lenny Breau...Now! is an album by Canadian jazz guitarist Lenny Breau that was released in 1979.
Boy Wonder is a studio album by jazz guitarist Lenny Breau that was recorded in 1956 and released in 1998. The session was engineered and produced by Al Hawkes of Event Records.
Lenny Breau is an album by Canadian guitarist Lenny Breau, released in 1979.
Tennessee Firebird is an album by vibraphonist Gary Burton recorded in 1966 and released on the RCA label in 1967. The session featured both jazz and country musicians, including guitarist Chet Atkins, saxophonist Steve Marcus, fiddler Buddy Spicher, harmonica player Charlie McCoy and drummer Roy Haynes.
The Guitar Genius is the twenty-second studio album by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1963. It was reissued on CD in 1999. It was also reissued on CD along with And His Guitar in 2004. Five vocal tracks by Atkins' brother Jim were from an unreleased 1958 album to be titled My Brother Sings. That album was later released by Sundazed Records with the original RCA Victor cover art and label in 2015.
Ron Halldorson is a Canadian jazz musician, arranger, and producer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, best known for his work with guitarist Lenny Breau. Beginning his career as a country musician in the 1950s, Halldorson switched to jazz in the 1960s and played bass in The Lenny Breau Trio, recording Guitar Sounds from Lenny Breau and The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau – Live! on RCA and recording with John Capek in 1976. After playing double-bass with Breau for 10 years, Halldorson worked as a session musician, playing pedal steel guitar and other instruments on recordings by The Guess Who, Wyrd Sisters and others. During the 1980s and 90s, he composed music for a number of film and television shows. In 2019, he released the album Duologue with Julian Bradford.
