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Lenny (Leonard Harold) Breau. Guitarist, singer, composer, b Auburn, Me, 5 Aug 1941, d Los Angeles 12 Aug 1984. His parents, the country singer Hal 'Lone Pine' Breau (b Harold John Breau in Peacove, Me, 1916, d USA 1977) and the yodeler Betty Cody (b Rita Coté, Auburn, Me), lived in the Maritimes during the late 1940s and early 1950s and, after a US sojourn, in Winnipeg during the late 1950s. They were heard nationally on CBC radio and locally on CKCW (Moncton, NB), CFBC (Saint John, NB) and CKY (Winnipeg). 'Lone Pine' recorded for the Banff and RCA labels and composed such songs as 'I Hear the Prairies Calling' and 'Prince Edward Island Is Heaven to Me'.
Lenny Breau began playing guitar at 8 and first performed as 'Lone Pine Jr' with his parents at 12. He received informal guidance from various country guitarists and, in his late teens in Winnipeg, from the jazz pianist Bob Erlendson. (Randy Bachman of BTO later received similar help from Breau.) By 20 he had developed a widely-admired facility in jazz, country, flamenco, and folk styles. Breau's adult life was nomadic, his career interrupted repeatedly by his battle with a drug addiction. He divided his Canadian years (ca 1958-75) between Winnipeg and Toronto, performing on the CBC (eg, the TV show 'Music Hop' from Winnipeg), in studio bands and in nightclubs and coffeehouses (eg, George's Spaghetti House and the Riverboat). Active in both pop music and jazz, he accompanied Peter Appleyard, Don Francks, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, George Hamilton IV, Gene MacLellan, Malka, Anne Murray, and others. His own jazz groups were completed by such bass/drum teams as Ron Halldorson and Reg Kelln, Don Thompson and Terry Clarke, Billy Meryll and Dave Lewis, and Michel Donato and Claude Ranger. The tenor saxophonist Ron Park was a member 1970-1 of a Breau quartet in Toronto. In the USA, Breau lived in Nashville, Lewiston, Me, New York and Los Angeles, recording intermittently - usually in country or solo settings - and enjoying firsthand some of the reverence in which he was held by other guitarists. He returned on occasion to Canada - eg, to the Toronto club Bourbon Street, where he was recorded with Dave Young in 1983. His death by asphixiation was ruled a homicide. From his early work in country music under the influence of Chet Atkins, Breau used a fingerstyle (as opposed to a plectrum style) that opened up melodic and harmonic possibilities not previously explored by jazz guitarists. To this he brought the influence of the jazz pianist Bill Evans and, further, endeavoured to replicate on guitar a pianist's capacity for simultaneous linear and chordal development. For all of its technical clarity and facility, though, his playing had an impressionistic drift - latterly he was known to carry a Renoir print in his guitar case for inspiration - and an underlying lyricism. His mastery and refinement of chime-like harmonics have been emulated by many other guitarists. Breau described his techniques in a series of columns published monthly 1981-2 and intermittently thereafter in Guitar Player (Saratoga, Cal). Breau recorded several of his own compositions - some of them very casually conceived - including Taranta, Spanjazz, Lone Pine, Five O'Clock Bells, and a variety of blues themes. He was seen in the NFB production Toronto Jazz (1962), the CBC profile One More Take (1968) and the US documentary Talmadge Farlow (1981).
 Breau, LennyJazz guitarist (photo courtesy Emily Hughes).
Discography
As LeaderGuitar Sounds from Lenny Breau. Halldorson (electric) bass guitar, Kelln drums. 1968. RCA LSP-4076 The Velvet Touch - Lenny Breau Live! Halldorson (electric) bass guitar, Kelln drums. 1969. RCA LSP-4199 Lenny Breau. Thompson double-bass, Ranger drums. 1979. Direct Disk Labs DD-112 Quietude. Young double-bass. 1983. Electric Muse UMM-1001 Legacy. Young double-bass. 1983. Relaxed Rabbit Records RR-427 Breau recorded four albums of solo guitar 1977-8: Five O'Clock Bells (Adelphi AD-5006), Mo' Breau (Adelphi AD-5012), The Legendary Lenny Breau... Now! (Sound Hole NR-10462) and Last Sessions (Genes 5024), the last issued in 1988. When Lightnin' Strikes (Tudor TR-113004), an album of country tunes (with accompanists), was also released posthumously
As Co-leader or Sideman
Beverly Glenn-Copeland Beverly Glenn-Copeland. Copeland voice and guitar, also Riley piano, Thompson double-bass, Clarke drums. 1970. GRT 9233 1001 Chet Atkins Me and My Guitar. 1977. RCA CPL-10245. - Standard Brands. (1981). RCA AYL1-4191. Buddy Emmons and Buddy Spicher Buddies. 1977. Flying Fish 041 Buddy Emmons Minors Aloud. 1978. Flying Fish 088. Buddy Spicher Yesterday and Today. Direct Disk Labs DD-102 Others with Don Francks, Moe Koffman, and Anne Murray
Bibliography
Webb, Martin K. 'Lenny Breau: Atkins-style jazz on a 6-string 12!' Guitar Player, Sep 1974 Sadler, Joan. 'Shed no tears for Lenny Breau,' Winnipeg Trib Magazine, 12 Jan 1980 Rooke, Don. 'Guitarist Lenny Breau: colored notes tell his story,' PfAC, vol 18, summer 1981 Bearden, Jim and Butler, Linda Jean. 'Lenny sings the blues,' SatN, Sep 1981 Smoot, Brawner. 'Lenny Breau: fingerstyle jazz impressionist,' Guitar Player, Oct 1981 Ferguson, Jim. 'Lenny Breau remembered,' Guitar Player, Nov 1984
Links to Other Sites
Lenny Breau
This site features many audio clips from Lenny Breau's recordings, articles, and more.
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