Les Paul and Chet Atkins

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In 1975, veteran guitarists Les Paul and Chet Atkins joined together for an album of swing songs called Chester and Lester.

While they had had very different careers, there was plenty of common ground between the two masterful players.

Paul had played country music early in his career while Atkins’ often performed concise versions of swing era tunes on his solo albums.

Their joint recording was a critical and commercial success.

In 1996 when Paul was 81 and Atkins was 72, they performed a bit together again including this version of “Stompin’ At The Savoy.”

After a bit of joking around, the two guitarists display their different but complementary styles and sounds during a happy performance.

-Scott Yanow

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