Ed Bickert Talks About Lenny Breau/ Lenny Plays With Ed & Sonny Greenwich on "Soft & Groovy": 1968

Lenny had been listening to and admiring Ed Bickert's guitar work for at least three years when Ed first heard Lenny at a Toronto club in 1961. But while the two guitarists had enormous respect for one another and both worked extensively in the Toronto music scene during the 1960/70s, they only played guitar together on a single project: the Jimmy Dale Experience recording 'Soft and Groovy', recorded in Toronto in March of 1968. ( In 1969 Lenny did sub on bass on a live date with a quartet led by Ed but did not play guitar on the date.) The album was a collection of pop, jazz and bossa nova tunes that Dale arranged for a small orchestra. Dale asked Ed, Lenny and another great Canadian guitarist, Sonny Greenwich, to play on the album. Dale invited each guitarist to choose a tune they would like to record and then created arrangements for these tunes with space for the players to improvise briefly. Lenny played by himself with orchestra on one tune, 'Music to Watch Girls By'. Three other tunes were played as duets: two with Lenny and Sonny and one with Lenny and Ed. (Dale says that Ed may have played rhythm guitar behind Lenny and Sonny on 'Norwegian Wood' but Ed could not remember. In any case, Ed did not solo on this track as is sometimes supposed). Ed recalls that he and Lenny did not record their duet together in the studio. Rather, Lenny laid down his rhythm track first and Ed multi tracked his playing over it at a later date. It's not known if the other duets were recorded using the same process. This clip begins with Lenny briefly explaining Ed's influence on him when he first began playing jazz. Following this, Ed discusses his admiration of Lenny in an excerpt from a 2000 telephone interview The interview excerpts are followed by the four tunes the guitarists recorded in various configurations for 'Soft and Groovy'. 1. Lenny Breau discusses Ed Bickert 2. Ed Bickert discusses Lenny Breau 00:26 3. I Should Care 06:10 * 4. Norwegian Wood 09:10 ** 5. Music to Watch Girls By 12:55 *** 6. The Look of Love 15:35 **** Lenny Breau rhy gt Ed Bickert ld gtr * Sonny Greenwich Ist solo, head & outro Lenny Breau 2nd solo & rhy gt ** Lenny Breau rhy gtr & ld gtr (Hagstrom 12 string modified to 10 string) *** Sonny Greenwich ld gt Lenny Breau rhy gt. **** Gary Binstead bass on all songs Howie Reay drums on all songs If you enjoyed this clip, please consider subscribing to our Lenny Breau Archives channel. We are devoted to posting rare, seldom heard/seen and out of print recordings and footage of Lenny Breau during all stages of his career.