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
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[@MikeL-7]

Sonny Greenwich is absolutely killing.

[@Faz99Master]

Wow, pure gold!

[@ronpalangio8006]

I think Ed had the same reaction to Lenny that every guitar player has. Interesting when a guy as good as Ed Bickert feels a little inadequate when hearing another player, we’ve all been there.

[@MyJ2B]

Ed is so calm, humble, and developed into Canada's jazz guitar 'numero uno', in my opinion.

[@thelennybreauarchives5675]

Yes on all counts.

[@golds04]

❤. Ty

[@victorwong9622]

I did not know of the Lenny Beau/ Ed Bickert connection! Fascinating stuff concerning two giants of jazz guitar.

[@donaldcright5292]

Very nice interview, and the music's not bad either...cheers !

[@thelennybreauarchives5675]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@canadianRadio]

Super cool. I remember seeing Lenny Breau sing behind Ray St Germain in a video on RUclips, and he's playing simple 1st position chords behind him.
Goes to show you that even the masters put the basics into practice.

[@babalonworking6]

Fuck yaaaaaaaa! That was a commercial gig so that's why too. Simplicity is the best at most times. Even complex things are a bunch of simple things assembled in a certain way.

[@paulgibby6932]

This is great. I bet these are the type of orchestral arrangements (e.g. "Music to Watch Girls By") that Wes Montgomery was hoping to be a part of also.

[@thelennybreauarchives5675]

That is an interesting and good point. It's easy to imagine Wes doing exactly these kinds of arrangements at that time and they would have sounded great.

[@babalonworking6]

@@thelennybreauarchives5675 BINGO!!!

[@JackTheSkunk]

Great video. I didn't know these two masters had ever met much less recorded together. Thankfully the LP is available on Spotify. I am reading Lenny's biography. Alot of troubling tales about his drug use. He was in my opinion a tortured genius thanks to all the poison he took.

[@sblack48]

Sounds like the ultimate seduction album

[@thelennybreauarchives5675]

Except for the "soft" part...