NEW YORK (AP) - Take it from Peter Frampton. Or from Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend or Jimmy Page - they all owe a debt to Les Paul, father of the electric guitar.

"They all mention Les as an inspiration because of (his) early records, which were jaw-dropping when you first heard them as a novice guitarist," says Frampton, who recalls learning licks off of Paul's records as a nine-year-old in England. "We revere him, but Les is so genuine and down-to-earth that he's still one of the lads."

At age 90, the man who developed the solid-body electric guitar, and who has long been a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has finally released his first rock album, Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played. The list of friends includes Frampton, Beck, Clapton, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora and other guitar legends.

"They're not only my friends, but they're great players," Paul said in a telephone interview from his New Jersey home. "I never stop being amazed by all the different ways of playing the guitar and making it deliver a message."

This is Paul's first new recording since the mid-1970s, when he released two albums with the legendary country guitarist Chet Atkins, including Chester & Lester, which won a Grammy for best country instrumental album.

Born Lester William Polsfuss on June 9, 1915, to a German immigrant family in Waukesha, Wis., Paul has done more than perhaps any other individual to create the tools and techniques that shaped the past 60 years of pop music - from Alvin and the Chipmunks' sped-up tapes to ZZ Top-style southern rock powered by Gibson's Les Paul-model guitars.

Paul built one of the first prototypes for the solid-body electric guitar in 1941. After repeated rejections, Gibson finally began mass-producing a guitar based on Paul's design in 1952.

Paul also developed many of the recording techniques such as multi-tracking and echo delay that made possible such classic rock albums as the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Only Paul could have brought together the disparate all-star lineup of jazz and rock guitarists who turned up at Carnegie Hall during the jazz festival in June for a 90th birthday tribute concert. More than a dozen guitarists - from jazz veterans Bucky Pizzarelli and Pat Martino to rockers Frampton and Steve Miller - performed separately and then crowded the stage to join Paul for a rollicking jam session on Let the Good Times Roll.

Jazz guitarists revere Paul as one of the first to make the electric guitar a lead solo instrument. In the 1940s, Paul earned renown in jazz circles for keeping up with the lightning-fast runs of pianist Art Tatum in jam sessions and giving a memorable performance with pianist Nat King Cole at the first Jazz At The Philharmonic concert.

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