One Long Tune: The Life and Music of Lenny Breau

Chapter 9. Cold, Cold Heart: May 1980—November 1983

9. Cold, Cold Heart May 1980–November 1983 “Sometimes Lenny’d meet a woman who just wanted to mother him to death. Other times he’d meet . . . a nemesis.” —Don Francks1 At the time Lenny was learning Tal Farlow’s licks in the late fifties, Farlow had become so soured on the dreary machinations of the music business that he retreated from the jazz scene at the height of his fame. While he played the occasional date and made a few records during the 1960s and ’70s, Farlow generally kept a low profile and worked as a self-employed sign painter in Sea Bright, New Jersey. In the late 1970s, a budding young filmmaker and student of jazz guitar named Lorenzo DeStefano sought Farlow out and persuaded him to be the subject of his first professional feature, Talmage Farlow.2 DeStefano wanted to include a contemporary jazz guitarist in the movie and asked Farlow if he had any preferences. 227 “Tal immediately suggested Lenny and I said, ‘Yeah, Lenny Breau,’” DeStefano says. “So we went after him and after a little back and forth Lenny was booked to do it. He and his wife flew down from Maine to New York and we had them driven up to Sea Bright.” The couple arrived on May 21 for their two-day, de facto honeymoon for which Lenny was pleased to receive $400 and a few nights at the local Sandy Hook Motel. The actual meeting between Farlow and Lenny is not shown in the documentary because DeStefano did not want to intrude on the moment, but he says that the men greeted each other genially and with obvious mutual respect. “They got on great right away,” says DeStefano. “Tal had heard him a lot so it wasn’t like Lenny was just another adoring student. Tal knew Lenny was special. Lenny understood the tradition Tal was part of—52nd Street, BeBop, Bird—and you could see in Lenny’s eyes when he looked at Tal that he saw all that. Lenny knew that tradition. He hadn’t been part of it, but he knew this guy in this room was there.” Farlow and Lenny talked and jammed through the afternoon and that night played together at a club called The Sign of the Times. DeStefano recorded this set, which Guitarchives released on CD in 1997 as Chance Meeting. Throughout the set, the self-effacing Farlow tended to defer to Lenny who never really caught fire, and the recording is more of an interesting, highly listenable historical chronicle than mandatory listening for fans of either man. However, meeting and playing with Farlow was profoundly significant for Lenny, says Ron Halldorson. “You could see that when that scene [in which the men play together] started, Lenny was in rough shape,” he says. “Then they play a tune and there’s this look of triumph on Lenny’s face that says ’man, I may be messed up, but I just played my ass off here with Tal and I feel really good.’ When I saw that, it just made me feel so good because I know that look and I know what it meant. It was an expression of his own kind of success. Tal was one of his greatest influences so to do that was a great moment for him.” Before Lenny left Sea Bright, he and Farlow discussed the possibility of further performances and perhaps doing a joint recording. The latter never materialized, but the two guitarists would play together again before the year was out. 228 One Long Tune: The Life and Music of Lenny Breau Lenny and his wife returned to Maine where they rented an apartment on Deering Street close to downtown Portland. Lenny landed a weekly solo gig playing his seven string at a local coffee house/restaurant called the Café Domas and later formed a trio with bassist Les Richards and drummer Phil Verrill. The three began working regularly in the area, often at a Portland tavern called the Hour Glass. One night while playing at this club, Lenny was approached by a young guitarist named Bob Thompson who had moved to the area from Connecticut the year before expressly to find and study with Lenny. Lenny agreed to teach Thompson and took his number, promising to call him to arrange a lesson. The next day, Thompson was sitting on the front stairs of his...