LENNY BREAU GIVES PRIVATE LESSON: 'PART TWO--WINNIPEG 1973.
DAN CASAVANT'S PRIVATE LESSON WITH LENNY BREAU
Long before Lenny Breau became internationally known for his innovative guitar work, he was a local legend in his adopted hometown of Winnipeg and greatly admired by many of the city's young guitarists.
One of his musical devotees was Dan Casavant who began playing guitar professionally in bands around the city in his mid-teens.
"Coming up in the 1960s," Dan says, "it was a dream of mine to get guitar lessons from my hero, Lenny Breau, and that dream came true for me in the early 70s."
After leaving the Anne Murray band in 1973, Lenny had moved back to Winnipeg from Toronto. Shortly after his return, Dan managed to arrange lessons with Lenny and would arrive at his apartment at the appointed time armed with an acoustic guitar and tape recorder. The lessons centred around tunes from Lenny's repertoire that interested Dan. Lenny would play these tunes in their entirety and then teach them to Dan in sections with commentary on various facets of the piece.
"I had strong chordal knowledge and a pretty developed ear but was of course on a far lower level of musical sophistication than Lenny," Dan say. "[Lessons] with Lenny were pretty focused around tunes and improvisational theory. He was gracious and patient, a warm, natural and often humorous guy."
Dan's connection to Lenny did not end when the lessons ceased.
During the years following his studies with Lenny, Dan worked continuously with various high-profile bands in Winnipeg and Vancouver. But in the mid-nineties, he took a hiatus from performing when Randy Bachman hired him to work for his Lenny Breau-centered record label, Guitarchives. For the next two years, Dan travelled to various cities in which Lenny had lived to search out unreleased recordings Lenny had made in studios, performances and friends' homes.
One of the most important of his discoveries were the tapes that became the Guitarchives album, 'Boy Wonder' which comprised solo and duo recordings Lenny had made in his mid-teens while working as a studio musician for Event Records in WestBrook, Maine. Over the years, the Guitarchives catalogue came to include the titles 'Live at Bourbon Street, 'Cabin Fever' and 'Cotten Pickin'.
"I saw it as my way of giving back to Lenny for his gracious and generous time spent with me, " Dan says.
When his stint with Guitarchives came to an end, Dan once again pursued his career as a guitarist, playing regularly in a series of popular, well-regarded Vancouver rock, pop and R&B bands.
Dan continues to live in Vancouver where he plays the occasional gig and teaches a popular course in Rock 'n Roll history at the West End community center. He still credits Lenny with being a profound influence on him.
"I was blessed to have had those times with Lenny," he says. "They really had an enduring impact on my playing and musicality."
Lenny played a steel string Gibson J 50 on this recording. He charged his students ten dollars for a one hour lesson that would often last an entire afternoon.
Track Listing
1. Meanwhile Back in LA
2. Blues Chord Progression 13:07
3. Billie's Bounce 16:40