Additionally, the piano had been absent
from Paul’s music since the late 1950s, and
Paul felt that adding a piano would help
ease his musical load, so he could continue
playing live with his band. Little did he realize that in Colianni he would find not only a
perfect fit musically, but also a close friend.
landed in the states in 1994 after receiving
a grant from the Australia Council for the
Arts, which allowed her to study with her
mentor, Rufus Reid, one of the world’s premiere double bassists. In 2000, Parrott was
rehearsing and playing around New York
with noted jazz guitarists David Spinozza
and John Tropea when they asked her to
accompany them to the Iridium to watch
Paul perform some of the songs they’d
been rehearsing in their own ensemble. She
said she’d known of Paul’s music for some
time, but just like her colleagues, had never
met him or known of his kind nature.
Les Paul and the Les Paul Trio: (from left) Lou Pallo, Nicki Parrott, Les Paul and John Colianni. Photo by Chris Lentz.
“In my opinion, there was no one with
more technical prowess than Les, and he
really missed being able to execute all
those great ideas that were coming into
his brain,” Colianni said. “When I joined
the band, his technique wasn’t really there.
But the more we played the more he
recovered it, and by 2004–05 he was definitely more spirited and into it. So I’m kind
of happy about that. We really got along
great. He had a really wonderful sense of
humor, and it was great to banter about
with him on the phone and backstage. He
loved to call me and tell me what was on
his mind. And if you weren’t careful, he’d
have you on the phone for an hour.”
“And then later on that night, I remember
he made a couple of cracks about women
musicians and I came back with something
about old guys, and him and I ended up
talking a little bit onstage,” Parrott recalled
of the beginning of the banter between
the two that became a staple of the Iridium
shows. “Then a few days later Les’ bass
player at the time called and asked me if I
wanted to fill in for him, and I said, ‘Sure,
I’d love to.’ So Lou helped me with some
of Les’ repertoire and I did my homework,
and I figured out all the music and arrangements just the way Les played them. You
play those songs at other gigs but you
don’t play them exactly the way Les plays
them. So we did some shows, and after a
few more weeks Les decided that he wanted me permanently, which was awkward,
but I was very grateful for the opportunity.”
Nicki Parrott
Nicki Parrott’s road to Les Paul was bit
more worldly, although her transition
into Paul’s band was just as seamless as
Colianni’s. The Australian-born redhead first
“We went down there and sat in with Les
Paul and played a few tunes and it was
amazing,” Parrott said two days after
attending and performing at Paul’s funeral
service at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral
Chapel in Manhattan. “When we were
done, Les said, ‘Well, you guys can sit
down now, but leave the girl up here.’ I
felt really nervous because I didn’t know
what songs he was going to call out or
anything. But he went about his routine
and I just followed along. Occasionally Lou
[Pallo] would have to call out a chord or
something, but it went ok.
Parrott attributed Paul’s penchant for having women around him to his early days
with Mary Ford, whom he married in 1949.
Together, the pair hosted the television show
“Les Paul and Mary Ford at Home,” which
was broadcast from their living room until
1958, and recorded more than three dozen
hits, including “Mockingbird Hill,” “How High
the Moon” and “The World Is Waiting for
