The Chetboard

I always have trouble to fully hear what Les and Chet are joking about on Avalon when Les is asking Chet about his time in Portland. Could someone perhaps decipher this part for me on the Chester and Lester album?

Hendrik wrote:I always have trouble to fully hear what Les and Chet are joking about on Avalon when Les is asking Chet about his time in Portland. Could someone perhaps decipher this part for me on the Chester and Lester album?

Hi Hendrik –

It goes something like this:

Les: Tell me about the time you were in Portland.

Chet: Well, I went up and I played with the symphony up there, and I played the whole show with my tux unzipped.

Les: Your fly?

Chet: Yeah.

Les: Did you go over?

Chet: Went over very well, I'm going to leave it out. I mean in.

Les: Ha! That's the first time I knew you weren't the greatest. Let's go back and play again, Chet.


I like their banter at the end of the cut, too -

Les: Leave it in! Leave it in! Two dirty old men! If you can’t make it one way…pornography on record! A massage parlor, you and I huh? Got our own thing.

Chet: Let’s relax a bit.

Les: The thing that throws me off is those @#$% drums…

Chet: Well, we got a weak drummer.

Les: Why don’t we try something pretty, like, uh….you know Ave Maria?

Chet: I know it well….


All the back and forth between Chet and Les, both musically and verbally, is what makes ‘Chester And Lester’ one of the greatest guitar recordings ever.

Bass player Joe Osborne (I think his name was), played bass on guitar monsters and described the session as a bit stressful because the two guitar players were used to leading sessions and it got tough when they would sometimes give him contradictory orders

Maybe the drummer on C&L wasn't so much "weak" as he was intimidated. I can't imagine RCA booking a second rate drummer for a gig featuring those two giants

Thanks for typing that out Bill, I appreciate it! Hope all is well with you.