Paris Duo Revives Les Paul and Mary Ford’s Music in New Recording Collaboration

As Seen in New York Trend. 

A new generation of musicians is revisiting the music of legendary recording artists Les Paul and Mary Ford, bringing their distinctive sound to life through a collaboration with the Les Paul Recording Studio.

Paris-based musicians Victor Pitoiset and Melissa Lesnie have spent years studying and performing the repertoire of Paul and Ford. Their work has now brought them to the United States for a special recording project centered on the music that helped establish the duo as pioneers of popular music and recording technology.

Among the songs being revisited is “At the Sav-a-Penny Superstore,” originally recorded by Les Paul and Mary Ford in 1958, shortly after the pair signed with Columbia Records. Pitoiset and Lesnie recorded their interpretation at the Les Paul Recording Studio, creating a contemporary connection to a song first made nearly seven decades ago.

The recording session also pays tribute visually to the original partnership. A photograph of Pitoiset and Lesnie in the studio echoes images of Ford recording with Paul at his home studio, recreating the atmosphere of an earlier era while placing two contemporary musicians in the same creative setting.

Paul, who died in 2009, was widely recognized not only as a guitarist and performer but also as an innovator whose experiments with recording technology helped shape modern music production. His work with Ford produced a string of popular recordings that showcased sophisticated harmonies, layered vocals and innovative studio techniques.

Ford was an accomplished singer and musician in her own right, and the pair’s recordings became closely associated with the sound of the 1950s. Their partnership demonstrated how performance and recording technology could be combined to create a distinctive musical style.

For Pitoiset and Lesnie, exploring the repertoire offers an opportunity to introduce Paul and Ford’s work to contemporary listeners while remaining attentive to the techniques and musical details that made the original recordings distinctive.

Their journey from Paris to the United States also underscores the continuing international reach of Paul and Ford’s music. Decades after the original recordings were released, musicians from another generation and another continent are finding new ways to engage with the catalog.

The collaboration at the Les Paul Recording Studio adds another dimension to that connection. Rather than simply performing older songs, Pitoiset and Lesnie are returning to a space associated with Paul’s legacy and using it to create their own interpretation.

The project represents a meeting between musical history and contemporary performance, preserving a connection to Paul and Ford while allowing their repertoire to be experienced through a new generation of musicians.

Read the original article in New York Trend.