Les Paul releases first rock album at age 90

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Monday nights at the Iridium
Paul acknowledges that he can no longer play the way he did at his peak. Arthritis has gnarled his fingers and he has needed a hearing aid since a friend playfully cuffed his ear and broke an eardrum back in 1970. He has taken to heart the advice given to him by a nurse who showed up shortly after he started playing at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club in 1996.

“She said, ‘Don’t make the mistake of trying to play like you did when you were a kid, you’re never going to do it, so play like you play now,”’ Paul remembers. “All these guys ... play so fast, but the guy that wins is the guy that plays the melody and reaches the heart.”

But what keeps Paul going more than anything else are his Monday night gigs at the Iridium, where Paul McCartney or Bob Dylan might turn up in the audience and legends like Tony Bennett, Keith Richards or Jeff Beck might show up on stage.

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After undergoing triple-bypass surgery in 1980, Paul came out of retirement on the advice of a doctor who recommended that he go back to work.

“I wouldn’t miss Monday for anything,” Paul said. “It gives you a reason to get out of bed other than to go to the bathroom.

“And then you don’t look at 90 so bad ... I’m doing just fine, playing and having fun down at the club, just being with my friends and making new friends. ... Naturally I feel like the end of the road is in sight, but you got to keep the faith, work hard and enjoy what you’re doing. I’m blessed to be here. I’m one of the lucky ones.”

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