10 Guitarists You've Never Heard Of - Leslie Weinstein

In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s few bands rocked harder or louder than Mountain. Amid a sea of worthy contemporaries like The James Gang and Grand Funk Railroad, Mountain stood out for their innovative use of two lead singers and a crushing rhythm section. Also at the heart of Mountain’s trademark sound was the electrifying lead guitar work of the larger-than-life Leslie West.

Leslie West was born as Leslie Weinstein in Forest Hills New York, on October 22, 1945, and began playing guitar at the age of eight. His love of playing blossomed over the years and by tenth grade he dropped out of school to pursue music as a profession. After dropping out Leslie began playing in The Vagrants, a soul-influenced rock group who cut a few singles for Atco in the late sixties. It was during these sessions for Atco that he met Felix Pappalardi, a famed producer noted for his work with Cream. Felix and Leslie hit it off immediately and began to work together on Leslie’s solo album. Soon they announced the official formation of the group Mountain, with Felix on bass and vocals and Leslie handling lead guitar and vocals.

The group instantly established itself as a powerful live band, and by their fourth gig they were playing at a little festival called Woodstock. Eventually drummer Corky Laing replaced Norman Smart for the recording of Climbing!, which included the classics Mississippi Queen and Theme From An Imaginary Western. The group would continue recording and touring with much success until 1972 when they split up. Leslie has since recorded several solo albums, appeared on countless other recordings, taught guitar, and released his own instructional guitar video.

Since his early days in the Vagrants, Leslie's playing has paid a certain loyalty to the fretboard wizardry of another famous string-bender, Eric Clapton. However, his style of playing is very original too, and although he is a master of blues-rock, he has also successfully experimented with other genres, including heavy metal, country, jazz and folk. Leslie’s use of Sunn amplifiers and Gibson Les Paul guitars provided him with a sound that was both scorching and instantly recognizable. His tone, along with his trademark vibrato and pinch harmonics have been influencing guitarists for decades, but he still doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

Recommended listening:

Because You Are My Friend (Mountain by Leslie West)- Heartfelt acoustic song showing off a previously unknown vulnerability in Leslie’s voice.

Blind Man (Mountain by Leslie West)- Great heavy blues number from his first solo album.

Mississippi Queen (Climbing by Mountain)- One of the all-time classics of heavy metal.

To My Friend (Climbing by Mountain) – A beautiful folk guitar piece off the first Mountain album.

Crossroader (Flowers Of Evil by Mountain)- Hard-rocking FM radio hit for Mountain in 1971.

POSTED: 07/27/2004 - 09:10 am

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Comments

[MachineGun41]

Damn, youre right, never heard of him... "WILD YOUTH!" "Heard zzzzz..."

[TomD03]

Nope, i'd never heard of him, but obviously he has some past behind him, and some of it looks good.

2nd :P

[frazerho]

Do Malkmus from Pavement.

[Scorpions]

never heard of him either

[slippingunderme]

Well at least you didnt put "Lesly Weistein is know world round" this time. Ive never heard of him or Mountain so, oh well.

[Infinite-Reason]

Heard of mountain but not the singer/guitarist

[WhiteKnight123]

^same

[WhiteKnight123]

o and mississippi queen is the sweetest song, check it out

[Captain Crunch]

^^^^yes it is

[TwistedLogic]

I have heard of Mountain and the song Mississippi Queen. A good hard ass riff. DId not know the name of the guitarist or his history though. Nice work!!

[msierragtz]

Nice work , haven't heard of mountain

[Diceman42]

I say it's about time someone mentioned ol' Les West.
Mississippi Queen is a kickin track.

[Matty Ramone]

see now here we go I love mountain but probably not a lot of people herd of leslie west , good article

[GNRoses]

as everyone else has said, good job. never heard of mountain or leslie west. sweet work.

[gibsonlover]

does anybody know the gear lesle west used on stage during the mountain period -especially to obtain this sound of distorsion so particular ?

[rocklibrary]

Is this the same Leslie West that appears on Billy Joel's Piano Man album?

[nirvanaroxxx69]

Mountain is great

[rawbee]

Mr. Weinstein was seen twice by yours truly using Sunn Amps (I forget the model, I believe they were '200 Watt") and cabinets. Two Sunn Heads on top of two cabs (4-12's 4-10's? I'm not sure) and two more cabs upside down (wheels up) on top of those two heads. Mr. Weinstein is a monster-tone-master folks. Put the 'heavy' in 'heavy metal'. Extremely gratifying to watch and listen to. Talk about 'finger control' on the fretboard... Check him out. Another metal-oid is the guy in ZZ Top, but Leslie West out-heavied him and all of them. "The" originator of ultra-fat tone...

[Salem_SDMF]

dude i cant believe no one has heard of him!!!!! he rocked and the way he did pinch harmonics definitly influenced zakk wylde! he was great my dad saw im in the 70's and he didnt play for 1 or 2 hours he jammed and improvised solos until the sun came up