The legendary Les Paul, father of the solid-body electric guitar, inventor of overdubbing and multi-track recording, king of the ‘50s pop charts and architect of rock ‘n’ roll, tells his own rags-to-riches story in a performance-documentary by filmmakers John Paulson and James Arntz, with a wall-to-wall soundtrack of the greatest hits from "Tiger Rag" to "My Generation."

 A joyous 90th-birthday celebration at the Iridium Jazz Club and the accolades that follow (induction into National Inventors Hall of Fame, Grammy-winning “rock duets” album with Jeff Beck, lifetime achievement award from Songwriters Hall of Fame) provide the verité framing device for Mr. Paul’s lively recollections of his remarkable life.

An evocative blend of interviews, vintage film and television clips,  recordings, radio show excerpts, still photographs, advertising art, personal memorabilia and a rich variety of stylish location B-roll illustrate Mr. Paul’s narrative and examine his accomplishments in the distinctive in-depth style of American Masters.

The intricate technology and sensuous beauty of solid-body electric guitars would not exist without the contributions of Les Paul.  He gave birth to what is now, hands down, THE most influential instrument in modern American music.

Les Paul has been “chasing the perfect sound” since his boyhood in Waukesha, Wisconsin, when he punched new chords into his mother’s piano roll and turned his bedsprings into a radio antenna which would pull in the raucous jazz broadcasts from Chicago and the lonesome harmonica from the Grand Old Opry.   

Irascible, egotistical, indefatigable, an inveterate tinkerer and practical joker, he’s the last of that self-educated, brilliantly innovative generation of musicians and media pioneers who revolutionized popular music and re-invented the global culture.   At 90, Les Paul is still bursting with curiosity and brimming over with optimism, exuberance, and unadorned charm  that's one-hundred percent contagious.  Les Paul - Chasing Sound! catches it all!