Jeff Beck – RIP
Time stops for nobody but sometimes a passing touches upon fond memories and thoughts.
The overnight news that guitarist Jeff Beck, 78, had died suddenly after contracting bacterial meningitis has come as a considerable shock.
In all forms of popular instrumental music – classical, jazz, every genre of pop and rock, blues, folk and country & western to list but a few – those with technical mastery of the guitar (and lute?) have a special place in the affections of adherents, fans and musical professionals.
Around the world in millions of teenage bedrooms there are always kids practising their rudimentary skills on their first guitars and/or posing in front of their mirrors with tennis racquets – all of them listening to hours and hours of their favourite guitar heroes.
Generally-speaking, most fans – myself included – would place Jimi Hendrix in a special category of one, but after that there are a group of guitarists – not least Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Alvin Lee, Peter Green, David Gilmour and Mark Knopfler – who first emerged in the British blues boom of the 1960s and afterwards.
Mastery of an instrument is one thing, but every guitar player has an individual style and ‘feel’. Jeff Beck is unique in that his technical skill was such that, not only he could play literally anything and make it special, he had a pronounced ability to make the extraordinary look natural and effortless, which it clearly wasn’t. Not only did he dominate the rock scene, his solo albums Blow By Blow (1975) and Wired (1976) won him global awards and adherents in the jazz world.
Despite being “the Governor” for many of his well-know fellow guitarists, Beck was not a showy man, ignoring his something weird choice of clothing and (often) dark glasses. He carried his talent lightly in a manner that only those who are truly special can.
I only saw the man play live once – in about 1998 at the Royal Albert Hall – to where I had somehow persuaded my son Barry and his best mate to join me for the opportunity to see a legend in action. Beck did not disappoint – the volume was earth-shattering but his playing sublime: at one stage Barry’s mate turned, shaking his head in his hands in disbelief, to ask of me “How on earth does he do that?”
To finish – inadequately – here are two videos of the great man in action:-
In 2007, in front of an invited celebrity audience, Beck played a set at Ronnie Scott’s club in Soho with his then band of world class jazz musicians that was filmed for posterity. One of the songs they played was Brush with The Blues – see here – YOUTUBE
In 2010 – at the 25th Anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Awards – he joined Stevie Wonder on stage for a version of Superstition – see here – YOUTUBE
