Music Tuesday: Jeff Beck, Rest in Peace

Last week on January 10^th we had the passing of one of the greatest electric guitarist ever, Jeff Beck.    From his Rolling Stone magazine obituary:

 

JEFF BECK, THE blues-rock innovator and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee who revolutionized how the guitar is played, died Tuesday at the age of 78.

 

Beck’s family confirmed the former Yardbirds guitarist’s death Wednesday. “On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck’s passing,” Beck’s family said in a statement. “After suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, he peacefully passed away yesterday. His family asks for privacy while they process this tremendous loss.”  

It was tremendous loss for all of us.  He contracted the deadly disease, but before that he looked superb and was playing better than ever.  I can’t possibly outline his entire career.  Read the Wikipedia entry.  His initial entry into the spot light was following Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page in the Yardbirds.   Here’s how Wikipedia describes The Yardbird’s series of guitarists.

The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, all of whom ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists.

Frankly, in my humble opinion, out of those three great guitarists, Jeff Beck was the most talented.  Here he is as lead guitarist in what might have been The Yardbird;s greatest hit, “Heart Full of Soul.”

The Rolling Stone article describes Beck’s evolution from blues to psychedelic rock to jazz fusion.  Jazz fusion is what I think he excelled at and created avant-garde following.  He certainly is not as well-known as Clapton and Page, and that’s because he is a musician’s musician, a purest.  Salon had a retrospective article with his passing on what made his guitar playing special. 

 

The praise Jeff Beck, who has died aged 78, received from indebted musicians during his lifetime already read like unbridled eulogies. Eric Clapton had called him "the most unique guitarist," Steve Lukather (Toto) "God's guitarist," and Joe Satriani "just a genius."

 

Jazz great John McLaughlin described Beck as "the best guitarist alive," Steve Vai as "unique in the most superlative use of the word," and Noel Redding (Jimi Hendrix Experience) as his "personal favorite." Queen's Brian May said Beck "radically changed" his view of the guitar.

 

Beck's fame was not drawn from a catalogue of hit songs (though there was, of course, Hi Ho Silver Lining), nor from a cushy decades-long residency in a mega-band (though there were many supposed offers). Instead, he was a guitarist's guitarist who seemed to be the humble protagonist at the center of a plethora of seminal moments in pop history.

“The humble protagonist,” that is such a perfect description.  In the interviews I sampled, he was truly a humble man and certainly not an egocentric rock star.  He had a hobby of restoring and repairing antique cars, and by hobby I mean he didn’t pay someone to restore them.  He did it himself.

Here is an interview interweaved with a retrospective of his career.

There are lots of videos of Beck playing with rapid speed and intensity, but I found him shining even more with the delicate pieces.  Here he with “Where Were You,” his own composition.

Here’s another of a song you know the lyrics to but on which his instrumental captures the song and I think even transforms the song, The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life.” 

 

He makes the guitar sound like a human voice.  Here’s how the Salon article described his technique.

 

He had an intuitive musical ear and technical control for sophisticated jazz harmonies, pitch inflection and melody, as well as a wide timbral finesse – from a barely audible fragile touch to a wall of dense noise. He interacted with amp feedback to turn the guitar's usual "pluckiness" into anything from mechanical growls to uncannily vocal timbres, to other-worldly sustained flute sounds.

 

Beck's commitment to these dimensions manifested in his idiosyncratic technique. He abandoned a plectrum for direct contact with the strings, ensuring that every note was distinct, different and mattered.

 

He would simultaneously control the whammy bar, volume and tone control of the guitar which – with the combination of harmonics, off-fret slide and left-hand inflection – explored an orchestral range of sonic possibilities. Always pushing and never complacent, each record explored new territory and musical affordances.

Here is a sample of work.  From his 1975 album, Blow by Blow, “You Know What I Mean.”

 

From his 1976 album, Wired, the Charles Mingus piece, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat."

 

Here’s one of his classics, “Going Down,” originally recorded in 1972 as part with The Jeff Beck Group, but here performed live in 2013 with Bret Hart and an almost all female group.

 

Finally here is a piece he combines all his skills, and even finds joy in a young female bassist, Tal Wilkenfeld, complimenting his playing with her own solo.

 

Notice his expression at Tal’s playing.  He was such a good, humble soul.  His playing is now for the Lord.  Until I get to attend that concert I will miss his music.