Geoffrey Arnold Beck, detto Jeff (Sutton, 24 giugno 1944), è un chitarrista e cantante britannico.
È uno dei chitarristi rock più influenti degli anni sessanta e settanta, nonché fra i più importanti per l'evoluzione della chitarra moderna, contribuendo alla definizione di questo strumento in un vasto spettro di generi, che include blues rock, heavy metal, fusion e hard rock.
La rivista Rolling Stone lo ha inserito al quinto posto nella lista dei 100 migliori chitarristi, mentre nel 2009 è stato inserito nella Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Biografia
Negli Yardbirds
Nato a Wallington, Beck da piccolo cantava nelle chiese e a dieci anni ebbe le sue prime esperienze strumentali suonando una vecchia chitarra acustica. Iniziò la propria carriera nei primi anni sessanta come turnista. La sua prima registrazione come chitarrista risale al 1964 per l'etichetta Parlophone che nello stesso anno pubblicò il singolo del gruppo The Fitz and Startz intitolato I'm Not Running Away, che vedeva So Sweet sul lato B. Nel 1965 fu reclutato dagli Yardbirds, che avevano appena perso Eric Clapton, trasferitosi nei John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Fu con Beck che gli Yardbirds divennero un gruppo famoso sulla scena del rock britannico della fine degli anni sessanta. Beck, che in alcuni brani suonava anche il violino, si dimostrò un abile show man e nella formazione, assieme a Jimmy Page, appare anche nel film cardine della Swinging London: Blow-Up del 1966, in cui gli Yardbirds girarono alcune sequenze nelle quali Beck sfascia una chitarra (ad imitazione di Pete Townshend degli Who, scelti in un primo tempo per la pellicola di Antonioni).
Nel 1966 Beck condivise il proprio ruolo di chitarra solista degli Yardbirds con Jimmy Page. Con il gruppo riuscì a incidere un unico album, Roger the Engineer (1966); dopo 18 mesi, adducendo motivi di salute, abbandonò.
Jeff Beck Group
L'anno successivo Beck fondò una nuova band, chiamata Jeff Beck Group; includeva Rod Stewart alla voce, Ron Wood al basso, Nicky Hopkins al pianoforte e Mick Waller alla batteria. Il gruppo incise due album: Truth (1968) e Beck-Ola (1969). Entrambi questi lavori furono molto ben accolti dalla critica, e sono oggi considerati antesignani dell'heavy metal (tra l'altro precedettero di poco gli album dei Led Zeppelin).
Alla fine del 1969 alcuni attriti all'interno del gruppo portarono Stewart e Wood ad abbandonare. Beck creò una seconda incarnazione della band, con Clive Chapman al basso, Max Middleton alle tastiere, Cozy Powell alla batteria e Bob Tench alla voce. Questo gruppo prese una direzione artistica decisamente diversa dal precedente, unendo elementi pop, rock, rhythm'n'blues e jazz, anticipando la fusion. Pubblicarono due album: Rough and Ready (1971) e The Jeff Beck Group (1972). Anche questa seconda incarnazione del "Jeff Beck Group" si sciolse dopo poco tempo.
Nel 1972 Beck diede vita a un'altra formazione, il power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice, con Carmine Appice alla batteria e Tim Bogert al basso (sezione ritmica dei Vanilla Fudge); questa formazione incise anche un singolo di successo, una cover di Superstition di Stevie Wonder inserito poi nell'omonimo L.P..
Carriera solista
Nel 1975 Beck incise un album solista strumentale decisamente fusion, Blow by Blow, che ebbe un successo inaspettato di pubblico e di critica. Questo lavoro fu seguito da una collaborazione di Beck con Jan Hammer per l'album Wired (1976), un altro album molto apprezzato dalla critica.
In seguito, Beck incise in modo sporadico, dedicandosi a propri lavori solisti o discontinue collaborazioni. Fra i lavori solisti si devono citare There & Back (1980, con Simon Phillips e Jan Hammer), Flash (1985, con Rod Stewart e Jan Hammer), Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop (1989, con Terry Bozzio e Tony Hymas), Crazy Legs (1993), Who Else! (1999), e You Had It Coming (2001), Jeff (2003).
Fra le collaborazioni si possono citare quelle con Jon Bon Jovi, Les Paul, Cyndi Lauper, Roger Waters (Amused to Death), Brian May (Another World), ZZ Top (XXX), Carlos Santana e con molti altri artisti di fama mondiale.
Strumentazione
Jeff Beck è solito suonare chitarre Fender, anche se nel corso della sua carriera ha utilizzato in pubblico chitarre di altre marche tra cui la celebre Gibson Les Paul e le Charvel/Jackson, con un modello sviluppato con lo stesso Grover Jackson. Famosa è la sua Fender Esquire del 1954, di cui la Fender ha realizzato una replica in versione limitata a soli 100 esemplari. Attualmente Beck suona una Stratocaster realizzata da Fender su sue specifiche le cui caratteristiche peculiari sono: il "roller nut", un particolare capotasto dotato di sfere che agevolano lo scivolamento delle corde, e le meccaniche autobloccanti della Schaller, la cui combinazione permette di mantenere accurata l'accordatura anche a seguito di un uso drastico della leva del vibrato (tecnica in cui Jeff è tuttora considerato un maestro); il ponte a due viti, che permette una migliore escursione della leva; un manico (acero/palissandro) realizzato con un profilo esclusivo e, soprattutto, i pick-up Fender Hot Noiseless realizzati su sue specifiche, dotati di una pasta sonora più calda rispetto ai Noiseless che Fender usava sui suoi modelli deluxe prima del 2010 (nel corso della sua carriera Beck ha sviluppato diversi pick-up per chitarra elettrica, alcuni dei quali godono tuttora di grande popolarità fra i chitarristi rock, come ad esempio il "JB" realizzato per Seymour Duncan).
Fender produce e vende repliche di questa chitarra sia in edizione standard, sia in edizione "Custom Shop". Parlando delle sue chitarre, Jeff Beck ha dichiarato (1993) di possederne 44, delle quali solo una minima parte sarebbero strumenti buoni, aggiungendo che il più delle volte sceglie la Stratocaster, che considera uno strumento molto versatile. Jeff utilizza amplificatori prevalentemente di marca Marshall o Fender, e suona prevalentemente con le dita, ovvero senza l'utilizzo del plettro.
Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus on innovative sound, and his releases have spanned genres ranging from blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion and a blend of guitar-rock and electronica.
Beck ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone and other magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists. He is often called a "guitarist's guitarist". Rolling Stone describes him as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock". Although he recorded two hit albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck has not established or maintained the sustained commercial success of many of his contemporaries and bandmates. He has recorded with many artists.
Beck has earned wide critical praise and received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance six times and Best Pop Instrumental Performance once. In 2014 he received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. Beck has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: as a member of the Yardbirds (1992) and as a solo artist (2009).
Early life
I was interested in the electric guitar even before I knew the difference between electric and acoustic. The electric guitar seemed to be a totally fascinating plank of wood with knobs and switches on it. I just had to have one.
—Beck
Geoffrey Arnold Beck was born on 24 June 1944 to Arnold and Ethel Beck at 206 Demesne Road, Wallington, England. As a 10-year-old, Beck sang in a church choir. He attended Sutton Manor Schooland Sutton East County Secondary Modern School.
Beck has cited Les Paul as the first electric guitar player who impressed him. Beck has said that he first heard an electric guitar when he was 6 years old and heard Paul playing "How High the Moon" on the radio. He asked his mother what it was. After she replied it was an electric guitar and was all tricks, he said, "That's for me". Cliff Gallup, lead guitarist with Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps, was also an early musical influence, followed by B.B. King and Steve Cropper. Beck considers Lonnie Mack "a rock guitarist [who] was unjustly overlooked [and] a major influence on him and many others."
As a teenager he learned to play on a borrowed guitar and made several attempts to build his own instrument, first by gluing and bolting together cigar boxes for the body and an unsanded fence-post for the neck with model aircraft control-lines and frets simply painted on.
Upon leaving school, he attended Wimbledon College of Art, after which he was briefly employed as a painter and decorator, a groundsman on a golf course and a car paint-sprayer. Beck's sister Annetta introduced him to Jimmy Page when both were teenagers.
Career
1960s
While still attending Wimbledon College of Art, Beck was playing in a succession of groups, including Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages during 1962 when they recorded "Dracula's Daughter"/"Come Back Baby" for Oriole Records.
In 1963, after Ian Stewart of the Rolling Stones introduced him to R&B, he formed the Nightshift with whom he played at the 100 Club in Oxford Street, and recorded a single, "Stormy Monday" backed with "That's My Story", for the Piccadilly label. Beck joined the Rumbles, a Croydon band, in 1963 for a short period as lead guitarist, playing Gene Vincent and Buddy Holly songs, displaying a talent for mimicking guitar styles. Later in 1963, he joined the Tridents, a band from the Chiswick area. "They were really my scene because they were playing flat-out R&B, like Jimmy Reed stuff, and we supercharged it all up and made it really rocky. I got off on that, even though it was only twelve-bar blues." He was a session guitarist on a 1964 Parlophone single by the Fitz and Startz titled "I'm Not Running Away", with B-side "So Sweet".
In March 1965, Beck was recruited by the Yardbirds to succeed Eric Clapton on the recommendation of fellow session musician Jimmy Page, who had been their initial choice. The Yardbirds recorded most of their Top 40 hit songs during Beck's short but significant 20-month tenure with the band allowing him only one full album, which became known as Roger the Engineer (titled Over Under Sideways Down in the US), released in 1966. In May 1966, Beck recorded an instrumental titled "Beck's Bolero". Rather than members of the Yardbirds, he was backed by Page on 12-string rhythm guitar, Keith Moon on drums, John Paul Jones on bass, and Nicky Hopkins on piano. In June, Page joined the Yardbirds, at first on bass and later on second lead guitar. This dual lead-guitar lineup was filmed performing an adaptation of "Train Kept A-Rollin'", titled "Stroll On", for the 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni film Blow Up.
Beck was fired during a US tour for being a consistent no-show—as well as difficulties caused by his perfectionism and explosive temper. In 1967, he recorded several solo singles for pop producer Mickie Most, including "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Tallyman", which also included his vocals. He then formed the Jeff Beck Group, which included Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano and Aynsley Dunbar on drums (replaced by Micky Waller).[citation needed]
The group produced two albums for Columbia Records (Epic in the United States): Truth (as Jeff BecK, August 1968) and Beck-Ola (July 1969). Truth, released five months before the first Led Zeppelin album, features "You Shook Me", a song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters, also covered on the Led Zeppelin debut with a similar arrangement. It sold well (reaching No. 15 on the Billboard charts). Beck-Ola saw drummer Micky Waller replaced by Tony Newman, and, while well-received, was less successful both commercially and critically. Resentment, coupled with touring incidents, led the group to dissolve in July 1969.
In his autobiography, Nick Mason recalls that during 1967 Pink Floyd had wanted to recruit Beck to be its guitarist after the departure of Syd Barrett but "None of us had the nerve to ask him." In 1969, following the death of Brian Jones, Beck was approached about joining the Rolling Stones.
After the break-up of his group, Beck took part in the Music from Free Creek "super session" project, billed as "A.N. Other" and contributed lead guitar on four songs, including one co-written by him. In September 1969, he teamed with the rhythm section of Vanilla Fudge: bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice (when they were in England to resolve contractual issues), but when Beck fractured his skull in a car accident near Maidstone in December the plan was postponed for two and a half years, during which time Bogert and Appice formed Cactus. Beck later remarked on the 1960s period of his life: "Everyone thinks of the 1960s as something they really weren't. It was the frustration period of my life. The electronic equipment just wasn't up to the sounds I had in my head."
1970s
In 1970, when Beck had regained his health, he set about forming a band with drummer Cozy Powell. Beck, Powell and producer Mickie Most flew to the United States and recorded several tracks at Motown's famed Studio A in Hitsville U.S.A. with the Funk Brothers, Motown's in-house band, but the results remained unreleased. By April 1971 Beck had completed the line-up of this new group with guitarist/vocalist Bobby Tench, keyboard player Max Middleton and bassist Clive Chaman. The new band performed as "the Jeff Beck Group" but had a substantially different sound from the first line-up.[citation needed]
Rough and Ready
(October 1971), the first album they recorded, on which Beck wrote or
co-wrote six of the album's seven tracks (the exception being written by
Middleton), included elements of soul, rhythm-and-blues and jazz,
foreshadowing the direction Beck's music would take later in the decade.[citation needed]
A second album Jeff Beck Group (July 1972) was recorded at TMI studios in Memphis, Tennessee with the same personnel. Beck employed Steve Cropper as producer and the album displayed a strong soul influence, five of the nine tracks being covers of songs by American artists. One, "I Got to Have a Song", was the first of four Stevie Wonder compositions covered by Beck. Shortly after the release of the Jeff Beck Group album, the band was dissolved and Beck's management put out the statement that: "The fusion of the musical styles of the various members has been successful within the terms of individual musicians, but they didn't feel it had led to the creation of a new musical style with the strength they had originally sought."
Beck then started collaborating with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice, who became available following the demise of Cactus but continued touring as the Jeff Beck Group in August 1972, to fulfill contractual obligations with his promoter, with a line-up including Bogert, Appice, Max Middleton and vocalist Kim Milford. After six appearances Milford was replaced by Bobby Tench, who was flown in from the UK for the Arie Crown Theatre Chicago performance and the rest of the tour, which concluded at the Paramount North West Theatre, Seattle. After the tour Tench and Middleton left the band and the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice emerged. Appice took on the role of vocalist with Bogert and Beck contributing occasionally.
They were included on the bill for Rock at The Oval in September 1972, still as "the Jeff Beck Group," which marked the start of a tour schedule of UK, the Netherlands and Germany. Another U.S. tour began in October 1972, starting at the Hollywood Sportatorium Florida and concluding on 11 November 1972 at The Warehouse, New Orleans. In April 1973 the album Beck, Bogert & Appice was released (on Epic Records). While critics acknowledged the band's instrumental prowess the album was not commercially well received except for its cover of Stevie Wonder's hit "Superstition".
On 3 July 1973 Beck joined David Bowie onstage to perform "The Jean Genie"/"Love Me Do" and "Around and Around." The show was recorded and filmed, but none of the released editions included Beck. During October 1973 Beck recorded tracks for Michael Fennelly's album Lane Changer and attended sessions with Hummingbird, a band derived from the Jeff Beck Group, but did not to contribute to their eponymous first album.
Early in January 1974 Beck, Bogert & Appice played at the Rainbow Theatre, as part of a European tour. The concert was broadcast in full on the US show Rock Around the World in September of the same year. This last recorded work by the band previewed material intended for a second studio album, included on the bootleg At Last Rainbow. The tracks "Blues Deluxe" and "BBA Boogie" from this concert were later included on the Jeff Beck compilation Beckology (1991).
Beck, Bogert & Appice dissolved in April 1974 before their second studio album (produced by Jimmy Miller) was finished. Their live album Beck, Bogert & Appice Live in Japan, recorded during their 1973 tour of Japan, was not released until February 1975 by Epic/Sony.[citation needed]
After a few months Beck entered Underhill Studio and met with the group Upp, whom he recruited as backing band for his appearance on the BBC TV programme Guitar Workshop in August 1974. Beck produced and played on their self-titled debut album and their second album This Way Upp, though his contributions to the second album went uncredited. In October Beck began to record instrumentals at AIR Studios with Max Middleton, bassist Phil Chen and drummer Richard Bailey, using George Martin as producer and arranger.[citation needed]
Jeff Beck's solo album Blow by Blow (March 1975) evolved from these sessions and showcased Beck's technical prowess in jazz-rock. The album reached number four in the charts and is Beck's most commercially successful release. Beck, fastidious about overdubs and often dissatisfied with his solos, often returned to AIR Studios until he was satisfied. A couple of months after the sessions had finished producer George Martin received a telephone call from Beck, who wanted to record a solo section again. Bemused, Martin replied: "I'm sorry, Jeff, but the record is in the shops!"
Beck put together a live band for a US tour, preceded by a small and unannounced gig at The Newlands Tavern in Peckham, London. He toured through April and May 1975, mostly supporting the Mahavishnu Orchestra, retaining Max Middleton on keyboards but with a new rhythm section of bassist Wilbur Bascomb and noted session drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie.
In a May 1975 show in Cleveland, Ohio (Music Hall), he became frustrated with an early version of a talk box he used on his arrangement of the Beatles' "She's a Woman", and after breaking a string, tossed his legendary Yardbirds-era Stratocaster guitar off the stage. He did the same with the talk box and finished the show playing a Les Paul and without the box. During this tour he performed at Yuya Uchida's "World Rock Festival", playing a total of eight songs with Purdie. In addition he performed a guitar and drum instrumental with Johnny Yoshinaga and, at the end of the festival, joined in a live jam with bassist Felix Pappalardi of Mountain and vocalist Akira "Joe" Yamanaka from the Flower Travellin' Band. Only his set with Purdie was recorded and released.[citation needed]
He returned to the studio and recorded Wired (1976), which paired ex-Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer and composer Narada Michael Walden and keyboardist Jan Hammer. The album used a jazz-rock fusion style, which sounded similar to the work of his two collaborators. To promote the album, Beck joined forces with the Jan Hammer Group, playing a show supporting Alvin Lee at The Roundhouse in May 1976, before embarking on a seven-month-long world tour. This resulted in the live album Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live (1977).[citation needed]
At this point, Beck was a tax exile and took up residency in the US, remaining there until his return to the UK in the autumn of 1977. In the spring of 1978, he began rehearsing with ex-Return to Forever bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Gerry Brown towards a projected appearance at the Knebworth Festival, but this was cancelled after Brown dropped out. Beck toured Japan for three weeks in November 1978 with an ad hoc group consisting of Clarke and newcomers Tony Hymas (keyboards) and Simon Phillips (drums) from Jack Bruce's band.[citation needed]
Work then began on a new studio album at the Who's Ramport Studios in London and continued sporadically throughout 1979, resulting in There & Back in June 1980. It featured three tracks composed and recorded with Jan Hammer, while five were written with Hymas. Stanley Clarke was replaced by Mo Foster on bass, both on the album and the subsequent tours. Its release was followed by extensive touring in the US, Japan and the UK.[citation needed]
1980s
In 1981 Beck made a series of historic live appearances with his Yardbirds predecessor Eric Clapton at the Amnesty International-sponsored benefit concerts dubbed The Secret Policeman's Other Ball shows. He appeared with Clapton on "Crossroads", "Further on up the Road", and his own arrangement of Stevie Wonder's "Cause We've Ended As Lovers". Beck also featured prominently in an all-star band finale performance of "I Shall Be Released" with Clapton, Sting, Phil Collins, Donovan and Bob Geldof. Beck's contributions were seen and heard in the resulting album and film, both of which achieved worldwide success in 1982. Another benefit show, the ARMS Concert for multiple sclerosis featured a jam with Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. They performed "Tulsa Time" and "Layla". In 1985 Beck released Flash, featuring a variety of vocalists, but most notably former bandmate Rod Stewart on a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready. The aforementioned cover song was also released as a single which went on to become a hit. A video was made for the track and the clip achieved heavy rotation on MTV. The two also played a few dates together during this time but a full tour in tandem never materialized. At Stewart's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, Beck gave the induction speech, saying of Stewart, "We have a love hate relationship – he loves me and I hate him." During this period, Beck made several guest appearances with other performers, including the movie Twins, where he played guitar with singer Nicolette Larson.
After a four-year break, he made a return to instrumental music with the album Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop (1989), the first album to feature Beck as a fingerstyle guitarist, leaving the plectrum playing style. It was only his third album to be released in the 1980s. Much of Beck's sparse and sporadic recording schedule was due in part to a long battle with tinnitus.
1990s
In the 1990s, Beck had a higher musical output. He contributed to Jon Bon Jovi's solo debut album "Blaze of Glory" in 1990, playing the main solo of the album's title song, which was also the theme song to the movie Young Guns II. The same year, he was a featured performer on Hans Zimmer's score for the film Days of Thunder. He played lead guitar on Roger Waters' 1992 concept album Amused to Death, and on the 1993 albums The Red Shoes by Kate Bush and Love Scenes by Beverley Craven. He recorded the instrumental soundtrack album Frankie's House (1992), as well as Crazy Legs (1993), a tribute album to 1950s rockabilly group Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps and their influential guitarist Cliff Gallup.
Beck rehearsed with Guns N' Roses for their concert in Paris in 1992, but did not play in the actual concert due to ear damage caused by a Matt Sorum cymbal crash, causing Beck to become temporarily deaf. The Yardbirds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. In Beck's acceptance speech he humorously noted that:
Someone told me I should be proud tonight ... But I'm not, because they kicked me out. ... They did ... Fuck them!
He accompanied Paul Rodgers of Bad Company on the album Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters in 1993. Beck's next release was in 1999, his first foray into guitar based electronica, Who Else!. The album also marked Beck's first collaboration with a female musician, Jennifer Batten, in touring, writing, and recording as well as the first time he had worked with another guitarist on his own material since playing in the Yardbirds. Beck continued to work with Batten through the post-release tour of You Had It Coming in 2001.
2000s
Beck won his third Grammy Award, this one for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance' for the track "Dirty Mind" from You Had It Coming (2000).
The song "Plan B" from the 2003 release Jeff, earned Beck his fourth Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, and was proof that the new electro-guitar style he used for the two earlier albums would continue to dominate. Beck was the opening act for B.B. King in the summer of 2003 and appeared at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2004. Additionally in 2004, Beck was featured on the song "54-46 Was My Number" by Toots and the Maytals as part of the album True Love which won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.
The song "Hot Rod Honeymoon", also from the album Jeff, featured in the soundtrack of Gran Turismo 4.
In 2007, he accompanied Kelly Clarkson for her cover of Patty Griffin's "Up to the Mountain", during the Idol Gives Back episode of American Idol. The performance was recorded live and afterwards was immediately released for sale. In the same year, he appeared once again at Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, performing with Vinnie Colaiuta, Jason Rebello, and the then 21-year-old bassist Tal Wilkenfeld.
Beck announced a world tour in early 2009 and remained faithful to the same lineup of musicians as in his tour two years before, playing and recording at Ronnie Scott's in London to a sold-out audience. Beck played on the song "Black Cloud" on the 2009 Morrissey album Years of Refusal and later that year, Harvey Goldsmith became Beck's manager.
Beck was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 4 April 2009, as a solo artist. The award was presented by Jimmy Page. Beck performed "Train Kept A-Rollin'" along with Page, Ronnie Wood, Joe Perry, Flea, and Metallica members James Hetfield, Robert Trujillo, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Jason Newsted.
On 4 July 2009, David Gilmour joined Beck onstage at the Albert Hall. Beck and Gilmour traded solos on "Jerusalem" and closed the show with "Hi Ho Silver Lining".
2010s
Beck's album, Emotion & Commotion, was released in April 2010. It features a mixture of original songs and covers such as "Over the Rainbow" and "Nessun Dorma". Joss Stone and Imelda May provided some of the guest vocals. Two tracks from Emotion & Commotion won Grammy Awards in 2011: "Nessun Dorma" won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, and "Hammerhead" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Beck collaborated on "Imagine" for the 2010 Herbie Hancock album, The Imagine Project along with Seal, P!nk, India.Arie, Konono N°1, Oumou Sangare and others and received a third Grammy in 2011 for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for the track.
Beck's 2010 World Tour band featured Grammy-winning musician Narada Michael Walden on drums, Rhonda Smith on bass and Jason Rebello on keyboards. He has also released a live album titled Live and Exclusive from the Grammy Museum on 25 October 2010. On 9 June 2010 Beck with Imelda May's band recorded a DVD named Rock 'n' Roll Party (Honoring Les Paul), of a concert at the Iridium in NYC featuring several Les Paul songs (with Ms May doing the Mary Ford vocals).
In 2011, Beck received two honorary degrees from British universities. On 18 July 2011, he was honoured with a fellowship from University of the Arts London in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to the field of Music". On 21 July 2011 Beck was also presented with an honorary doctorate from University of Sussex (by Sanjeev Bhaskar, the university's chancellor), stating the honour acknowledged "an outstanding musical career and celebrated the relationship between the university and the Brighton Institute of Modern Music(BIMM)".
In 2013, it was announced that he would be performing on Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson's solo album (alongside Beach Boys Al Jardine and David Marks) on Capitol Records. On 20 June, Wilson's website announced that the material might be split into three albums; one of new pop songs, another of mostly instrumental tracks with Beck, and another of interwoven tracks dubbed "the suite". Beck also accompanied Wilson (along with Jardine and Marks) on an eighteen date fall 2013 tour which started in late September and ended in late October (prior which, Beck made clear he regarded sharing the stage with Wilson as a complete honor for him).
In 2014, to mark the beginning of Jeff's World Tour in Japan, a three-track CD titled Yosogai was released on 5 April; the album had yet to be finalized at the time of the tour. In November 2014 he accompanied Joss Stone at The Royal British Legion's Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall. He released album Loud Hailer in 2016.
2020s
On 16 April 2020 Beck released a new single, in which Beck collaborated with Johnny Depp to cover John Lennon's song "Isolation", explaining that this was a first record release from an ongoing musical collaboration between the two men. They had been recording music together for some time, with the track being produced the year before, but Beck explained that the decision to release it was influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns: "We weren't expecting to release it so soon but given all the hard days and true 'isolation' that people are going through in these challenging times, we decided now might be the right time to let you all hear it".
On 2 June 2022 Beck appeared in the news, after Depp appeared with him at The Sage in Gateshead, following his victory in the high-profile defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Both also had performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London earlier in the week. Beck and Depp's first single from their collaborative album 18, titled "This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr", was announced on 10 June 2022.
Beck is featured on two tracks from Ozzy Osbourne's album released on 24 June 2022; the title track "Patient Number 9" and "A Thousand Shades".
Style and influence
Described by Rolling Stone as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock", Jeff Beck has cited his major influences as Les Paul, the Shadows, Cliff Gallup, Ravi Shankar, Roy Buchanan, Chet Atkins, Django Reinhardt, Steve Cropper and Lonnie Mack. Of John McLaughlin, Beck said: "[he] has given us so many different facets of the guitar and introduced thousands of us to world music, by blending Indian music with jazz and classical. I'd say he was the best guitarist alive."
According to musicologist and historian Bob Gulla, Beck is credited for popularising the use of audio feedback and distortion in rock guitar. Prior to Beck's arrival, guitar playing generally conformed to the "clean, bright, and jangly" sounds of early-1960s British Invasion bands or the bluesy aesthetic of 1950s African-American performers like Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley. During his short time with the Yardbirds, Beck's experimentation with feedback, distortion, and "fuzz" tone "pushed the band into directions that would open the door for psychedelic rock" while "jolt[ing] British rock forward", according to Gulla. While Beck was not the first rock guitarist to experiment with electronic distortion, he nonetheless helped to redefine the sound and role of the electric guitar in rock music. Beck's work with the Yardbirds and the Jeff Beck Group's 1968 album Truth were seminal influences on heavy metal music, which emerged in full force in the early 1970s. Gulla identifies one of Beck's characteristic traits to be his sense of pitch, particularly in exercising the whammy bar to create sounds ranging from "nose-diving bombs to subtle, perfectly pitched harmonic melodies".
According to guitarist and author Jack Wilkins, Beck is regarded alongside Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton as one of his generation's greatest guitarists, receiving praise for his technical skill and versatile playing. Stephen Thomas Erlewine finds him to be "as innovative as Jimmy Page, as tasteful as Eric Clapton, and nearly as visionary as Jimi Hendrix", although unable to achieve their mainstream success, "primarily because of the haphazard way he approached his career" while often lacking a star singer to help make his music more accessible. On his recorded output by 1991, Erlewine remarked that "never has such a gifted musician had such a spotty discography", believing Beck had largely released "remarkably uneven" solo records and only "a few terrific albums". In Christgau's Record Guide (1981), Robert Christgau essentialised Beck as "a technician" and questioned his ability to "improvise long lines, or jazz it up with a modicum of delicacy, or for that matter get funky", although he later observed a "customary focus, loyalty, and consistency of taste".
In 2015, Beck was ranked No. 5 in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists". In an accompanying essay, guitarist Mike Campbell applauded Beck for his "brilliant technique" and "personality" in his playing, including a sense of humor expressed through the growl of his wah-wah effects. Campbell also credited Beck with expanding the boundaries of the blues, particularly on his two collaborations with Stewart.
Technique and equipment
Beck stopped regular use of a pick in the 1980s. He produces a wide variety of sounds by using his thumb to pluck the strings, his ring finger on the volume knob and his little finger on the vibrato bar on his signature Fender Stratocaster. By plucking a string and then 'fading in' the sound with the volume knob he creates a unique sound that can resemble a human voice, among other effects. He frequently uses a wah-wah pedal both live and in the studio. Eric Clapton once said, "With Jeff, it's all in his hands".
Along with Stratocasters, Beck occasionally plays Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul models as well. His amplifiers are primarily Fender and Marshall. In his earlier days with the Yardbirds, Beck also used a 1954 Fender Esquire guitar (now owned by Seymour W. Duncan, and housed in the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) through Vox AC30s. He has also played through a variety of fuzz pedals and echo units along with this set-up and has used the Pro Co RAT distortion pedal. The pickup is based on a Gibson pickup rewound by Duncan and used in a salvaged Telecaster dubbed the "Tele-Gib" which he had constructed as a gift to Beck. Scott Morgan of the Rationals, who at one point shared a dressing room with the Yardbirds, recalls how Beck amplified his lead guitar through a Vox Superbeetle while using banjo strings for the unwound G string on his guitar because "they didn't make sets with an unwound G at that point."
During the ARMS Charity Concerts in 1983 Beck used his battered Fender Esquire along with a 1954 Stratocaster and a Jackson Soloist. On Crazy Legs (1993) he played a Gretsch Duo Jet, his signature Stratocaster and various other guitars. In 2007, Fender created a Custom Shop Tribute series version of his beat-up Fender Esquire as well as his Artist Signature series Stratocaster.
Personal life
Beck has been married to Sandra Beck since 2005 and has been a vegetarian since 1969. He is a patron of the Folly Wildlife Rescue Trust. He has an interest in classic Ford hot rods, performing much of the work on the exteriors and engines of the cars by himself. Beck has a house near Wadhurst, East Sussex.
Awards
Beck is the winner of eight Grammy awards, the first being Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Escape" from the album Flash at the 1986 Grammys.
Grammy Awards
Information is taken from Grammy.com.
- 1976 – Best Pop Instrumental Performance – Wired – (nominee)
- 1985 – Best Rock Instrumental Performance – "Escape" – (winner)
- 1989 – Best Rock Instrumental Performance – Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop with Terry Bozzio & Tony Hymas – (winner)
- 1992 – Best Rock Instrumental Performance – "Hound Dog" (track) – (nominee)
- 1993 – Best Rock Instrumental Performance – "Hi-Heel Sneakers" (track) – (nominee)
- 1999 – Best Pop Instrumental Performance – "A Day In The Life" (track) - (nominee)
- 1999 - Best Rock Instrumental Performance - "What Mama Said" (track) – (nominee)
- 2001 – Best Rock Instrumental Performance – "Dirty Mind" – (winner)
- 2003 – Best Rock Instrumental Performance – "Plan B" – (winner)
- 2009 – Best Rock Instrumental Performance – "A Day In The Life" – (winner)
- 2010 – Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals – "Imagine" – (winner)
- 2010 – Best Pop Instrumental Performance – "Nessun Dorma" – (winner)
- 2010 – Best Rock Instrumental Performance – "Hammerhead" – (winner)
- 2010 – Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals – "I Put A Spell On You" – (nominee)
- 2010 – Best Rock Album – Emotion & Commotion – (nominee)
- 2011 – Best Rock Album – Rock 'N' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul – (nominee)
Discography
Studio albums
- Truth (1968)
- Beck-Ola (1969) (by the Jeff Beck Group)
- Rough and Ready (1971) (by the Jeff Beck Group)
- Jeff Beck Group (1972) (by the Jeff Beck Group)
- Blow by Blow (1975)
- Wired (1976)
- There & Back (1980)
- Flash (1985)
- Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop (1989)
- Who Else! (1999)
- You Had It Coming (2000)
- Jeff (2003)
- Emotion & Commotion (2010)
- Loud Hailer (2016)
Collaborative albums
- Beck, Bogert & Appice (1973) (by Beck, Bogert & Appice)
- Frankie's House (1992) (with Jed Leiber)
- Crazy Legs (1993) (with the Big Town Playboys)
- 18 (2022) (with Johnny Depp)
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Ambitious - Jeff Beck (Studio Version) + Download in description4:39
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Jeff Beck Gets Us All In The End6:07
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