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Jeff
Beck
World's
Greatest Guitar Master
Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck isn't your
typical guitar legend. His goal, in fact, is to make you forget that he
plays guitar.
"I don't understand why some people will only accept a guitar if it
has an instantly recognizable guitar sound," says Beck. "Finding
ways to use the same guitar people have been using for 50 years to make
sounds that no one has heard before is truly what gets me off. I love it
when people hear my music but canít figure out what instrument Iím
playing. What a cool compliment."
Beck burst onto the music scene in 1966 after joining the Yardbirds. Although
his stint with the band lasted only 18 months, Beck played on almost all
of the group's hits. More importantly, Beck's innovative style heard on
classics like "Heart Full of Soul" and "Shapes of Things"
helped influence the psychedelic sound of the 1960s.
At the height of the Yardbirds' popularity in 1967, Beck left the group
and embarked upon unpredictable journey of musical discovery that has lasted
nearly four-decades as an Epic recording artist. During that time, Beck
has left his distinctive mark on hard rock, jazz-fusion and modern music
history.
While many of his contemporaries are satisfied with musical inertia, Beck
continues to add to his legacy as an innovator with the release of his 14th
album, simply titled "Jeff." Produced by Andy Wright (Simply Red,
Eurythmics) and mixed by Mike Barbiero (Blues Traveler, Metallica), the
13 songs on "Jeff" reflect how Beck's fascination with electronic
music continues to evolve.
"On my last album, 'Who Else!,' I spent a lot of time in the studio
with Andy Wright just toying around with different sounds. We had a great
time, but I bogged down in the possibilities," says Beck, who earned
a Grammy for instrumental performance for the song "Dirty Mind"
from that album. "When I went back to the studio for 'Jeff,' I didn't
want to get bogged down again so I brought in a few people to help push
us along."
Although they only met when the album was almost finished, Beck says David
Torn of the New York trip-hop group Splattercell became an important collaborator.
Much to Beck's delight, Torn gutted an early version of the song, "Plan
B." Dave ripped the vocals out straight away and made my guitar line
the song's main hook. "That's what I should have done in the first
place, but it takes a remix guy to come along and put a different spin on
what you're doing," he says. "The instant I heard Dave's album
with Splattercell, I wanted him to dismember one of my songs, and he came
through beautifully."
While working on the album at Metropolis Studio, Beck met Liverpudlian electronic
trio Apollo 440 programmers Howard Gray, his brother Trevor and guitarist
Noko Fisher-Jones. Before long, Beck had recorded three songs using the
group's rhythms.
"When we first met, they wrote me one of those amazing ënail your
head to the wallí kinds of grooves that theyíre famous for
and I ate it up,î says Beck. ìI played off that track for two
hours and wound up writing 'Grease Monkey' around their groove."
Finding inspiration in a unique rhythm track is how songs like "Dirty
Mind" from "Who Else!" and "Psycho Sam" from "Who
Else!" were written, says Beck. "I play guitar, but that's rarely
my starting point," he explains. "The drums have to kick me in
the ass and make me want to play or Iíll just sit there all day.
Sure, I can write a song on guitar and then try to add drums in later, but
it never sounds quite right. For me, a good song has to begin with an inspiring
rhythm."
Another Apollo 440 rhythm track provided the spark for "Hot Rod Honeymoon,"
which juxtaposes a raging club beat against 60s surf-pop harmonies and blues
slide guitar. The unexpected contrast gives the song a fresh edge. "If
I used a shuffle on this song, which is the kind of beat you would expect
to hear, it would have killed the song instantly,î explains Beck.
ìInstead, the Apollo guys and I came up with a tongue-in-cheek Beach
Boys song complete with techno-drums and screaming guitar, which I think
sounds more interesting."
With its haunting melody anchored by Beck's violin-like tone and a 40-piece
orchestra, Bulgariana traditional folk song arranged by Beck and Wright
is one of the guitarist's most majestic songs. At the other end of the spectrum
is the album ís wildest ride, "Trouble Man." Beck starts
out by coaxing numb-tongue mumbles from his Fender Stratocaster before launching
into a mercurial solo that soars, spirals out of control and crashes into
a pulsating heap of noise that sounds like an overdriven modem. The song,
like much of Beck's work, creates an atmosphere of violent elegance by pitting
the raw emotions of the heart against the calculated technique of the mind.
A rare breed of guitarist like Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix, Beck is not
only compelling for what he plays, but for how he plays it. While some guitar
players use racks of gear to create sound, Beck prefers a simple, natural
approach that emphasizes manual dexterity over gadgets. As Eric Clapton
once said, "With Jeff, it's all in his hands."
Like few guitarists before him, Beck plays the entire guitar. Using his
fingers instead of a guitar pick for greater speed and control over the
fretboard, Beck adds deft twists of the volume and tone knobs to shape the
notes as heís playing them and further bends sounds into a rubbery
tangle with his controlled cruelty on the whammy bar. "I play the way
I do because it allows me to come up with the sickest sounds possible. That
ís the point now isn't it?" says Beck with a wicked grin. "I
don't care about the rules. In fact, if I don't break the rules at least
10 times in every song then I'm not doing my job properly."
ELECTRONIC ROOTS
Beck started his career by exploring the heavier side of rock before switching
gears in 1975 with the groundbreaking instrumental jazz-fusion albums, "Blow
By Blow" and "Wired ."
Produced by Sir George Martin, famed producer of The Beatles, the two albums
shattered peopleís preconceptions of what a rock guitarist was supposed
to sound like. By fusing the complexity of progressive rock and improvisatory
freedom of jazz with intergalactic guitar tones and a sense of humor, Beck
opened up the horizon for future guitar instrumentalists like Steve Vai
and Joe Satriani.
In the wake of those two albums, Beck became increasingly interested in
the possibilities of electronic music thanks to his collaborations with
former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboardist, Jan Hammer. On stage, Hammer's
legendary mastery of the Mini-Moog synthesizer imbued Beck classics like
Freeway Jam and Blue Wind with a funky, other-worldly aura that was ahead
of its time. Looking back on the tour for Wired documented on Jeff Beck
with the Jan Hammer Group Live (1978) Beck says the shows left some in the
audience scratching their heads.
"I don't suppose many people knew what the hell was happening on stage,"
says Beck. "I can tell you it was an exciting electric time for us
as musicians because we were pushing the music in new directions. At the
time, I think we were a little out there for most people, but when you look
back now it sounds like we were on to something."
Although their partnership only lasted a few years, Beck says Hammer continues
to inspire him to search out and use new sounds in his music. "The
way Jan used technology really turned my head around and opened up a new
world for me," says Beck. "He made me realize that things are
always changing and you can't sit still. You have to keep your ears wide
open to hear whatís going on or the music will pass you by."
BACKGROUND
Born on 24th June 1944, just before the end of World War II, Beck grew up
in Wallington, England. His motherís piano playing and the familyís
radio tuned to everything from dance to classical made sure Beck was surrounded
by music from a young age.
"For my parents, who lived through the war, music was a source of comfort
to them. Life was tense and music helped them forget about their troubles.
I'm sure that made an impression on me," recalls Beck. "I was
really small when jazz broke through in England and I can still remember
sneaking off to the living room to listen to it on the radio "much
to my parentís disapproval."
Inspired by the music he heard, it wasnít long before Beck picked
up a guitar and began playing around London. He briefly attended Wimbledon's
Art College before leaving to devote all of his time to music. Beck worked
as a session player, with Screaming Lord Sutchóthe British equivalent
to Screaming Jay Hawkins and the Tridents before he replaced Eric Clapton
as the Yardbirds' lead guitarist in 1965.
Beck left the band in 1967 and formed The Jeff Beck Group, which featured
Rod Stewart on vocals and Ron Wood on bass. The band released two albums
Truth (1968) and Beck-Ola (1969) that became musical touchstones for hard
rockers in the years to come.
Stewart and Wood left to join the Faces and Beck disbanded the group until
1971 when he formed a new version of the band and recorded two albums Rough
and Ready (1971) and The Jeff Beck Group (1972). Beck again dissolved the
group and formed a power trio with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine
Appice, which released Beck, Bogert and Appice (1973).
Veering away from hard rock, Beck created two landmark jazz-fusion albums
Blow By Blow (1975) and Wired (1976). The all-instrumental albums were a
critical and popular success and remain two of the top-selling guitar instrumental
albums of all time. The live album, Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group
Liveî followed in 1977.
Music may have been one of Beck's earliest passions but it has always shared
space with a love of hot rods that began as soon as he could see over the
dashboard. After the success Blow By Blow and Wired, Beck began devoting
more time to his fleet of hot rods. "I like the studio because it's
delicate; you're working for sound. I like the garage because chopping up
lumps of steel is the exact opposite of delicate," explains Beck. "The
garage is a more dangerous place though. I've never almost been crushed
by a guitar, but I can't say the same about one of my Corvettes."
Beck returned in 1980 with There and Back, but he wouldnít be heard
from again until 1985's Flash, which earned him the Best Rock Instrumental
Grammy his first for the song Escape. Beck re-emerged from semi-retirement
in 1989 with Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop with Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas. The
album earned him his second Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental. After a co-headlining
tour with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Beck gave retirement another try, but it didn't
last.
Beck returned to the studio in 1993 backed by the Big Town Playboys to record
Crazy Legs, a tribute to seminal rockabilly artist Gene Vincent and his
guitarist Cliff Gallup. Six years passed before the release of Who Else!
(1999) but the album opened a relative floodgate of music by Beck standards.
It only took two years before You Had It Coming , (2001), which earned Beck
his third Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental for the song Dirty Mind.
To support his latest album "Jeff", Beck returned to the road
in the summer of 2003 on a coast-to-coast tour with blues legend B.B. King
on the 12th Annual B.B. King Music Festival. The landmark event, presented
by VH1 Classic, also featured New Orleans-based progressive funk outfit
Galactic and up-and-coming Florida-bred murky blues band Mofro. An official
bootleg Live at B.B. King Blues Club was recorded in the New York club in
September 2003, and released for online retail only at www.jeffbeckmusic.com.
This summer Jeff Beck undertakes his first UK tour since 1990. Fresh from
the success of picking up his fourth Grammy award (for Plan B from the album
"Jeff"), the ground-breaking guitarist promises a set that reflects
the eclectic musical mix that is his trademark.
From mixing rock and jazz to produce seminal albums like Blow By Blow and
Wired, to incorporating eastern, classical and blues influences, you can
expect innovative visits to his extensive back catalogue as well as revealing
glimpses of his next project featuring a string section.
For THIS and much more information on Guitar Legend, Jeff Beck, please visit
his site:
Ref. www.jeffbeck.com
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