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"Jeff Beck Commemorates Les Paul's 95th Birthday"
Eloquent Guitar, Quiet Man- Wall Street Journal.
By JIM FUSILLI
Scranton, Pa.
The covenant between guitarist Jeff Beck and his audience is the same as it's been for most of his four-decade professional career. With little concession to show business or shifting musical trends, Mr. Beck mounts the stage, as he did here on Monday night, plays brilliantly, says good night and leaves. What we get for 80 minutes or so is his perfect attack, impeccable control, diverse sonic palette, and music that's both savage and beautiful. Would that everything in life were so direct and so thoroughly achieved.
Mr. Beck is in the U.S. for a tour that began here and concludes on April 23 in Oakland. (For more information, visit www.jeffbeck.com.) On Saturday, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the second time, now as a bandleader and solo artist; in 1992, he was installed, along with Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and others, as a member of the Yardbirds. There's something satisfying about the recognition he's received, which is for his playing rather than his pursuit of celebrity or his record sales. Even to his fans, the reticent Mr. Beck is less well known than those other '60s rock-guitar gods or his contemporaries in the Rolling Stones, who tried to recruit him prior to signing Ron Wood, a former Beck employee as was singer Rod Stewart.
By most accounts, when he's not playing music, the 64-year-old Mr. Beck would rather be home tinkering with his collection of vintage hot rods, which is no way to build celebrity. He was carrying his own guitar when I ran into him in the lobby of the hotel here. When I mentioned his double recognition by the Hall of Fame, he said with an impish smile, "I guess I can't cry for sympathy anymore."
At the Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple, Mr. Beck and his band replicated much of the set that's on their recent album "Performing This Week . . . Live at Ronnie Scott's" (Eagle) and on the separate DVD of the same name that features two performances with Mr. Clapton. While Mr. Beck played with relative restraint at Ronnie Scott's, a London jazz club that seats 250 people, at the midsize venue here he emphasized power and volume, often locking in with bassist Tal Wilkenfeld before unleashing a blizzard of notes in the upper register while drummer Vinnie Colaiuta slugged away. Every now and then, he would play a complex line in unison with keyboardist Jason Rebello before soaring away on his own, the band staring at him for a cue that he was about to charge elsewhere.
[Jeff Beck] Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
Jeff Beck at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But Mr. Beck's brand of jazz fusion is characterized by much more than brute force. He's the rare musician who infuses his heavy sound with a dollop of humor -- often expressed as an impossibly fast and knotty run, a stop-on-a-dime shift in direction or a sly, unexpected phrase.
Compact and fit with a rooster-like crop of bottle-black hair, a sleeveless shirt, leather pants and scuffed boots, Mr. Beck still resembles the rabble-rouser he was in his youth, and there's a faint touch of boyish joy in his stage presence. It emerged when he surprised himself with a dazzling bit of improvisation. His band mates often smiled at him while he played, as if amazed at his daring. When he was delighted, he let go of the guitar, raised his arms at his sides and laughed out loud. At a song's end, he put a little powder on his hands and then he went back to work, rarely allowing more than 30 seconds between numbers.
Mr. Beck didn't abandon his delicate side. Stevie Wonder's "Cause We've Ended as Lovers," which is probably Mr. Beck's signature song by now, was tender and piercing as the guitarist engaged in a bit of call-and-response with himself prior to a solo by Ms. Wilkenfeld, a wunderkind who's in her early 20s. The reggae number "Behind the Veil" found Mr. Beck plucking little notes to set up a rubbery solo as Mr. Colaiuta added clever accents on his cymbals. Later, on "Angels (Footsteps)," Mr. Beck displayed his control by playing slide guitar in the lower register as the song unfolded, then issuing notes that sounded like tweeting birds as the band withdrew. Mr. Beck's reading of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life," in which he manages to generate all the dark whimsy and chaos of the original, earned him a standing ovation.
For Mr. Beck's first encore, he and Mr. Rebello played "Where Were You," a song so delicate it's almost brittle. When the band returned, Mr. Beck and Ms. Wilkenfeld dueted on the same bass -- as he established a pattern, she soloed above. A surprise reading of Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn Theme," with a quote from Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" tucked in the middle, closed the show. Prior to the "Gunn Theme," Mr. Beck went to a microphone set at the side of the unadorned stage. "Thank you so much," he said, uttering the only words he spoke other than when he introduced the band. Minutes later, he left the concert hall where he'd said so much with his performance.
Jeff Beck @ Palais Theatre, Melbourne (27/1/09).
Gig Review by Andy Tait, 31st January, 2009
The night started off with Australian guitar virtuoso Jeff Lang and his bass player, a fine choice of support for Jeff Beck. It’s easy to draw parallels between Jeff and Jeff, both possessing outstanding guitar technique and, of course, the same first name, but it’s more important than that. Both are songwriters and they use their virtuosity to enhance their songs. This shows through for Jeff Lang on tracks like The Road is Not Your Only Friend, inspired by banjo players to the point where his guitar sounded like a banjo, and the nice steel lap guitar work on Some Memories Never Die.
After Jeff (1) departed, Jeff (2) and co took to the stage, opening with Jeff’s Bolero (anyone else sick of seeing the word ‘Jeff’?), which made for a pretty fine opener. Speaking of Beck, for a guy in his sixties he’s in pretty good shape, but more importantly he plays just as good as ever. Speaking of his playing, it’s just like Eric ‘Captain Boring’ Clapton says; it’s all in his hands. In fact I even saw him continuing a solo while shaking out a cramp in his right hand. But the important difference between Beck and other so-called guitar virtuosos is that Beck knows when to show off and when to play melody, he doesn’t fill every second with a torrent of notes. When he does it’s not to excess, i.e.: soloing with his teeth every five minutes. Such as in the cover of Goodbye Porkpie Hat , in which he took a solo with just his left hand, he had this big old happy grin which was just adorable. His band mates have the same mentality as Beck, they’re there mainly to entertain and have fun, not just to show off. Of special note was bass player Tal Wilkenfeld, acting more like a rhythm guitarist that just a bassist on songs like Led Boots ; although the drummer and keyboardist were both quite good, with the keyboardist playing a fine solo during Blue Wind . Speaking of his band mates he’s clearly enthralled by them; at one point getting down on his knees and faux-worshiping the bassist, and during the final bow out he stepped aside and applauded them.
Alas the night had to come to an end, and parhaps as a reference to Neil Young’s choice of ending song at BDO, Beck&Co. also finished with an amazing version of A Day In The Life. After a standing ovation, and two encores with one song apiece, finally Beck and Co huddled together and took a bow, with Beck thanking the audience (the third time of the night in which he spoke, not that he needs to, he could probably order a cup of coffee using nothing but his guitar and left hand), and departed the stage.
In short and without so much of my verbose Jeff Beck ass-worshiping, he’s still got it.
Master of the singing Strat.
Reviewed by John Shand
February 2, 2009
JEFF BECK
Enmore Theatre, Sydney, January 30
THE ultimate accolade one can pay Jeff Beck's guitar playing is that he doesn't need a singer. Commercially successful instrumental rock, after all, remains a rarity, and the ex-Yardbirds guitarist has been making it work since 1975.
Just a few notes explain why: Beck makes a Fender Stratocaster sing. Yes, there's a fair dash of virtuosity and the odd moment of wanton bombast, but his sound and ideas are generally so visceral they're almost primal, with high drama being his other weapon.
Beck's playing remains rooted in the blues, and the night's finest solo came on the classic Brush With the Blues, which segued out of his striking rendering of Charles Mingus's wistful Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. Here you seemed to ride the sound as the guitar soared and twisted, always saying something, always connecting.
Beck was one of rock's archetypal lead guitarists, and still looks the part. A trim 64, he sauntered and swaggered about in leather pants, sleeveless tee-shirt and black waistcoat, striking the occasional pose, but with good humour, and always placing the music first.
He didn't say a word until he introduced the band at the end: virtuoso drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, Australian bassist Tal Wilkenfeld and keyboard player David Sancious, the latter merely placing some discreet mortar between the others' sonic bricks. Colaiuta and Wilkenfeld imbued the material with little in the way of warmth, but they obviously provide the rush of excitement Beck needs to achieve take-off.
Mirroring the recently released Performing this Week … CD, the repertoire wandered from the anthemic Beck's Bolero through his career, including songs from the classic Blow by Blow and Wired albums. For encores he offered a beautiful reading of the Beatles' A Day in the Life and then the plaintive harmonics of Where Were You.Perhaps divine intervention made the over-loud PA fail at one stage, and one could savour the softer, earthier sound straight from Marshall amp to ear.
REVIEWS FROM THE AUSTRALIAN TOUR.
REVIEWS FROM THE AUSTRALIAN TOUR………….
www.FasterLouder.com.au
Jeff Beck @ Perth Concert Hall 22/1/09
Gig Review by Jeifer, 27th January, 2009
Moving the Jeff Beck gig from Challenge Stadium to the Perth Concert Hall was a masterstroke. The added class, clarity and luxury befitted the standing of Beck, a man who has more credibility and peer-respect than any other living electric guitarist.
Pre-show, the bar was filled with tidy baby boomers who had dug their denims out of the closet and looked surprisingly cool. Most stood in groups, swigging beers from the bottle and swapping stories of gigs from their youth: Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Saxon. “Yeah, I’ve kept all my vinyl,” they said with great pride. Others sat at tables with grown sons and well-dressed wives.
But the best dressed person in the venue was Melbourne’s Jeff Lang , who plied his nimble-fingered blues / roots trade in a sharp grey suit. The Concert Hall’s acoustics were ideal for his solo set. From the get-go until the last warm, downtuned phrase of his final song, the cascade of notes coming from his lap-steel sounded like three guitarists instead of one.
Jeff Beck and his cream Stratocaster hit the stage, both looking rock-classic and fit. Beck mixed leather pants with a white cravat and a waistcoat that matched his muddled coal-black hair. He didn’t say a word. Kicking off with proud faux-military drums, Beck’s Bolero set the tone straight away. It was a melodic showcase of bends, slide, tapping and mastery of the whammy bar. All without a guitar pick in sight.
After a run-through of The Pump , they brought in the bluesy riffery of Eternity’s Breath . Drummer Vinnie Coaliuta went impressively mad while the rest of the band held down the tune’s main theme.
Moving swiftly into the funk of You Never Know , Australian bassist Tal Wilkenfeld grooved on her Sadowsky Jazz Bass with slender fingers that could very likely crush a new tennis ball into powder. Her curls swayed around her shoulders as she moved spider legs across her fretboard, exchanging glances with Beck. She might have been the only woman under 25 in the whole venue.
Beck’s classic prog-rock ballad So We’ve Ended As Lovers was what many punters came to hear, and it was the business. Its lush chords and extra-human melodies twisted feelings and moved through mixed emotions like a breakup would. A killer bass solo by Wilkenfield mixed soulfulness with literally stunning virtuosity; people were clapping and whistling before she’d even finished. The stage techs pressed the advantage with smoke and lighting that fitted the tune like a glove.
Beck led his band through moments of straight-out rock, prog fusion, reggae, illegally groove-laden funkiness and technical blues.
The gig reached its apex with the DnB / Indian-vocal cover tune Nadia , a song that gripped you with such unspeakable beauty and dance-velocity, it was like crying tears of joy at God’s own rave party. Beck’s mastery of simultaneous volume swells and micro-tonal whammy-bar precision found pockets of untapped emotion living in the gaps between the 12 standard musical notes. One guy couldn’t help himself, shouting out “Heaven!” at the song’s close, drowned out by frenzied applause.
The main set closer was a stunning cover of The Beatles A Day In The Life . A standing ovation followed.
The final encore Where Were You , with just Beck and keyboardist David Sancious was a gorgeous exhibition of harmonics and whammy; a serene and sublime close that held the recently-raucous crowd in silent thrall. After a final thankyou, Beck left the stage with his strat slung over his shoulder, like a smiling leather-clad hobo with his pack on a stick.
A neat dad in his late fifties, leaving the concert hall with his son in a Slipknot Japan Tour t-shirt and shorts, summed it all up with his single word: “beautiful”.
Only three guitarists have ever pushed solo instrumental rock albums into Billboard’s top 40, and Beck was the first. Credit that to his unique way of fusing the appealing with the technical. The guy is a legend, and this show was worth the 34-year wait.
Adelaide's Thebarton Theatre.
www.news.com.au
Jeff Beck concert at Adelaide's Thebarton Theatre
Review by MIKE GRIBBLE
January 26, 2009 01:15pm
TAKE a crystal glass ringing, a drag car screaming, a logging saw shredding, a power line howling, a steam whistle blowing...
These are the shapeshifting live sounds Jeff Beck can conjure from a single guitar.
The 64-year-old Grammy Award-winning Englishman has held nothing back in a professional career that started in 1965 when he replaced Eric Clapton as The Yardbirds' lead guitarist.
Gathering strength and recognition, he went on to form the Jeff Beck Group's multiple incarnations until his solo career – sans singers (previously the Stones' Ron Wood and soon to be The Faces singer Rod Stewart were in Beck's line-ups).
Now he powers on as a timeless rock ringmaster, dressed in long leather boots, leather pants, white T-shirt, black vest and a white scarf tied around his neck. And, sonically, he's extending the awe he created on such albums as Blow by Blow and Wired, the instrumental jazz fusion records that pushed his guitar work beyond boundaries usually propped-up and enhanced by copious technical equipment.
On stage at the Thebby, his simple, miked Fender speaker stack and two Marshall stacks propelled all his astounding bare fingerwork from an understated cream Fender stratocaster.
Variously using a slide, tone-knob controls, volume shifts and constant tweaking of a whammy bar, Beck sounds like two guitarists in unison.
"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," he has said. "I love it when people hear my music but can't figure out what instrument I'm playing.
"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."
And his seated boomer audience patiently sweltered on the floor of the tight-packed theatre as he obliterated those rules, many of his compositions framed as masterful jam sessions with lightning-speed fretwork.
He is given to dashing his left hand with talcum powder to bring the fretboard up to speed.
Beck's current style is one of an aural blender, his ear ever sharp in consuming and analysing the work of his backing bassist, drummer and keyboardist, and occasionally signalling to individual players for a particular flourish.
And his respect for the guitar is exemplified in refrains where he waits for the note's last discernible sustain to subside before acknowledging his adoring fans with a bow of the head.
During one rapturous response, he deflected the crowd's praise with a wave of the thumb over his shoulder to the band.
Aussie-born New York-raised bassist Tal Wilkenfeld, 22, was a gem as she smiled her way through snapping jazz rock solos, weaving through drummer Vinnie Colaiuta's percussion.
With signpost hints of all kinds of greats, from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker and Dick Dale to French violinist Stephane Grappelli, Beck somehow traverses their oeuvres.
His speed and accuracy seem like tricks to the eye but the ear knows better.
And if this performance was typical of his seven other Australian tour shows, the nation is in for a rare display of technical proficiency and even rarer – the cleanest stage sound in years.
An hour and three quarters of instrumental music has never been so magnetic.
- Jeff Beck,
Thebarton Theatre, Sunday
Electric, eclectic Beck in Stratosphere.
TheAge.com.au
Electric, eclectic Beck in Stratosphere
Jeff Glorfeld, January 28, 2009
JEFF BECK
The Palais Theatre, Melbourne, January 26
ALONG with his gunslinging reputation as one of the world's most innovative electric guitarists, British rock legend Jeff Beck is also known as a builder of custom hot-rod cars. His show at the Palais Theatre roared and purred and generally ran like a well-tuned, high-performance road machine on a steamy Australia Day evening in St Kilda.
Propelled by a rhythm section led by drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and bassist Tal Wilkenfeld — a 22-year-old wunderkind from Sydney; her solo during Stevie Wonder's Because We've Ended as Lovers, off 1974's Blow By Blow, was simply beautiful — Beck began the show with Bolero, which has been in his set since Truth, his 1968 solo debut. What followed was 90 minutes of alternating bone-jarring power in songs such as Blast and Pump and the fine delicacy of Nadia and Where Were You, in a performance remarkable for its nuance and structure.
Looking better in black leather trousers and trademark black shag haircut than a 64-year-old man has any right to, Beck and his ever-present Fender Stratocaster, Wilkenfeld's sinuous, sexy basslines and the fills and washes by super-session keyboardist David Sancious (Bruce Springsteen, Sting) provided all the required melody and drama, no vocals required; there was one vocal microphone on the stage, which Beck used concisely, at the end, when he introduced the band.
The show closely followed the set from recent CD Performing This Week … Live At Ronnie Scott's, and showed the range of Beck's eclectic fusion of styles, drawing on everything from hard rock, funk, jazz and electronica to Middle Eastern and rockabilly. One of the highlights in a show full of them was Beck's version of Lennon-McCartney's A Day in the Life.
Apart from Beck's astonishing finger-picking virtuosity and occasional stage direction, this wasn't a highly visual show, completely lacking in rock-star poses; just lots of grins and nods of respect as the players got on with the job of making great music together
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