#19- JEFF BECK

Geoffery Arnold ("Jeff") Beck (born June 24, 1944 in Wallington, Greater London, England) is a guitarist and songwriter.

Though he played in several influential bands in the 1960s and 1970s (notably in The Yardbirds), Beck has maintained a sporadic solo career over the last 25 years. Despite never attaining the commercial viability of his contemporaries, Beck has gained widespread critical acclaim, especially in the guitar playing community. Never one to be tied to one particular genre, he has experimented with blues rock, heavy metal, and jazz fusion. Most recently, he has absorbed the influence of techno, creating a blend of heavy guitar rock and electronica.

Early career with The Yardbirds
Like many rock musicians in the early 1960s, he began his career working as a session guitarist. In 1965, following a gig with the Tridents, Beck was recruited to join the Yardbirds (after Eric Clapton had left the group for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers). It was during his tenure with the Yardbirds that they recorded most of their hits. He became known for smashing his guitar on stage, and his guitar-smashing antics can be seen in the 1966 film, "Blowup". In 1966, he shared the dual-lead guitar role with Jimmy Page. His time with The Yardbirds was short, allowing Beck only one full album, "Roger the Engineer" (1966); Beck left after 18 months, partly for health reasons.

While on the surface Beck seems to have departed the group because of his health, Jimmy Page, who had been invited into the band in 1966 by Beck himself, tells a different story:

“ It was on that Dick Clark tour — there were a few incidents. One time in the dressing room I walked in and Beck had his guitar up over his head, about to bring it down on Keith Relf's head, but instead smashed it on the floor," Jimmy Page recalled years later. "Relf looked at him with total astonishment and Beck said, `Why did you make me do that?' Fucking hell. Everyone said `My goodness gracious, what a funny chap.' We went back to the hotel and Beck showed me his tonsils, said he wasn't feeling well and was going to see a doctor. He left for L.A. where we were headed anyway. When we got there, though, we realized that whatever doctor he was claiming to see must've had his office in the Whiskey. He was actually seeing his girlfriend, Mary Hughes, and had just used the doctor bit as an excuse to cut out on us.

Jeff Beck Group
The following year, Beck formed a new band, the Jeff Beck Group, which featured him on lead guitar, Rod Stewart on vocals, Ron Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Mick Waller on drums. The group produced two albums, "Truth" in 1968 and "Beck-Ola" the following year. These two albums are highly acclaimed, and are considered by some to be among the precursors to heavy metal. Owing to friction within the band, Stewart and Wood left the group in 1969 to replace Steve Marriott in the "Small Faces". This new lineup, which included Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, and Kenney Jones shortened its name to the "Faces".

Fusion
Beck went on to form a second incarnation of the Jeff Beck Group, which featured Clive Chaman (bass), Max Middleton (keyboards), Cozy Powell (drums), and Bob Tench (vocals). This group took Beck in a new direction with increased levels of sophistication, entailing a varied melding of rock/pop with elements of R&B and jazz. They released two albums: "Rough and Ready" (1971, produced by Jeff Beck) and "The Jeff Beck Group" (1972, produced by Steve Cropper). After this second Jeff Beck Group disbanded in 1972, Beck formed the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice, with Carmine Appice on drums and Tim Bogert on bass. This group, too, failed to attract much critical attention and soon split up, although they did have a minor hit with a version of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" (Beck had earlier played lead guitar on Wonder's "Talking Book" album). In 1975, Beck did a solo, all-instrumental jazz fusion album entitled "Blow by Blow" which received unexpectedly positive critical reviews and substantial sales, reaching number 4 in the U.S. charts. It was followed up by a collaborative effort with former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboardist Jan Hammer on the 1976 "Wired" album, which also received critical acclaim. This was followed up in 1980 with "There and Back", a worthy and many feel often underrated 3d companion to his "fusion series" of the time.

Later career
In 1981 he made a series of historic, joint live appearances with his Yardbirds predecessor Eric Clapton at the Amnesty International The Secret Policeman's Other Ball benefit 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 the 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 produced by Martin Lewis, both of which achieved worldwide success in 1982. Another benefit show called the ARMS Concert for Multiple Sclerosis featured a jam with Jeff, Eric and Jimmy Page performing "Living on Tulsa Time" and "Layla". This is the only time all of the 1963-1968 Yardbirds lead guitarists appeared on stage together.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Jeff Beck recorded sporadically: "There and Back" (1980, featuring Simon Phillips and Tony Hymas), "Flash" (1985, including performances with Rod Stewart and Jan Hammer), "Guitar Shop" (1989, with Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas), "Crazy Legs" (1993), "Who Else!" (1999), and "You Had It Coming" (2001). He also accompanied Paul Rodgers of "Bad Company" on the album "Muddy Waters Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters" in 1993. Jeff Beck won his third Grammy Award, this one for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance' for the track "Dirty Mind" from "You Had It Coming". The 2003 release of Jeff showed that the new electro-guitar style he used for the two earlier albums would continue to dominate. This style has been lauded by critics; Beck has skillfully fused an electronica influence with his blues/jazz past, with a sound mix which seems heavily influenced by the "brown" tone of subsequent guitarists like Van Halen and Joe Satriani. The song "Plan B" from this release earned him his fourth Grammy Award, again, for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance'.

In the past few years, Jeff Beck has performed on new albums by Les Paul, Cyndi Lauper, and Roger Waters. Beck also is featured on one track on Queen guitarist Brian May's last solo album, "Another World". He also appears on ZZ Top's album "XXX". Beck made a cameo appearance in the movie "Twins" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.

Jeff Beck continues to perform shows on a regular basis, including opening for B.B. King in the summer of 2003, backed by Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas.

Beck's most recent tours in 2005 and 2006 have included: Jason Rebello on keyboards, Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Pino Palladino on bass (recently replaced by Randy Hope-Taylor due to Palladino's prior commitment to The Who), and John Mayer.

Influence
Beck was one of the first electric guitarists in the 1960s to experiment with electronic distortion (most notably in The Yardbirds' 1966 album, "Roger the Engineer") and 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.

Technique and equipment
Unlike some guitarists, Jeff Beck does not rely as heavily on electronic effects as one might suspect from his work (although that reliance continues to increase as he becomes more and more "electronic"). He produces a wide variety of sounds by using only his thumbnail and the stock vibrato bar on his signature Fender Stratocaster. Along with Stratocasters Beck occasionally plays Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul models as well. His amplifiers are primarily Fenders and Marshalls. In his earlier days with the Yardbirds, Beck also used a Fender Esquire guitar through Vox AC30's. With The Jeff Beck Group he used a Fender Telecaster with a Danelectro neck, a Fender Stratocaster and Gibson Les Paul Standards. During this time he would record with Vox AC30's and perform with Marshall amps. Recently, Fender created a Custom Shop Tribute series version of his beat-up Esquire.

Source: Wikipedia

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