Jeff Beck
Fusion
Beck went on to form a second incarnation of the Jeff Beck Group, which featured Clive Chapman (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, with this second album being 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.
Later career
During the 1980s and 1990s, Jeff Beck recorded sporadically:
There and Back (1980, featuring
Simon Phillips and
Jan Hammer),
Flash (1985, including performances with Rod Stewart and Jan Hammer),
Guitar Shop (1989, with
Terry Bozzio),
Crazy Legs (1993),
Who Else (1999), and
You Had It Coming (2001). He also accompanied
Paul Rodgers of
Bad Company on the album
Muddy Water 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
Les Paul and
Cyndi Lauper's new albums, and played guitar on
Roger Waters' album
Amused to Death. 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 also 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. On his upcoming 2006 tour in the U.S., Jeff Beck will be writing/recording with
"HollyWood" (Guitar) and
"Mr. Es" (Percussion) for an existentialistic CD release in 2007.
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.
Unlike some guitarists, Jeff Beck does not rely heavily on electronic effects. He produces a wide variety of sounds by using only his thumbnail and the stock tremelo bar on his signature
Fender Stratocaster. Along with Stratocasters Beck occasionally plays Fender Telecaster models as well. His amplifiers are primarily Fenders and Marshalls.
*
Brian May's "The Guv'nor" from the album
Another World*
Stevie Wonder's
Talking Book*
Imogen Heap's
Speak For Yourself*
Roger Waters'
Amused to Death*
Mood Swings' song
Skinthieves
* Tina Turner's Private Dancer
* Jon Bon Jovi's solo album Blaze of Glory
* Paul Rodgers song "Good Morning Little School Girl"
* Stanley Clarke's 1975 album Journey to Love.
* John's Childrens single "Just What You Want - Just What You'll Get" b/w "But She's Mine" (rel. Feb 1967) as uncredited session musician.
* Reunited with former Yardbirds bandmates in 1984 with the group Box Of Frogs
* Donovan's "Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)"
* Mick Jagger's "She's The Boss"
* The Honeydrippers: Volume One
* Appears in the movie Twins
with Danny Devito and Arnold Schwarzenegger
* The soundtrack to the movie Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band featuring The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton (Beck was once quoted as saying that after he saw Peter Frampton use the guitar mouth tube (talk box), he gave it up).
* The 2003 Yardbirds' reunion album Birdland'' - on track "My Blind Life"
* Cyndi Lauper's "Above The Clouds"
* played guitar solo in Pavarotti's rendition of "Caruso"
* many more
* While Beck and
Jimmy Page played together in
The Yardbirds, the trio of Beck,
Page and
Eric Clapton never played together in the group all at the same time. The three guitarists did play on stage together at the ARMS charity concerts in 1983 in honour of
Ronnie Lane.
* Beck's girlfriend Mary Hughes is name-checked in The Yardbirds song "Psycho Daisies".
* Beck is a primary inspiration for the character
Nigel Tufnel in the film
This Is Spinal Tap. Tufnel's name is a parody of
Eric Clapton, who was also a member of
The Yardbirds. [
1]
* He appears in the movie
Blowup with The Yardbirds.
* Beck plays an instrumental version of Lennon/McCartney classic "
A Day in the Life" on Sir
George Martin's album
In My Life (1998).
* Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page have known each other since Page was 11 years old.
* Beck is a vegetarian.
* Stevie Wonder originally wrote "Superstition" for Jeff Beck. However, Stevie's manager insisted that he record it before Beck did.
* When not touring or recording, Jeff Beck almost never plays guitar. Instead, he spends most of his time working on his classic Jaguars.
* Jeff Beck was asked to "audition" for
The Rolling Stones before Ron Wood took the job.
*
Jimi Hendrix considered Jeff Beck a close friend.
* Jeff Beck did a co-headline tour with
Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1989.
* One of his greatest songs, "Cause We've Ended as Lovers", was written by
Stevie Wonder.
* He was interested in playing lead guitar for
Iron Butterfly when the group reformed in 1968 after a brief split. Before deciding upon
Erik Brann, the band also considered
Neil Young and
Michael Monarch.
* Jeff Beck appears on
John McLaughlin's
Promise.
* Jeff Beck was offered to replace
Syd Barrett after Barrett's breakdown. He declined the offer, and
David Gilmour was chosen instead.
*
List of rock instrumentals*
*
Jeff Beck at Epic Records*
Jeff Beck homepage*
Steven Rosen article on Jeff Beck
