Almanac Music: Goodbye Jeff Beck
\
Goodbye Jeff Beck
I have just read the sad news of the passing of my guitar hero the inimitable Jeff Beck who died from Bacterial Meningitis last Tuesday in a hospital near his home in Riverall, a rural estate in Southern England – he was 78 years of age.
When I heard the news, I immediately rang Australia’s guitar icon Kevin Borich who had also had just read the news on the internet. Kevin supported Jeff Beck many years ago at a gig in Adelaide at the old Memorial Drive tennis courts just behind the Adelaide Oval and recalled seeing The Yardbirds in New Zealand around 1965.
“How old was he?” asked Kevin.
“Seventy-eight and he died after a short illness,” I replied.
“Shit! I’m seventy-four!!” exclaimed KB.
After a brief chat Kevin agreed to be a guest on my community radio show on PulseFM this Sunday where I will pay a 90-minute tribute to one of the world’s greatest guitarists.
I first heard Jeff Beck when my brother came home with an album in late 1975 called Blow By Blow with a magnificent album cover art featuring Beck in a famous guitar stance. When I heard ‘Coz We Were Lovers’ which was co-written with Stevie Wonder I was captivated by his exquisite playing – I was hooked. The other thing that stood out from that album was that it was purely instrumental – no vocals. The guitar sung to the listener. His follow up album Wired was equally brilliant.
Of course, Jeff’s career started with the legendary Yardbirds with Jimmy Page, but he soon formed The Jeff Beck Group featuring Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart, whilst Page went on to form Led Zeppelin with Robert Plant.
Over the ensuing decades Beck created a unique sound of his own using techniques and technology to produce soundscapes never heard before.
I saw Jeff Beck in concert in Brisbane around ten years ago and it was a spell binding performance and one I will never forget.
“Jeff Beck was on another planet,” Rod Stewart said in a statement on Wednesday. “He took me and Ronnie Wood to the USA in the late 60s in his band the Jeff Beck Group, and we haven’t looked back since. He was one of the few guitarists that when playing live would actually listen to me sing and respond. Jeff, you were the greatest, my man.”
“Everybody respects Jeff,” Jimmy Page said in a 2018 documentary titled Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story. “He’s an extraordinary musician. He’s having a conversation with you when he’s playing.”
If you wish to listen to Jeff Beck at his best I suggest you head to Blow By Blow, Wired, Jeffs Guitar Shop, Emotion Commotion and Live at Ronnie Scotts. His interpretation of The Beatles ‘A Day In the Life’ is something to behold.
“My Strat is another arm,” Jeff once told Music Radar. “I’ve welded myself to that. Or it’s welded itself to me, one or the other.”
He added: “It’s a tool of great inspiration and torture at the same time. It’s forever sitting there, challenging you to find something else in it. But it is there if you really search.”
Rest In Peace Jeff Beck; your music will live forever.
You can listen to my tribute to Jeff Beck this Sunday at 4pm by downloading the PulseFM app or you can listed via IHeart radio.
More from Richard Griffiths can be read Here.
Read more stories from Almanac Music HERE
If you would like to receive the Almanac Music and Poetry newsletter we will add you to the list. Please email us: [email protected]
To return to the www.footyalmanac.com.au home page click HERE
Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.
Do you enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help keep things ticking over please consider making your own contribution.
Become an Almanac (annual) member – CLICK HERE
Cheers Richard.
Jeff Beck sits at the top of my list of favourite guitar players.
Wired and Blow by Blow are masterpieces, no need for vocals.
With The Jeff Beck Group he could have kept going down the path of Led Zeppelin etc, but he moved on from interpreting the blues and kept pushing the boundaries with his playing.
Other players made hit records, got more airplay and made more money, but Jeff Beck made guitar masterpieces.
I was floored when I read that he died.
Blow by Blow had been on high rotation at home since I acquired a second hand vinyl copy just after Christmas, and we were listening to Best of Beck just the other night while enjoying a warm evening outside.
He will remain on high rotation at my place.
Its worth grabbing 18 which now stands as his last recording-a collaboration with Johnny Depp released in July 2022.
Yes, one of my faves for his ability to milk so much beauty and emotion out of his Stratocaster. A master of the whammy bar and one of the few who didn’t use a pick.’ Brush with the blues’ is my favourite also listen to his take on ‘Sleepwalk’ from the tribute to Les Paul live Cd. RIP Jeff.