Jeff Beck, guitar virtuoso who influenced generations, dead at 78

Jeff Beck, the guitar virtuoso who pushed the boundaries of blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, influenced generations of street shredders and became known as a guitar player’s guitar player, has died. He is 78 years old.

Beck died Tuesday after “a sudden onset of bacterial meningitis,” his representative said in a statement released Wednesday.

Beck first rose to fame as a member of the Yardbirds and later branched out into a solo career that combined hard rock, jazz, funky blues and even opera. He was known for his improvisation, his love of harmonics and the whammy bar on his favorite guitar, a Fender Stratocaster.

“Jeff Beck is the best guitar player on the planet,” Joe Perry, the lead guitarist of Aerosmith, told The New York Times in 2010. .”

‘I like the element of chaos in music’

Beck is one of a pantheon of rock guitarists from the late ’60s that includes Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. Beck won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice – once with the Yardbirds in 1992 and again as a solo artist in 2009. He was ranked fifth in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” .”

Beck has played guitar with vocalists such as Luciano Pavarotti, Macy Gray, Chrissie Hynde, Joss Stone, Imelda May, Cyndi Lauper, Wynonna Judd and Buddy Guy. He made two recordings with Rod Stewart – 1968 the truth and 1969 Beck-Ola – and one with a 64-piece orchestra, Emotions & Turmoil.

“I like the element of chaos in music. This feeling is the best, as long as you don’t have too much. It has to be balanced. I just saw Cirque du Soleil, and I was surprised. complete organized chaos,” he told Guitar World in 2014. “If I can turn that into music, it’s not far from what my ultimate goal is, which is to delight people with chaos and beauty at the same time.”

Beck’s career highlights include teaming up with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice to form the power trio he released. Beck, Bogert and Appice in 1973, a tour with Brian Wilson and Buddy Guy and a tribute album for the late guitarist Les Paul, Rock ‘n’ Roll Party (Honoring Les Paul).

Geoffrey Arnold Beck was born in Surrey, England, and attended Wimbledon Art College. His father was an accountant, and his mother worked in a chocolate factory. As a child, he made his first instrument, using a cigar box, a picture frame for a neck and strings from a radio-controlled toy plane.

He was in a number of bands – including Nightshift and The Tridents – before joining the Yardbirds in 1965, replacing Clapton but only a year later giving way to Page. During his tenure, the band produced some memorable singles A Heart Full of Soul, I am a man and Form of Goods.

Beck’s first hit single was a 1967 instrumental Beck’s Bolero, which featured future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, and future Who drummer Keith Moon. The Jeff Beck Group – with Stewart singing – was later booked to play at the 1969 Woodstock music festival but their appearance was cancelled.

Beck later said there was unrest in the band. “I can see the end of the tunnel,” he told Rolling Stone in 2010.

Friendship with Hendrix, Clapton

Beck was friends with Hendrix and they performed together. Before Hendrix, most rock guitarists focused on a similar style and technical vocabulary. Hendrix blew it. “He came in and reset all the rules in one evening,” Beck told Guitar World.

Beck teamed up with legendary producer George Martin – aka “The fifth Beatle” – to help him create a genre-melding, jazz-fusion classic Blow by Blow (1975) and Cable (1976). He worked with Seal on the Hendrix tribute Stone freecreated a jazz-fusion group led by synthesizer player Jan Hammer and respected rockabilly guitarist Cliff Gallup with the album. Crazy Legs. He went out Loud Hailer in 2016.

Beck’s guitar work can be heard on film soundtracks such as Remove the lawn, Shallow things, Casino, Honeymoon in Vegas, twin, Observe and Report and Little Big League.

Beck’s career never reached Clapton’s commercial peak. A perfectionist, he prefers to make instrumental recordings that are critically well-received and in the spotlight for a long time, enjoying his time restoring vintage cars. He and Clapton had a strained relationship early on but became friends in later life and toured together.

According to Beck, it took four decades for that to happen “because we were all trying to be big bananas,” he told Rolling Stone in 2010. “Unless I had the luxury of Eric’s hit songs.”

Beck is survived by his wife, Sandra.