I should mention that Mr. Beck was wearing precisely this outfit when he was in the same room as me roughly a day after this photo was snapped. He looked blindingly dapper. Way to retain your style as well as your musical genius, JB!
One of the key elements to a stunning piece of music is inconceivable musical chemistry. One can never predict what will happen when a few musicians are thrown together. Though they had never played together, Led Zeppelin knew from their first rehearsal that they were dealing with something massive. While they had each had their hand playing with a variety of musicians, they knew that with this band, they had something extraordinary. Sometimes a few incredible musicians will get together (random jams, not-quite-there "supergroups"), but that spark isn't there. The rule of musical chemistry is also evident when particular members are missing. The Clash suffered dreadfully without Mick Jones. Led Zeppelin knew to graciously bow out without John Bonham's monstrous touch.
The musical chemistry maxim evidently extends to solo artists also. While just one name is stamped on the finish product, a striking band is always necessary. Thus is the case with my main subject, Jeff Beck. As soon as Beck ventured on his own, after an illustrious career with the Yardbirds, he gathered a top-notch band. Employing a then hardly known Rod Stewart, as well as a young Ronnie Wood, Beck also formed a musical kinship with noted pianist/organist Nicky Hopkins. Nicky Hopkins' eloquent touch is all over the rattling and inventive Truth and Beck-Ola. Hence, beginning a lifelong trend of enlisting masterminds on the keys. The importance of relations between guitar and keys in Jeff Beck's music is immense. Though beginning with Nicky Hopkins, this would only increase as Beck further drenched himself in "jazz fusion" -- a genre he would come to dominate. The progression began with Rough and Ready, when he recruited vocalist Bobby Tench, bassist Clive Chaman, drummer Cozy Powell, and keyboardist Max Middleton. Middleton would become a Beck mainstay. This line-up also lasted for just two records, the second and last being Jeff Beck Group, produced by Steve Cropper and featuring their magnificent take on "Going Down". Beck's renowned temperament drove him to a new project, a collaboration with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge. Beck, Bogert and Appice recorded one eponymous studio album. Though predominately a "power trio" effort, this album too featured piano and Mellotron. BBA's last release was a live album, Live in Japan, which featured Beck using a talkbox -- a relatively unknown sound at the time. Following the demise of Beck, Bogert and Appice, Beck embarked on his most acclaimed venture. No longer would the albums be credited to the Jeff Beck Group, but simply Jeff Beck. Armed with this new skin and producer George Martin, Beck released the still awe-inspiring Blow by Blow, one of rock's best-selling instrumentals. He was again joined by Max Middleton, with whom he collaborated on such classics as "You Know What I Mean", "Scatterbrain", and "Freeway Jam". The album also features dazzling takes on the Beatles' "She's a Woman", as well as two Stevie Wonder compositions, "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" and "Thelonius". My favorite remains "AIR Blower", a collaborative effort by Blow by Blow's house band -- Beck, Middleton, percussionist Richard Bailey, and bassist Phil Chen. This album is jazz fusion at its best and most accessible. And Beck and Middleton carry it the whole way. The sensational interplay between the two is staggering. Alas, for Beck's next release, he retained a similar formula. While keeping with Middleton, Wired also featured the sometimes overwhelming synthesized touch of Mahavishnu Orchestra's Jan Hammer. The results were not as stirring, but still, another landmark recording. Beck's rendition of "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" remains one of his most moving pieces to date. His next release, a live album titled Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live, takes a few numbers from both Blow by Blow and Wired, tossed together with a few self-indulgent, over-synthesized Jan Hammer compositions. The album is overall a bit erratic, but occasionally spellbinding in that way. This was followed by Beck's next studio effort, There and Back, which saw the release of Max Middleton, and distancing himself from the fusion style. It would be his last studio album for five years, and the marked the end of his golden era. Beck has continued to produce arresting music, spanning the genres from heavy metal to electronica. Still, its always distinguishably Beck. Never a commercial dazzler like his contemporaries, namely Page and Clapton, Beck has always stuck to his ever-changing guns.
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