Jeff Beck

The legendary musician Jeff Beck (full name Geoffrey Arnold Beck) was born in London in 1944. He started learning to play piano, drums and violoncello before taking the guitar playing seriously. Then Jeff began to improve his playing skills, and in 1965 he became a member of The Yardbirds, replacing Eric Clapton. Beck did not play with that band for a long time because of his difficult nature, however during Jeff’s tenure with The Yardbirds the group created some of its best songs.

In 1967 Jeff organized his own band The Jeff Beck Group. The musicians signed the contract with Columbia Records and recorded two albums: Truth in 1968 and Beck-Ola in 1969. Those albums received fair reviews from the music experts and the sales were quite good. However the musicians split up after several conflicts in 1969. In December of the same year Jeff was hurt in an accident, and all the plans and projects had to be postponed. By April 1971 Beck was ready to work on some new material and he organized a new band. It kept the name of the previous Beck’s band The Jeff Beck Group although the sound was absolutely different and new. The musicians started to work, and they released their debut album Rough and Ready in October 1971. The music they created was rather various and included elements of soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. The band issued the second album titled Jeff Beck Group in 1972. That record had stronger soul sound, and five out of nine compositions were the cover-versions of American musicians’ songs. One track from Jeff Beck Group is the cover-version of Stevie Wonder’s I Got To Have A Song. It became the first of four Stevie’s songs performed by Jeff Beck. Soon after the second album’s release some changes within the band took place. Thus the trio of Beck, Bogert and Appice was created. The trio’s tour in the USA took place in 1972. However Jeff was in search of his unique sound and in 1975 his first solo album Blow by Blow was released. The record turned out to be very strong and the sound was truly innovative. Blow by Blow was later certified Platinum.

In 80’s Beck collaborated a lot with such famous musicians as Eric Clapton, Sting, Donovan and others. Also during that period at one of the charity concerts the only joint performance of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page - three The Yardbirds guitarists - took place. In 1985 Jeff won the Grammy Award for his album Flash. Beck continued to work with different musicians. Thus in 1993 he worked with Bad Company on the record Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters. Beck never stopped to study the guitar sound, and in 2001 he released one of his most experimental albums You Had It Coming. Traditional guitar parts were mixed with electronic dance music. The new sound was enjoyed both by Jeff’s fans and by the music experts. In 2003 the guitarist’s discography was enlarged with the album Jeff. The musician won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the track Plan B from Jeff.

Fans had to wait for Beck’s next studio work for seven years. Emotion & Commotion was released in 2010, and during its creation Jeff collaborated with three invited vocalists. Some compositions will surprise the guitarist’s fans, because the whole orchestra took part in the recording of several tracks. That album traditionally includes the covers of some rock and classical works. Jeff Beck has a reputation of the guitarist, who can surprise the music lovers by absolutely fresh guitar sound, and Emotion & Commotion is a bright example of his talent and skills.