RIP Jeff Beck

[chef free]

It's true... 
https://variety.com/2023/music/news/jeff-beck-guitarist-dead-dies-1235486491/

[sam_webmaster]

[MrZoSo]

Sad day. He will be missed. 

[luvlz2]

R.I.P. Jeff Beck. Thank you for all the wonderful music!

[SteveAJones]

Jeff passed peacefully, and perhaps some solace can be found in that. Personally, I find that I do not want to dwell on his sudden absence and the silence it has brought but that is this new reality. In time, I want to celebrate a remarkable life well lived. We can all get by with a little help from our friends.

 

[SuperDave]

What a loss and glad I got to see him twice. The first being the ARMS concerts in NYC with Jimmy and Eric Clapton.  Here performing "A Day In The Life" at Ronny Scotts in 2007. JP is in the audience.

 

[badgeholder]

just heard, still just stunned by the news. Saw him more times than I can count. Huge loss. RIP Jeff Beck

 

[custard pie man]

saw Beck first at the last arms tour concert in the garden, then I was able to see Jeff at foxwoods casino in ct.  2 times with my wife and son who picked up guitar and  as a pre college student was very interested in classic rock and had an ear to guitar virtuoso unlike all his classmates who were into rap shit, anyways Beck delivered, a 3 piece band both times, what a phenomenal show, i remember his manager  before the show announced for everyone to look under their seats because a couple of lucky fans had an apple computer stuck under their seats, anyways so very sad to see this guitar legend go and makes all of realize that were only here a short stint so better do what thou wilt

[greengrass]

Long time fan , this one hurts too. RIP Jeff 

 

[luvlz2]

https://people.com/music/johnny-depp-was-by-jeff-beck-bedside-when-he-died-totally-devastated-source/

[ScarletMacaw]

5 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

Jeff passed peacefully, and perhaps some solace can be found in that. Personally, I find that I do not want to dwell on his sudden absence and the silence it has brought but that is this new reality. In time, I want to celebrate a remarkable life well lived. We can all get by with a little help from our friends.

 

Where is this picture from? 

[ScarletMacaw]

I'm glad I finally got to see him live in 2016. I enjoyed the "Beck and Bones" album. It was definitely rock, none of this jazz fusion stuff that I don't particularly care for. 

[greengrass]

1 hour ago, ScarletMacaw said:

Where is this picture from? 

Rock of Ages: Ronnie Lane Benefit Show

[chillumpuffer]

RIP Jeff. I will always have a bit of him with me. He gave me Tinnitus when we saw him doing the "Guitar shop" tour in 1989/90. Sadly missed and a true legend

[SteveAJones]

5 hours ago, ScarletMacaw said:

Where is this picture from? 

New York City. December 1983. I selected it from my personal archive.

[Stryder1978]

My favorite performance of his:

 

[in_the_evening]

A guitar player of incredible talent.  His dexterity, his tone, his emotion on the strings, all unequaled.   RIP Mr. Beck.  

[Walter]

I'm still stunned by this sudden news...first announced to me on the NBC world news last night. My introduction to Jeff Beck was when my step-father played 'Truth' for me when he saw I was getting into Zeppelin. I was blown away by that album and even more so when I saw the list of musicians that contributed on it. I wore out my cassette version of Blow by Blow. Given his output of recent live performances and released music, his passing is even more of a surprise. 

RIP Jeff Beck

[luvlz2]

Brian May Thoughts on sad loss of Jeff Beck - January 12, 2023.

 

[Eyekhan]

"Truth" was the first album my Dad ever purchased for me. 

The last time I saw Jeff, he was playing on a dual headliner bill with Brian Wilson. They did a set together to close the show and Jeff played all The Beach Boys vocal parts on his guitar. Just a phenomenal talent with an incredibly unique style. One of my all-time favorite guitarists along with Page, Jimi, Rory, Roy Buchanan, and Eddie Hazel. R.I.P. Jeff.

 

[Walter]

[JTM]

My favourite guitarist, his style totally unique there were no other guitarists like him, he had no imitators, an impossibility really. The world has lost a legend, R.I.P Jeff.

[Reggie29]

I've been trying to process this for a while now.

Whilst it's sad that Jeff Beck passed away, what's even sadder is the sobering thought that there are many other musicians in his age group that will be joining him soon.

As Pink Floyd aptly told us it's only a matter of Time.

The legacy left behind will be their music.

The superfluous argument about who is the better whatever is not only petty but pointless as music is not a competition even if the media and those insipid award and talent shows would have us believe.

If something moves you, great.

If not, denigrating it by saying some genre or someone is shit goes against everything music stands for and that is, it is an artform and one's expression of it, beauty is in the eye (and in this case the ear), of the beholder.

There are five divine gifts we have been given, Life, Love, Nature, Peace and Music.

So, enjoy them all as we, unlike the above won't be around forever.

Take care.

[luvlz2]

Stevie Wonder on the late Jeff Beck and 'Superstition': 'A great soul who did great music'

Brian McCollum - Detroit Free Press - January 13, 2023

Stevie Wonder had the artistic wind at his back, teeming with creative energy and scaling new musical heights, when he met Jeff Beck in 1972.

 

Their encounter at a New York studio would soon bear fruit for the young Motown phenom and the British guitar hero -- including the enduring "Superstition," a song that became a signature piece for both artists.

 

Wonder said Wednesday evening he was saddened by news that Beck had succumbed to bacterial meningitis at a hospital near his home in England. The guitarist was 78.

 

"He was a great soul who did great music," Wonder told the Detroit Free Press. "I'm glad that I was able to meet him and have him in my life, giving some of his gift to my music."

 

Wonder and Beck were introduced to one another by Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, producers who had worked with Wonder on 1972's groundbreaking "Music of My Mind" and were now involved in its follow-up, the album that would become "Talking Book."

 

Jeff Beck and Stevie Wonder attend the 2011 MusiCares Person of the Year Tribute to Barbra Streisand at Los Angeles Convention Center on February 11, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. Kevin Mazur, WireImage

 

"I really didn't know too much about him," Wonder said of Beck. "But then I heard him play in New York. We were working on 'Lookin' for Another Pure Love' (in the studio) and I said to him, 'Why don't you play on this?' He thought that would be great. He laid one part down, then another part and another part. It was just amazing."

 

That song -- a rippling number that showcased Wonder's growing fascination with keyboard sounds -- was augmented by Beck's lithe guitar solo, complete with Wonder's approving "Do it, Jeff" captured on tape.

 

"It was just a wonderful thing, the whole deal," said Wonder. "He gave it such a mixture -- sort of a jazz feel with a bluesy feel, with the chord structure he took from what I had done. It was great. He put his touch on it. It was just really cool."

 

Beck had sprung from London's fertile blues-rock scene in the '60s, making his first big mark with the gritty psychedelic rock of the Yardbirds. But he had an expansive musical vocabulary -- jazzy, melodic, sophisticated -- that was right up Wonder's alley.

 

Like many of his peers, the British guitarist was infatuated with Motown, even heading to Detroit in 1970 to cut tracks at Hitsville, U.S.A., with members of the Funk Brothers. (That material remains unreleased, and Beck told Rolling Stone magazine in 2010 the tapes may be lost forever.)

 

In New York in '72, Wonder was thrilled with Beck's work on "Pure Love." He and Cecil encouraged the guitarist to record a version of a new, unreleased song Wonder had recently written and tracked: "Superstition."

 

Beck saw it as a gift from Wonder.

 

When it comes to origin stories of songs from that era, details can be cloudy or lost to time. It has often been reported that "Superstition" emerged from an impromptu jam by the two artists, with Beck at a drum kit and Wonder at a clavinet keyboard. But Wonder clarified Wednesday that a rough track of the song was already complete when he first played it for Beck at the studio.

 

Wonder's own final version for "Superstition" was a dazzling display of chunky funk, featuring one of the most memorable drum openings in pop music history.

 

"The first thing I played (for the recording of) 'Superstition' was the drums, carrying the melody and all the breaks I wanted in my head," Wonder recounted. "Then I put on the clavinet, then a second clavinet, then the Moog (for bass)."

 

Trumpeter Steve Madaio and saxophonist Trevor Lawrence contributed the track's horn punches.

 

A friend of Wonder, singer-songwriter Lee Garrett, put an unplanned exclamation point on the song's bridge.

 

"He was hanging out in the front of the control room and he kept going, 'Aaagggh!" Wonder recalled. "I was saying: 'Shut up, Lee! Shut up! Look, do you wanna be on the record? OK, here we go.' That was all Lee."

 

Wonder's "Superstition" track, complete with that late-addition "aaagggh!" scream, was headed to Side 2 of his "Talking Book" LP.

 

Beck, meanwhile, had his own designs for "Superstition," a song Wonder had encouraged him to embrace. The guitarist was intent on recording it with his new rock trio Beck, Bogert & Appice, and their heavy, muscular version would ultimately appear on the group's 1973 self-titled debut for Epic Records.

Jeff Beck (left) performs with Stevie Wonder at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary concert a Madison Square Garden in New York in October 2009. Provided By The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.

 

But the October 1972 release of Wonder's "Superstition," issued as a lead single at Motown's insistence, wound up stealing the thunder.

 

"I told Motown, 'Listen, I did this for Jeff Beck. He likes the song,'" Wonder said. "I thought we should make 'Sunshine of My Life' the first single (from the Talking Book' album). They said, 'No, no, no, no. The first single should be 'Superstition.' So I went back to Jeff and had that discussion."

 

Wonder's single raced up the U.S. pop and R&B charts -- hitting the top spot 50 years ago this month -- as Beck and company wrapped up their album recording sessions. Wonder earned a pair of Grammys from "Superstition," which Rolling Stone ranked No. 12 on its latest 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.

 

Beck went on to record another pair of Wonder originals, "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" and "Thelonius," for 1975's "Blow by Blow."

 

Wonder downplays the idea that the "Superstition" release situation caused a deep rift between the two artists ("we had always been cool"), and said he looks back fondly on their performance together at a 2009 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert, where they linked up for a sizzling, showstopping rendition of the song.

 

Wonder said Wednesday he continues to write and record material for this next album, which will be released on his So What the Fuss Music, the label he launched with Republic Records in 2020.

 

He has also taken to listening back to his older work with his 17-year-old son, Mandla, dissecting tracks and reflecting on the music.

 

On Wednesday, after word of Beck's passing, one of those songs played at was "Lookin' for Another Pure Love." featuring Beck's distinctive solo.

 

" When I heard it today, it was emotional for me because I could remember the moment," Wonder said.  "There's just something about music. I know for you, as a fan, songs take you back to a space in time -- you're right there, right then. The same thing happens for us as writers and singers."

 

At age 72, Wonder has grown accustomed to losing fellow artists, friends and peers. But he takes solace in his faith in God and his certainty that spirits transcend death.

 

"As long as you talk about people, you keep them alive," he said, citing an African proverb. "You keep their spirits alive."

 

And an artist's musical legacy, Wonder said, is part of that conversation:

 

"We get a chance to hear and feel that spirit, for as long as we can have all the music that motivates people to move forward and do better."

https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2023/01/13/stevie-wonder-reflects-on-the-late-jeff-beck-a-great-soul/69802076007/

 

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by luvlz2

[Rodrigo]

When I found out that he was coming to Argentina to give a concert in Buenos Aires as part of the "Emotion & Commotion" tour in 2010 I immediately bought tickets and bus tickets for me and my girlfriend at the time.

A beautiful memory and an immense joy to have enjoyed a live concert of Jeff. I still have 'Big Block' burned into my memory when he played it, which is one of my favorite songs.

Rest and have fun in Heaven, Jeff.