Jeff Beck *He Said His Career Was Saved by This "Famous" Producer* (mini doc)

Jeff Beck is probably influenced more guitar players than anyone from kids in the garage to some of the best rock and blues players we have out there today we've all read and heard the tributes to him now but the one I think that really hit home for me was from Eric Johnson here's some of what Eric had to say hearing about Jeff Beck passing is a shock he was one of the most original guitarists I ever heard he never conformed to status quo guitar or conventional playing always reaching for a new dimension which he achieved multiple times he was the most expressive lyrical storytelling guitarist there ever was and that's why non-musicians love him he garnered more affection from audiences than other guitar Heroes because he had such a musical poetry to his playing I believe that he and Jimmy Hendrick were the most inventive and original rock guitarist there ever was now I think Eric Johnson summed up Jeff Beck very well as did many of the Great guitarists and musicians after Jeff's passing but the one thing I'm sure they and a lot of people wonder is what did Jeff Beck think of other players musicians and even producers well let's move on with the video and maybe find out Jeffrey Arnold Beck was born on June 24th 1944 in Wallington England he said Les Paul was the first electric guitar player who impressed him Cliff Gallop League guitar player with Jean Vincent and the blue caps was also an early musical influence followed by BB King and Steve CER Jeff considered Lonnie Mack a guitarist who was unjustly overlooked and a major influence on him that's the same Lonnie Mac who was also a major inspiration to Stevie Rayvon and Johnny Winter Jeff suffered with depression most of his life he says that an accident at 10 years old started it I was run over when I was 10 years old and suffered a massive fracture to the back of my head and found it difficult to get back to normal after that although they examined me and said it was okay something happened to alter my character I was very studious at that point I used to beat my uncle at chess me dad said you better watch him he's good and then I lost interest in figures I was useless at math partly because something was calling me when I was in the classroom I wanted to be outside I felt resentment plenty of resentment about being forced by the government to be in the room with a bunch of people I didn't like who probably I'd end up having a fight with it didn't really toughen me up at at all it just emphasized my hatred of the whole system the only thing he seemed to trust was his guitar or let's say the electric guitar Jeff Beck came to light with the Yard Birds of course the yard bird recorded most of their top 40 hit songs during Beck's short 20mon time spent with the band he then moved on to form the Jeff Beck band with Rod Stewart on vocals and Ronnie Wood on rhythm guitar later switching to base with a host of others coming and going as the 60s were coming to an end Jeff made plans to team up with base player and drummer from Vanilla Fudge Tim bogert and Cara pce but they had to put that off for a couple years while Jeff healed up from another skull fracture he got in a car accident once together they had a great sound but it didn't last really too long there are a few stories as to the break but the one that prob hold some truth in the words of Carmine a piece was Jeff was sometimes hard to get along with he could be very moody and he was a perfectionist when it came to the music Pink Floyd wanted Jeff to play guitar with them after Sid Barrett left but none of them had the nerve to ask him so The Story Goes Jeff was asked by The Rolling Stones to replace Brian Jones after he died Jeff sums up his life in the 60s saying this everyone thinks of the 1960s as something they really weren't it was the frustration period of my life the electronic equipment just wasn't up to the sounds I had in my head you can tell that Jeff was already ahead of his time so what do you all think it sure sounds like the makings of a musical genius to me after the breakup of Beck bogert and a piece Jeff seemed lost a little on what to do or what he wanted and then he met George Martin The Fame producer who had worked with the Beatles And I think this was a major turning point in the career of Jeff Beck from what Jeff said years later he must have felt he didn't have a career up until the time he met with George Martin in 1974 or maybe he just felt he only had a career as a sidan playing guitar Jeff work with or had the chance to work with some of the best vocalists and bands in rock and roll at that time either way I think he summed up his true feelings saying this about George Martin to work with someone of that caliber he gave me a career without him who knows what would have happened and what he calls a last ditch attempt to convince someone to make an album showcasing his guitar and not a voice a risky proposition at that time he had his manager reach out to George Martin I thought he'd be too busy Jeff said but to his surprise Martin agreed to meet and Beck brought along a tape with some demos with what he called little Snippets and Melodies as Jeff recalled I was expecting to leave with a red face but George Martin said this is very interesting stuff let's start recording the record that came from these sessions was blowby blow it would turn out to be a milestone for Jeff and George Martin this was his first all instrumental record it revived his career hitting number four on the pop charts in 1975 on his first day of recording Jeff said I didn't think we were laying down much of interest but then we went to lunch break and heard the quality of the sound I thought this sounds like we're playing in the room it's clear and fabulous that first album was a joy blowby blow happens to be my favorite Jeff Beck album of all time it was a joy for Jeff to make and it was a joy for me to listen to I have to just break in and say besides Jeff's great playing on the album if you dig bass guitar the bass player on this album is Phil shin and between his playing and the tone George Martin captured on this album it is really worth your time time to listen especially if you're into bass guitar like I said this is my favorite Jeff Beck album let me know in the comment section what yours is let's move on and change course a little and hear what Jeff had to say about some other players in his life first up Stevie Ray vaugh Jeff said I met him at a CBS convention in Hollywood 1981 he was a little worse for wear he was eating Kentucky Fried Chicken out of a box and then he ate the box as well we went on the road together in '89 he'd got a beautiful new girlfriend and he was as straight as a die we were on the road for about 3 months and then the tragic story was when he went in that helicopter he didn't want to get on it the people around him talked him into it by saying look Eric has just got on one they were speaking of Eric Clapton of course so off he went and he never came back I think Stevie Ray was the closest thing to Hendrick when it came to playing the blues what did Jeff have to say about Jimmy Hendrick he said I don't want to say that I knew him well I don't think anybody did but there was a period in London when I went to visit him quite a few times but when we first saw him perform we knew he was going to be trouble and by we I mean me and Eric CL CL I saw him at one of his earliest performances in briten and it was quite devastating he did all the dirty tricks setting fire to his guitar doing swoops up and down his neck and all the great Showmanship to put the final nail in our coffin I had the same temperament as Hendrick in terms of I'll kill you but he did in such a good package with beautiful songs the day Jimmy died I was suicidal at the time cuz my girlfriend had dumped me and to have to deal with reporters calls saying Jimmy Hendricks is dead how do you feel about that at first I thought it was a bloody hoax but as the day wor on I realized it was tragically true not a good time for me now how Jeff met Jimmy pige he said my sister knew Jimmy from epsom's art school she came to my room one day and said there's a weird weirdo at school he's got a weird guitar like yours and then slam the door I ran after her saying where is he she said I'll take you over there because I'd like to see him play I don't believe he can play we went over there and he opened the door and we got tea and Cake we visited regularly from then on his mom had bought him a really good tape recorder so we'd record there I don't know where those tapes are now but there's some rare stuff on them I'm sure we always wish Jimmy still had them tapes and knew where they were I'd love to hear some of that music they made in the beginning Jeff goes on to say about Mick Jagger he said I used to get mistaken from Mick Jagger all the time back in 61 I used to have girls screaming at me and I didn't know what in the they were screaming about I'd pull up along somebody in a car and they'd go Mick and I'd be thinking who the is is Mick then I realized it was this guy in the Rolling Stones called Mick Jagger I was always thinking I wonder if I could play in that band I seemed to fit the style love the blues and all the rest of it I kept my eye on him and lo and behold Mick calls me up and wants me to do an album and that was the first time I met him I thought Mick was Charming he treated me really well love the women of course although he never became a member of the stones which is probably a good thing as Jeff said if he had him and Keith Richards would have been beating each other up all the time but he was good friends with all of them throughout his life his Frank Zappa story is always a laugh I love his political outbursts from what I could read between the lines he probably would have made the best American president ever he was very knowledgeable about the world affairs and he had a deep cynical streak one time me and Ronnie Wood we knew no fear back in the Jeff Beck Group days well I knew where Frank lived and we drove up to Laurel Canyon in a Rena Camaro and did a rubber burnout outside his house Frank of course heard it and came out and said you can cut that out and then invited us in he took a shine to me and Ronnie big time and one more story that has to do with Jeff and cars he was at Eric Clapton's house celebrating Eric's birthday he left in the early hours of the morning to go home about 30 minutes later the phone rings at Eric's house and it's one of his neighbors calling to say one of his guests was there and had drove off the road and into the bushes well Patty who was either Eric's wife or girlfriend at the time I don't remember which went with a friend up to the neighbors and she said she got there and it was Jeff he was standing there in his leather coat looking all Rock and Roll Along With The Neighbors in their robes Jeff had blood running down his face from a big cut on his nose and his car all smashed up in the bushes at the time she told this story was around 2006 she says Jeff still carries a scar from that night and if you look you can still see it in some pictures as I said blowby blow was my favorite Jeff Beck album and maybe I say that because it was the first Jeff Beck album I bought it's the one that I've listened to the most Jeff released 17 Studio albums and 11 live albums over his career some of the live albums are just totally mindblowing he's won eight Grammys and was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Yard Birds in 1992 and 2009 as a solo artist his style of playing was so unique he was hard to categorize into just one style Maybe because he was just a style of his own I know this and I'm sure there will be a few who may disagree but in my opinion Jeff Beck doesn't have to take a backseat to any guitar player living or dead hope you enjoyed this video on Jeff Beck I just wanted to add a few of my thoughts and stories I enjoy and if you have any stories yourself or anything you want to say about him feel free to leave it in the comment section and if you haven't already subscribed to the Channel please do I'd appreciate it thanks for watching

Channel: River Docs

Views: 107,433

Keywords: Documentary, Jeff Beck, Guitarist, Yardbirds, George Martin

Id: 61E7iAf8Gr4

Length: 14min 33sec (873 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 23 2023