The “hero” musician Jeff Beck became obsessed with
The late Jeff Beck was a guitar-playing legend in every sense and significantly impacted the instrument’s evolution. A genuine virtuoso, his unique finger-picking style made him stand out from the mass of notable guitarists his generation produced and directly inspired many subsequent axemen, ranging from prominent artists to casual hobbyists.
A part of 1960s London’s most eminent triptych of guitarists, alongside friends Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, from the mid-1960s onwards, everyone with an eye for great art was acutely aware of the power his hands possessed as he continued to develop his craft and discover new creative areas.
Titans such as Jimi Hendrix, Beck, Clapton, and Jimmy Page have taken permanent residence in “all-time greatest guitarist” lists. Indeed, these heroes are worthy candidates as innovative and influential figures of the electric blues-rock tradition. However, they only tell part of the story. What about the scores of anonymous session guitarists? What about jazz virtuosos?
Generally speaking, the unsung talent of session musicians and jazz virtuosos has often lacked the vital ingredient of experimentalism and showmanship crucial to widespread exposure. Guitarists like Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix are revered among the all-time greats because they surfaced at a time when blues-based rock ‘n’ roll had struck its global zenith.
In a 2021 interview with Louder Sound, Beck discussed some of his favourite guitarists. He recalled feeling like he and Clapton ruled the roost in the mid-1960s, just before Hendrix flew over from the US to form The Experience. “When I saw Jimi, we knew he was going to be trouble,” Beck recalled. “And by ‘we’, I mean me and Eric [Clapton] because Jimmy [Page] wasn’t in the frame at that point.”
“I saw him at one of his earliest performances in Britain, and it was quite devastating,” he continued, revealing his envy. “He did all the dirty tricks – setting fire to his guitar, doing swoops up and down his neck, all the great showmanship to put the final nail in our coffin. I had the same temperament as Hendrix in terms of ‘I’ll kill you,’ but he did in such a good package with beautiful songs.”
“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,” Beck added. “He invited me down to Olympic studios, and I gave him a bottleneck. That’s what he plays on Axis: Bold As Love. We hooked up in New York and played at Steve Paul’s club, The Scene.”
While Beck saw Hendrix as the greatest guitarist of his generation, he revered several other musicians for their respective styles and approaches. Although his expertise was chained firmly to the fretboard, Beck described the Czech-American keyboardist and composer Jan Hammer as a “hero”.
Crucially, Beck could relate to Hammer’s unique style because of its resemblance to lead guitar compositions. In a 2014 interview with the Express, Beck picked out Hammer’s 1975 album The First Seven Days as a personal favourite, describing the music as “graphic”.
“Jan became my hero when he was in John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra,” Beck added. “He was playing bendy notes with a keyboard, so it sounded like a guitar, and I became obsessed with how he did it.”
The Mahavishnu Orchestra was a jazz fusion band formed in New York City in 1971. Hammer co-founded the group alongside McLaughlin, Billy Cobham, Jerry Goodman, and Rick Laird with a kaleidoscopic vision of blending Indian classical music, jazz, and psychedelic rock. This early incarnation only lasted for three years; subsequently, McLaughlin reincarnated his band with a different cast of musicians.
Watch Jeff Beck perform alongside Jan Hammer at the Royal Albert Hall in 2004 below.
