Thursday, June 25, 2009

Happy birthday Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck, the greatest living electric guitarist, was 65 yesterday our time (24 June), today in Brighton where he is playing in the evening. He was in the Yardbirds in the 1960s, as were Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, but he’s the only one still pushing the limits of the instrument.

Here he is at the 2007 Crossroads Festival playing Stevie Wonder’s “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers”, with the amazing Australian bassist Tal Wilkenfeld (she was 21 at the time) and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (previous credits: Franz Zappa, Joni Mitchell):



That year the band recorded the fabulous DVD Live at Ronnie Scott’s during a week-long residency at the legendary London club. Here they are from that DVD performing “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”, Charles Mingus’s tribute to Lester Young. You might notice a bit of blues in there too:



And as Home Paddock reminds us, 25 June is George Orwell’s birthday, wherever he is. His complete works are available online here.

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