Review of Jeff Beck at Iridium Jazz Club, June 8, 2010

It was incredible.

First of all, I stood in line outside Iridium with Eric Johnson. That was cool enough -- until Brian Setzer's limo parked right in front of me, and the man himself got out and walked by, all smiley and what not.

And then there was the show.

Jeff Beck was dressed like Gene Vincent on the cover of Vincent's THE SCREAMING END compilation album from 1997 (see photo). He probably had the whole suit custom made -- and it looked cool -- right down to the baggy, 1956-style pants. Later during the show, he even donned a blue cap -- exactly like the ones worn by Gene Vincent's Blue Caps.

If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought I was watching a tribute to Gene Vincent and Cliff Gallup -- not that I'd mind! 

The backing band for the night was Imelda May's combo, namely Al Gare on double bass and Burns bass; Steve Rushton on drums; and May's husband, Darrel Higham, on second guitar, convincing retro hairdo and incredible vocals. 

The show started with Gene Vincent's "Double Talkin' Baby" and "Cruisin'," and Beck played his 1956 Gretsch Duo Jet -- the same one he used on his CRAZY LEGS album, his 1993 tribute to Gene Vincent and Cliff Gallup. A wonderful rarity to behold? Um, yes! 

This was followed by the Johnny Burnette version of "Train Kept-A Rollin'," on which Beck played a butterscotch Fender Telecaster and copied Paul Burlison's original Tele solos note for note. 

Out came Imelda May, who sang "Poor Boy," which is a bonus track on the iTunes version of Beck's new EMOTION & COMMOTION album. Beck played slide on the Tele. Up next was "Cry Me A River," an instrumental version of which is a bonus track on the Amazon Mp3 version of EMOTION & COMMOTION. 

Up next was a very authentic-sounding version of Elvis Presley's "My Baby Left Me." I think Beck was playing a beautiful vintage sunburst Gibson Les Paul at this point. Then came Les Paul & Mary Ford's "How High the Moon," "I'm Sitting On Top of the World," "Bye Bye Blues" and "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise." 

All of these were great. Beck was near perfect, although one of the songs (I forget which one) had a false start, the result of a mistake in the intro. So they tried it again and nailed it. Also, it sounded like May's voice was going through an effect that broke it into thirds and added two harmony vocals. A little weird, but it worked. She was probably singing along to previously recorded backing vocals. 

As for Beck's sound, they did a great job replicating the different versions of slap echo employed on the original recordings by Gene Vincent and Les Paul -- and all without Les Paul's many overdubs. (Although things got a little crazy, effects-wise, when they tackled The Shadows' "Apache" later in the set; see my next blog post.) 

I have to run now -- but I'll finish writing out the set list soon, I promise. In fact, the next three songs were "Vaya Con Dios," "Mockingbird Hill" and "I'm a Fool to Care" (which was covered by Ringo Starr on his SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY album). I'm pretty sure he used his Gibson ES-175 on at least one of these songs. 

I'll be back soon!