Jeff Beck: Doing More with Les

The Grammy-winning rock icon discusses his Les Paul tribute and Rod Stewart reunion


By Melinda Newman




Want to torment Jeff Beck? It's surprisingly simple to do: Take away his guitar. "I've been on holiday where I've been utterly miserable because I haven't had it with me," he says, supposing he can last a day without playing before he gets itchy. "I have one on the bed, one off the bed. I trip over them...Mine just say, 'What are you doing, you lazy bastard?'"



What the two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as both a member of the Yardbirds and solo) has been doing lately is winning Grammys: He snagged another three Feb. 13, bringing his total tally to eight. The British guitar hero is enjoying his highest profile in decades thanks to two diverse sets, his 2010 studio album, "Emotion & Commotion," and "Rock 'N Roll Party Honoring Les Paul," just released on CD and DVD.



The latter celebrates the special relationship Beck enjoyed with Paul: Simply put, if there had been no Les Paul, there likely would have been no Jeff Beck. Paul, who died in 2009 at 94, developed the solid-body electric guitar, advanced the studio practice of multitracking, and wrote a number of standards, including "How High the Moon." Later in life, Paul loved performing and played at New York's Iridium Club every Monday. It is there that Beck, alongside special guests including Brian Setzer, Gary "U.S." Bonds, Trombone Shorty and Imelda May, recorded "Rock 'n' Roll Party," which features a number of Paul's best-known songs, as well as assorted other rock classics.




The song selection represents Beck's "wish list," from when he was a 15-year-old boy growing up in England, listening to Cliff Richard and Brian Hyland on the radio, but soaking up every bit of rockabilly he could get on the side, he says, reclining on a corner sofa in the Whiskey Bar at Hollywood's leading rock star hangout, the Sunset Marquis.



To hear Beck tell it, it's a minor miracle that he and the often irascible Paul became friends. They first met when Paul showed up at a New York concert featuring Beck and fellow guitarist John McLaughlin in the mid '70s. "And here he was, standing in the wings, while we were making the worst noise you've ever heard. It was like sort of John Coltrane meets Eric Dolphy meets Aerosmith. We're talking diabolical," Beck recalls. "When I came off [stage], he said 'What the hell was that?' He said, 'I could tell John was raving away and maybe not listening to you. At least you had the good sense to get off...Good luck with whatever it is you're doing.'"



The first time Beck and his hero played together, "I got stuck playing the solo and he pulls the lead right out of my guitar," Beck says with a laugh.



Though they met face-to-face only around a dozen times, Beck says he and Paul spoke regularly on the phone. And, even after Paul's death, there remains a bond: Among Beck's three newest Grammys were wins for Best Rock Instrumental Performance and Best Pop Instrumental Performance. The only other artist to win both awards in a single year? Les Paul.



Though Paul is gone, one of Beck's other mentors, legendary producer George Martin, remains very much alive, and Beck participated in a 2008 salute to Martin organized by the Recording Academy. Martin produced Beck's 1975 set "Blow by Blow," and its follow-up, 1976's "Wired." "He's like the dad or some other dad I had," Beck says. "He's a father figure to all of us." Beck deprecatingly calls the first efforts he sent to Martin "revolting," and laughs fondly over their first face-to-face meeting: "I had this crumpled tape that you had to keep together with cello tape. I thought this was ridiculous. He's the Beatles producer and here's me with holes in my trousers looking like I'd just come in off the street. He said, 'I think there's something here.'"



Beck has also reunited with a colleague who predates his association with Martin: Rod Stewart, who was vocalist in the Jeff Beck Group in the late '60s before launching his solo career. After brainstorming over a long lunch in December, the two are working on their first full album together since 1969's "Beck-Ola." Beck and his band have recorded 11 tracks for the blues set and are waiting for Stewart to add his vocals. "It's currently being examined [by Rod's] Forensics Department," Beck jokes. "There are some classic blues from Muddy Waters to Elmore James, but there's some homegrown stuff on there and some surprises. At least four originals."



Working on the follow up to "Emotion & Commotion" has been delayed while Beck spends his time on the Stewart project, but he promises it won't be another seven years between solo sets. Plus, he stresses he works quickly once he's in the studio. "'Emotion & Commotion' was done in two months -- that was including weekends off," he says. "We had a blackboard with about 30 to 40 choices [including] Rihanna's 'Umbrella.'" Ultimately, he resisted the urge to record the pop confection because "we couldn't come up with something original" for it.



Beck is taking the "Rock 'n' Roll Party" on the road in March, alongside the Imelda May Band. And he can't wait to play Paul's music again. "I feel I should be given first crack at it because I was raving about it when I was 6 years old. Long before Slash, whomever, Sir Eric. I'm not having anybody stomping in my garden. Get out of it," he teases.



As soon as that tour ends, he'll resume his "Emotion & Commotion" tour. "The stuff I do with my band is just full-on. It's wilder in that I can really let go. I get a kick out of [both]. I wouldn't want to be without either."



His enjoyment for playing live remains undiminished as ever, especially because "the audience is so much warmer now," he says. "The [positive] response when we go out [onstage] is like 'What? We haven't done anything yet.' It's really uplifting."



Melinda Newman is the former West Coast bureau chief for Billboard Magazine. She has covered music and entertainment for the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, MSN, AOL Music, Hitfix.com, Variety, People Country and other outlets. Recent interviews include Taylor Swift, Susan Sarandon, Pink, Jeff Bridges, Brad Paisley, Foo Fighters, Katy Perry and Carly Simon.