Jeff Beck, is one of the most unique guitarists of his generation, deeply rooted in blues, rockabilly, and jazz, and can play all three styles equally well. Saturday night at the State Theater in Minneapolis, Beck, and his band, which also includes Nicolas Meier on guitar, Rhonda Smith, on bass, Jonathan Joseph on drums, and Jimmy Hall, on vocals and harmonica, were firing on all cylinders. The set list, melded more well known Jeff Beck songs (including many covers), with blues standards. Beck is able to seamlessly bridge a gap, between jazz, and blues, very well. No matter what style, his playing has raw intensity and fire, as well as dynamic brilliance.
He can use the whammy bar, the volume knob, and the tone knob of his Fender Stratocaster to paint landscapes of sound and pattern those sounds in large, even brushstrokes, or, small dots, dashes, and splatters, just as a painter does on a canvas. With Jeff Beck, it is more, than just playing a long solo at any given time. He also gave his band mates places to shine, particularly the aforementioned Rhonda Smith on bass, and Jimmy Hall (of '70s boogie rock fame with Wet Willie), a chance to show his harmonica chops and spirited, soul drenched vocals.
Hall, played with Jeff Beck, in the early 1970s... around 1973. So, he's no stranger to this lineup, even if some of the other members of the band, are slightly newer, but still, veteran players. Some of the memorable songs from the evening included, mainly, instrumentals such as "You Know, You Know" by Mahavishnu Orchestra, "Hammerhead", and "Big Block".
Then came Beck's own readings of covers ranging from "Superstition" and "'Cause We've Ended As Lovers" by Stevie Wonder, brilliantly done, to an instrumental, as Jeff Beck put it, "about a girl, called Nadia". "Nadia", is one of Beck's most recognizable tunes, even though Nitin Sawhney, is the songwriter. Sawhney is a British Indian musician, who combines Indian, World, and electronic music into his style.
Other renditions of tunes the band pulled off, delved deeply, into the blues and into soul music. Jeff Beck added his own unique twists to songs like "Little Wing" by Jimi Hendrix, Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come", and "A Day In The Life" by The Beatles, before he, and Jimmy Hall, led the band into an awesome blues driven section of the set, before the finale. The band did their takes on songs like "Rollin' & Tumblin' ", a blues written by Hambone Willie Newbern, and Freddie King's "Going Down", written by songwriter Don Nix.
For the encore, Beck played the great ballad "Danny Boy" instrumental, and closed, in tribute to the late, B.B. King, with "The Thrill Is Gone", with Jimmy Hall delivering a stirring vocal. The nostalgic blues, and instrumentals, all fit together, perfectly. After the show, yours truly, and, my brother, Charlie, had a chance, to meet, and chat briefly, with a couple members of the band. Drummer, Jonathan Joseph, and, Jimmy Hall. That was the cherry on the sundae for what turned out to be, a fantastic show.
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