Guitar Giants Bring Tandem Tour To Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Two of the most influential guitar players on the planet bring their current tour celebrating six-string pyrotechnics to the Bay Area when British rock hero Jeff Beck and blues legend Buddy Guy visit this week.
Even if his career had ended after he took Eric Clapton's place as lead guitarist for London blues/R&B rockers The Yardbirds for a brief but explosive stint that only lasted 20 months, Beck's place in history would have been assured. Coaxing blazing solos and unearthly controlled feedback out of his guitar, Beck left an indelible mark on the band with the virtuoso playing heard on classic songs like "Over Under Sideways Down," "Shapes of Things" and "I'm a Man."
Though Beck's volatile temperment would lead him to leave the group before the end of 1967 (during the short period when the Yardbirds featured both Beck and future Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page on guitar), his career was far from over. He would form his own heavy-rock quartet the Jeff Beck Group with then unknown singer Rod Steward and bass player Ronnie Wood (well before his tenure in the Faces and the Rolling Stones) to record two albums that pre-dated Zeppelin in its exploration of pulverizing blues heft.
Despite the success of that band, it would dissolve within a couple of years. A serious car accident would place Beck's plans for a power trio with Vanilla Fudge rhythm section of bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice on hold for several year (the two players would start the band Cactus while Beck recovered). The guitarist eventually emerged with another line-up of the Jeff Beck Group -- an underappreciated version that melded southern funk and soul with his signature guitar riffs -- before the aforementioned trio of Beck, Bogert and Appice made it's debut, releasing one studio album and one concert recording before splitting up.
By the mid-1970s, Beck moved away from hard rock and started delving in to the style of guitar-fueled, jazz-rock instrumentals that have dominated his output ever since. 1975's Blow By Blow, which featured keyboards and songwriting contributions from Stevie Wonder, remains a high-water mark of Beck's career. The guitar player would record sporadically after the turn of the decade, sometimes taking years or even a full decade between new albums, but his remarkable live performances have kept him a popular touring attraction.
On this tour, Beck brings his latest touring band with recent collaborators UK rock duo Bones (who helped him record his recent politically charged release Loud Hailer) and co-headlining guitar great Buddy Guy. One of the last living exponents of the electric blues revolution he helped foster with fellow pioneers B.B. King, Albert Collins and John Lee Hooker, Guy got his start playing in bands in his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but found his calling after relocating to Chicago in the late '50s.
Signed to famed blues imprint Chess Records, Guy had little success as a solo artist, but built a huge and lasting legacy as a sideman for the label. Guy played scorching leads on recordings by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor and others that would shape the sound of guitar among British Invasion bands with his influence on Clapton, Page and Beck himself (not to mention such avowed acolytes as Jimi Hendrix and, later, Stevie Ray Vaughn).
Though Guy would have a drought in recording that extended into the '80s, starting with 1991's Damn Right I've Got the Blues he would score a remarkable string of Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Blues Album. An elemental force on guitar and a hilarious raconteur when performing live, Guy has become a perennial festival and touring favorite.
Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy
Tuesday, August 16, 8 p.m. $45-$149.50
The Masonic
Wednesday, August 17, 8 p.m. $79-$350 (sold out)
Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
