Redtree Times

Struggle and Will– At the West End Gallery

I don’t care about the rules. In fact, if I don’t break the rules at least 10 times in every song then I’m not doing my job properly. Emotion is much more important than making mistakes, so be prepared to look like a chump. If you become too guarded and too processed, the music loses its spontaneity and gut feeling.

–Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck died yesterday at the age of 78 after contracting bacterial meningitis. Been a fan of his music almost all my life. He was always at the leading edge of rock music, creating new fields with his forays into jazz fusion. One comment about his career was that it was self-definable, a unique one that played to its own tune, unconcerned with how other viewed it. I liked that description.

I was equally impressed whenever I read excerpts from interviews with Beck. Said a lot of things that I could relate to as a person and an artist. Like the statement above about having little concern for the rules of his art. Substitute the word painting in for music and it matches the attitude I carried with me from my earliest attempts at painting.

Then there’s:

I cherish my privacy, and woe betide anyone who tries to interfere with that.

Or:

If you were to plot my success or failure, it goes, it very seldom stays on a high plateau.

Or:

I like an element of chaos in music. That feeling is the best thing ever, as long as you don’t have too much of it.

That really hits close to the bone.

The world lost an original.

Here’s one of his better-known compositions, Beck’s Bolero. It’s a take on the famed Ravel piece and really pushed the boundaries of the rock genre when it was recorded in 1966.