Joe Beck (July 29, 1945 – July 22, 2008)[1] was an American jazz guitarist who was active for over 40 years.
Biography
Born in Philadelphia, Beck moved to Manhattan in his teens, playing six nights a week in a trio setting, which gave him an opportunity to meet various people working in the thriving New York music scene. By the time he was 18, Stan Getz hired him to record jingles, and in 1967 he recorded with Miles Davis.[2] By 1968, at age 22, he was a member of the Gil Evans Orchestra. Beck described his early success in an interview near the end of his life:
My career happened because I happened to be in the right place at the right time in a very unique time of jazz music. ...when I would finish a gig around two in the morning I would go around the corner to the Playboy Club and sit in with Monty Alexander and let Les Spann take a breather and I would finish the gig for him. Then we would go and listen to Kenny Burrell play around the corner or we would go up to Mintons and listen to Wes Montgomery and sit in with him ...[3]
Beck played in a variety of jazz styles, including jazz fusion, post bop, mainstream jazz, and soul jazz, but also respected rock stylists and cross-over players (he was good friends with Larry Coryell)[3] and briefly flirted with rock music styles himself in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
An important detail about Joe from Miles Davis' Wikipedia page regarding his compilation album 'Circle in the Round':
"The title track, "Circle in the Round," is the first studio recording in which he departed from the acoustic quintet, marking the inception of his "electric" period. Recorded in 1967, it was the earliest released recording of Miles that featured the sound of the electric guitar (played by Joe Beck), something that would become prominent in his music over the years." Joe was Miles' first electric guitar player. Miles' hesitation about how it would be received delayed its release.
In 1970 Polydor released Rock Encounter, a fusion collaboration with flamenco guitarist Sabicas.[1] In 1975 he released an eponymous album (upon which he simply referred to himself as "Beck") while recording the Esther Phillips album, What a Diff'rence a Day Makes, both for Kudu.[1][4]Beck was subsequently reissued as Beck & Sanborn to cash in on the success of alto saxophonist David Sanborn. In 1971, Beck left music for three years to become a dairy farmer, citing frustration with his career.[5]
In 1978, he went for more of a rock sound by forming a band named "Leader". They performed in the Northeast and recorded demos at Sound Ideas Studios in New York City, but soon disbanded when the band's gear was stolen after a gig at Joyous Lake in Woodstock, New York. In the 1980s Beck recorded for DMP including with flautist Ali Ryerson. In 1988, Beck left music again for a return to farming, but was touring again by 1992.[6] Beck toured and recorded with duos and small groups, releasing two more solo albums (1988, 1991). In 2000, he collaborated with guitarist Jimmy Bruno on Polarity, which extensively featured Beck's alto guitar,[1] and in 2008 on Coincidence with John Abercrombie.[1]
Joe Beck played guitar on James Brown's singles and albums in 1974.[8] The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences honored Beck five times with its Most Valuable Player Award. Beck also recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the Milan Philharmonic in Italy, and The Paris String Ensemble in France.[7]
Beck's first wife, Sigi, was a model and later married an internationally renowned economist, Dr. Zoran Hodjera.[9] At Beck's death, he was married to Marsi Beck and was survived by five children.[10]
Beck died in Woodbury, Connecticut, of complications from lung cancer.[1] His album Get Me Joe Beck was posthumously released in 2014.[11]
Alto guitar
In 1992 Beck began touring as a duo with flutist Ali Ryerson. To fill out the sound he wanted to present—bass lines, harmony, and melody—in a duo setting, he developed what he called the "alto guitar". This began as a standard, full-body, electric jazz guitar with a unique stringing pattern and reentrant tuning. As described by Beck:
It's pretty straight-ahead, really. Take your whole guitar and tune it down a fifth to the key of A, and then tune the middle two strings up an octave. What I've done is take the normal tuning of the guitar and changed it so that I have bass strings for my thumb; sort of a banjo register for my first two fingers, and then a low melody register for my other two fingers. [...] So you don't have to change any of your fingerings; it's the same intervals as in normal tuning, just in the key of A, so it's A-D-G-C-E-A."[12][13]
While devising the tuning Beck realized that some restringing was going to be needed to obtain optimal resonance from the strings, so he commissioned a custom-built instrument from luthier Rick McCurdy, of Cort Guitars:
I had someone build me a guitar, Rick McCurdy as it happens, and he made me a beautiful guitar and so I started using it on the concert stage.[3]
I'm actually playing through three channels. The reason the guitar is a patented invention is that this pickup is split so that the bass strings have their own output. And the top four melody strings are coming out of another output, which in turn is split stereo by a chorus. The bass strings are .080 and .060. Then a .022 wound and a .016 plain. Then a .026 wound and a .018 plain. [...] I wanted to be more pianistic, to play clusters sort of like those Bill Evans employs, that you couldn't possibly play otherwise."[12]
Beck owned and played both Martin (CF-2) and Cort Alto guitars, and both Martin and Cort standard-tuning versions as well.[14]
Signature guitars
Joe Beck worked with guitar manufacturer Cort Guitars in the 1990s to create two hollow-body jazz guitar models. The first was the BECK-6 model, which was an electric, hollow-bodied archtop jazz guitar, and the second was the BECK-ALTO model, a similar instrument but designed for heavier strings and alto tuning. In 2001, the retail price of the BECK-6 model was $895, and the BECK-ALTO model was $1195. Two finishes were available on both guitars, a blonde "natural" finish, and a black-and-orange "vintage burst" finish.[15]
The main differences between the models were the accommodations made for thicker strings on the BECK-ALTO model, and only one electronic pickup on the BECK-ALTO versus two on the BECK-6. The single pickup on the ALTO had split bass/treble controls for the lower two strings versus the upper four, and consequently, three knobs on the front of the guitar, versus four knobs on the BECK-6.[16] Both Cort guitar models could be purchased directly from Joe Beck through his website and at guitar dealers.[17] The BECK-6 is much more common, versus the BECK-ALTO, of which an estimated 200 were made.[18]
^With octave designations: A1 D2 G3 C4 E3 A3. This makes the tuning reentrant (the highest pitched strings are in the middle) and allows for unique chord voicings. The range is roughly that of a baritone guitar.
