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Beck is an album by guitarist Joe Beck which was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s Studio in New Jersey in 1975 and released on the CTI label. The album was reissued in 1979 and 1987 as Beck & Sanborn.
Beck is a masterpiece of mid-’70s funky jazz and fusion. Beck retired in 1971 to be a dairy farmer.
He returned to make this album his opus. Featuring David Sanborn, Don Grolnick, Will Lee, and Chris Parker, all of the album’s six tracks were recorded in two days.
Overdubs were done in another day and the minimal strings added by Don Sebesky were added on a third day.
“Star Fire” opens the set and features the interplay of Beck’s riffing and lead fills with Sanborn’s timely, rhythmic legato phrasing, and the communication level is high and the groove level even higher.
On “Texas Ann,” another Beck original, Sanborn hits the blues stride from the jump, but Beck comes in adding the funk underneath Grolnick’s keyboard while never losing his Albert Collins’ feel.
On “Red Eye,” Beck’s two- and three-chord funk vamps inform the verse while Sebesky’s unobtrusive strings provide a gorgeous backdrop for Sanborn, who stays in the mellow pocket until the refrains, when he cuts loose in his best Maceo Parker.
The deep funk of Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin’s “Café Black Rose” showcases the band’s commitment to groove jazz with a razor’s edge.
The composition is full of nooks and crannies and syncopated intervallic elements for the rhythm section. Steve Khan’s slide guitar adds electric Delta feel to a Sly Stone funk groove along with a Jack McDuff riff makes the whole thing feel like a greasy good time. Beck is essential listening for anyone interested in mid-’70s commercial jazz.
The chops are there, but far more than that, Beck leads a band into a soul-deep blowing session with killer charts, nasty tunes, and killer vibes.
Track listing
- “Star Fire” – 4:31
- “Cactus”
(Don Grolnick)– 4:55 - “Texas Ann” – 7:53
- “Red Eye” – 7:10
- “Cafe Black Rose”
(Gene Dinwiddie)– 4:23 - “Brothers and Others” – 6:23
All compositions by Joe Beck except where noted
Personnel
- Joe Beck – guitar
- David Sanborn – alto saxophone
- Don Grolnick – piano, electric piano, organ
- Steve Khan – rhythm guitar
- Will Lee – electric bass
- Chris Parker – drums
- Ray Mantilla – percussion
- Don Sebesky – arranger
- Charles Libove, David Nadien, Frederick Buldrini, Harold Kohon, Harry Cykman, Harry Lookofsky, Joe Malin, Max Ellen, Peter Dimitriades – violin
- Charles McCracken, George Ricci, Jesse Levy – cello
Notes
Released: 1975
Recorded: March 10, 11 & 17, 1975 Studio Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Genre: Jazz, Fusion
Length: 35:55
Producer: Creed Taylor
Label – Kudu Records
Record-facts... 