Je nach Format (CD, DVD oder BlueRay) wird das Livekonzert Anfang oder Mitte Februar erscheinen.
The New York Times schrieb zu der Veranstaltung:
Zu der technischen Qualität lässt sich natürlich nur begrenzt was sagen, ich erwarte aber bereits nach der TV-Ausstrahlung Bestes. Abschließend noch ein kleiner Appetithappen mit der großartigen Imelda May aus dem ruhigeren Teil des Konzerts.Larry Rother hat geschrieben:Les Paul, the father of the electric guitar, often used to say that the favorite of his many disciples was Jeff Beck, a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work as a member of the Yardbirds and as a solo artist. Mr. Beck, in turn, has always said that his interest in the instrument was born when he heard “How High the Moon” on the radio as a 6-year-old. So when Iridium, the New York City jazz club where Les Paul had a Monday-night residency until his death last year, was looking for someone to lead a tribute to Paul, Mr. Beck was the logical choice.
Tuesday night was the first of two such shows; Wednesday would have been Paul’s 95th birthday, and a second performance is scheduled for Wednesday night. Mr. Beck is appearing with Imelda May, the Irish rockabilly singer with whom he performed “How High the Moon” at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles early this year, and her band, in a setting that is far smaller and more intimate than those he usually plays. On Tuesday night he seemed inspired, playing 27 songs ranging from Paul standards to rockabilly and blues. His manager, Harvey Goldsmith, announced at the beginning of the show that both performances were being filmed, first for broadcast as a PBS special at the end of the year and then for release as a DVD.
Roughly speaking, Mr. Beck’s long and passionate set was divided into three parts. The opening section, beginning with Elvis Presley’s “Baby, Let’s Play House” was pure rockabilly and allowed Mr. Beck to acknowledge some of the influences he absorbed after his initial exposure to Paul: Scotty Moore and Cliff Gallup in particular. On occasion, a Link Wray, Duane Eddy or Roy Buchanan flourish was thrown in. That part of the show also included a tune associated with Mr. Beck’s own repertory, a reading of Johnny Burnette’s “Train Kept a-Rollin’” that was truer to the song’s origins than the Yardbirds’ hit version and other later recordings by Aerosmith and others.
After Imelda May took the stage, the show soon switched over to renditions of Paul’s greatest hits, with Mr. Beck replicating some of the original solos — notoriously tricky, especially when not overdubbed — and transforming others by adopting a more stinging tone. In addition to “How High the Moon,” he tackled “Vaya con Dios,” “Mockingbird Hill,” “Bye Bye Blues,” “Tiger Rag” and, most challenging of all, “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise.” In an effort to duplicate Mary Ford’s multi-tracked vocals on the original recordings, Ms. May sang the lead vocal live, but with harmony parts she had previously recorded serving as backup.
To wrap things up, Mr. Beck brought a three-man horn section onstage to join the ensemble, beginning with a sledgehammer version of “The Peter Gunn Theme.” There were cameos by Gary U.S. Bonds and Brian Setzer, originally of the neo-rockabilly band the Stray Cats, and plenty of unexpected or obscure song choices, including the Shangri-Las’ “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand),” Sister Wynona Carr’s “Please Mr. Jailer” and even the 1961 instrumental hit “Apache,” originally by Jorgen Ingmann. “This is the first thing I ever played that got me noticed, so I thought I’d play it,” Mr. Beck explained.
One final note for guitar fanatics: Mr. Beck played at least five different guitars during the Tuesday show. During the Les Paul segment, he obviously wanted to stick to the tribute theme, and played a sunburst Les Paul, which should please the Gibson-guitar people who were associated with the event and had a giant bus with a Gibson logo parked outside Iridium. But his primary instrument for years has been the Fender Stratocaster, and he played two of those, one for slide parts and another for finger picking. “Bring my boy out,” he said, referring to the picking model just before the assault on “Peter Gunn” began.
Gruß
Joe
