Cause We've Ended as Lovers

In late November 2007, guitar legend Jeff Beck and his band played for a week at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London. Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Robert Plant, and other music stars gathered to hear Beck's club set. Jeff was understandably nervous playing before such a notable crowd, for whom the night was full of surprises.

In the early seventies, Stevie Wonder wrote Superstition with Jeff Beck. Since Stevie first recorded the song, originally considered for Beck, he offered the guitarist Cause We've Ended as Lovers as an alternative. The song was included in the album Blow by Blow and is now widely associated with Jeff's solo guitar. That album was my introduction to Beck's playing and I followed his career through the next few albums. I stopped listening for a while after Here and Back, an innovative collection featuring the songs and talents of keyboardist Tony Hymas.

Tonight, I watched Jeff and band perform for the ninth or tenth time on the Live at Ronnie Scott's DVD. The performance was remarkable in many ways -- from Jeff's power on Led Boots, to his technical mastery on Scatterbrain, to his introverted shadow on Angel. I saw his show last year at The Fillmore in New York City and still cannot figure out how he makes such diverse sounds without many electronics -- and I was standing five feet away from him! The DVD represents the holy grail to jazz fusion enthusiasts. Nothing in my mind surpasses this version of Cause We've Ended as Lovers.

The 2007 tour featured seasoned-musician Vinnie Colauita on drums (from Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage days). Vinnie makes me work when I listen -- he doesn't always show you where is one (the first note of the measure). His polyrhythms force the musical listener to keep the beat and find one for yourself. I'm sure it was a lot of work for Jeff and other band members as well. Jason Rebello fit well into a long line of accomplished keyboardists who played with Jeff; Max Middleton, Stevie Wonder, Jan Hammer, and Tony Hymas. Rounding out the quartet was Tal Wilkenfeld, an incredible Australian beauty (in looks, in attitude, in technique) on the bass.

Cause We've Ended as Lovers started lovely and tastefully, like the album version which was dedicated to guitar great Roy Buchanan. Then, Jeff pointed to Tal for her to take a solo. Being a musician (and nowhere near these artists' universe), I appreciate watching the onstage communication between band members. Much of the time, players can not use their hands. They use facial expressions and eye contact to communicate their reaction to what is happening, where they are going in a song, and the desire to go completely off the map. Jeff had no idea that is exactly what Tal would do in a two-minute solo when he pointed at her. Come, watch the video with me.

The solo starts off nicely enough -- very melodic, using more of the fretboard than you can believe with Tal's small hands. Vinnie is adding tasteful fills using brushes that compliment her artistry. About a minute into the solo, Jason adds flavor to the C-minor progression with a B-flat minor 7 chord -- something unexpected, just once. Tal responds and the crowd applauds the riffs she is playing. Jeff raises his hands in praise. The energy from Jeff and the room spurs Tal to new sonic heights. She drops down from the upper part of the neck and plays a series of chromatic phrases that build like a Chick Corea solo. Jeff is even more amazed as the crowd screams their approval. At the end of two minutes, she works her way back down the fretboard to end on a decisive C note. She looks up at Jeff as if to say, "There. Pretty good, eh?"

Jeff is amazed... he hardly knows how to follow this solo. The bar is raised and he must reply. The guitarist hunkers down and gets serious, delivering an artistic message that has music-heads pointing and trying to figure out just how he does it. Guitar, drums, bass, keyboards. The crowd, the palpable energy. The yin and the yang. It brings tears to my eyes every time I see it.