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February 22, 2011

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Jeff Beck slouches on a couch in the cloistered enclave of Bar 1200, a fabled rock-star watering hole at the Sunset Marquis hotel.

Glaring down from the wall behind him is Ozzy Osbourne, whose eyes pop menacingly from a massive black-and-white photo.

"Do I have to sit here?" Beck says with mock horror. Then he points to a seat across the room. "That's my usual spot over there. I practically take root."

Over the past four decades, Beck, 66, has had ample time to fade into the landscape.

Although he was considered one of the best guitarists to emerge from the '60s London scene, his penchant for perfectionism and for following his idiosyncratic muse led to solitary times when the only music he made came from banging away on his beloved American hot rods.

No longer. Beck's on a mainstream tear of late. He just picked up three Grammys for best rock and pop instrumentals and best pop collaboration.

And today, he comes out with Rock 'n' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul, a CD and DVD of last summer's rockabilly gig at New York's Iridium Jazz Club.

And now comes word that, despite old frictions, Beck has recorded songs that may reunite him with Rod Stewart, who handled vocals in The Jeff Beck Group for its seminal albums Truth (1968) and Beck-Ola (1969).

"I cut some tracks and sent them to Rod, and I'm still waiting for a response," says Beck, sunglasses shading weary eyes. "Some are originals, and we've got great covers, too. It's sort of Chapter 2 of Beck-Ola. So yeah, ball's in your court, matey."

Stewart, 66, appears to be interested. He and Beck "are making progress and an upcoming project is looking promising," says Arnold Stiefel, Stewart's manager.

The raspy vocalist has avoided rehashing his youth. But the opportunity to conjure that old rock magic may prove tough to resist, says Rolling Stone associate editor Andy Greene.

"This would be a big deal," Greene says. "Consider that when our magazine reviewed the first Led Zeppelin album, they were panned as a poor man's Jeff Beck Group."

Greene says such a teaming is in keeping with Beck's concerted effort "to get back into the game after consistently sabotaging his career. Those recent Grammys are proof positive he's returned with music that is more palatable than ever."

Beck acknowledges the radical shift in his attitude. "We've put in a lot of hard work over the past two years; our gig books look like the Yellow Pages. ... I've led the rock 'n' roll life for so long that I feel like I have to have that buzz."

Beck was particularly eager to celebrate the life of his idol and later friend, Les Paul, who gigged at the Iridium with his signature ax up until his death in 2009 at age 94.

"As a schoolboy, me and a friend would rush home and play his records over and over, trying to figure out what he was doing," Beck says. "We were right there with a passion for Les' tone, the finger movements, the bends, the attack."

Beck's early love of jazz greats such as Barney Kessel made him unique among rocker peers such as Eric Clapton and Keith Richards.

Where they went for a mainstream blues sound, Beck experimented on the fringes of fusion, which may be why members of Pink Floyd wanted him but were too intimidated to make the move.

"(Floyd's) Dave Gilmour told me once after a few ales that they wanted me, but Roger (Waters) was too scared to ask," Beck says, laughing.

"Would I have joined? Probably not," he says. "Back then, I was nuts, looking for more aggressive stuff. More black funk, James Brown and Motown. I jumped ship from that whole English rock thing."

Beck remains on the hunt for new sounds, says Art Thompson, senior editor with Guitar Player magazine. "No one can play like him. Ron Wood told me that he and Jimmy Page were talking, and Jimmy said, 'Well, there's no one better than Jeff, is there?' "

Page said as much inducting old friend Beck into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. "What he said was outrageous," Beck says. "What a compliment."

While Beck waits to see if Stewart pays him one by re-teaming, he's mending another old friendship.

"There were times when I treated my guitars as a nuisance," he says. "But they are my best friends. I looked at one the other day and thought, 'Thanks a lot, pal, you got me all around the world.' People give me so much for making noises with it. And it's just a lump of wood with some wires."

Jeff Beck is the TRUTH!

Anyone who took a liking and listened to Barney Kessel . . . it explains Mr. Beck's approach to music and playing the guitar.