One Legend to Another: Jeff Beck Honors Les Paul

"I was 6 years old when I first heard him on the radio, and I was stunned, fascinated by the sound, that strange slap-echo."

Guitar legend Jeff Beck recently recalled when he first fell under the spell of another legendary player, Les Paul.

"My mum said, 'I've heard of this chap.' She knew I was mesmerized by the sound of that guitar, and then she told me, 'I wouldn't get too excited by that, it's deception with electronic mirrors, it's all tricks.' I said, Great, fantastic! To a kid of 6, you want to hear tricks, don't you? I mean, what could have been more interesting?"

Beck first dazzled audiences in the mid-1960s after taking Eric Clapton's place in the Yardbirds, and then formed the Jeff Beck Group before launching his vaunted solo career in the early 1970s. But he never forgot the influence Les Paul had on him. They became friends, played together onstage and formed a long-lasting bond.

In fact, when Beck introduced Paul at the latter's 1988 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, he did so with the words, "I've copied more licks from Les Paul than I'd like to admit."

Paul died in 2009 at age 94, and last year his British disciple paid tribute to him in the best way he knew how -- performing two shows of Les Paul standards at the Iridium Jazz Club, the place where Paul played regularly for 14 years as artist-in-residence.

Those performances became one of the hottest concert tickets New York City had seen in ages, attracting a star-studded crowd including David Bowie, Meat Loaf, Stephen Colbert, John McEnroe, Steve Miller, Kirk Hammett, Duff McKagan and Ace Frehley, among others.

On Tuesday, a live CD from Rhino Records (and companion DVD/Blu-ray disc from Eagle Rock Entertainment) called "Rock 'n' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul," culled from those performances, is being released and will be followed by a short U.S. tour.

At the blistering shows, Beck was joined onstage by the Irish rockabilly sensation Imelda May and the Imelda May Band. Together, they performed a dead-on rendition of Paul's classic "How High the Moon," along with other standards such as "Cry Me a River" and some classic rave-ups like "The Girl Can't Help It." (Additional guests joining Beck onstage included Brian Setzer, Gary "U.S." Bonds and Trombone Shorty.)

On the heels of the new releases, Beck spoke to AOL News at length about his mentor.

"He was more than just a box of technical tricks," Beck said of Paul, who not only developed the solid-body electric guitar but also was an innovator in the development of multitrack recoding, overdubbing, tape delay and many other effects.

"He played beautifully, he always nailed the melody and then had fun with it by doing all that extravagant embroidery around the vocals."

Like Paul, Beck -- long thought of by many as a true "guitarist's guitarist" -- also melds cutting-edge sonic technology with an almost indescribable ability to translate emotions on the guitar.

"He completely changed my life for the better," Beck said, adding that he also holds a great deal of respect for Paul's wife, vocalist Mary Ford.

"You can't ever forget the way Mary handled the multitrack vocals," Beck said. "At the shows, I could have just done a collage of his instrumentals. Now, the guitar-playing fraternity may have loved that, but I wanted to do the whole thing. I admit as a kid I'd skip the needle to get to one of Les' solos, but now I realize what an inspiring partner she was for him. Just perfect."

Beck seems at the top of his guitar game these days. His 2010 album "Emotion & Commotion" brought him two Grammy Awards last week (out of a possible five nominations it garnered) and was both a blockbuster commercial and critical hit.

But he can't seem to get the Iridium shows out of his head.

"The crowds were amazing," he said with a laugh. "So close and intimate. I looked down and could see a half-eaten burger on a plate. And if I'd thought about who was there I would have made many more mistakes. But with this music, you don't have time to think about it, you just have to play."

Could he ever imagine being an artist-in-residence at a small club, like Les Paul?

"I think there something gypsy-like in me," he said wistfully. "Like Willie Nelson, he spends more hours in a bus than most truck drivers do. I like the moving-on thing. Always moving. When I feel the wind blowing, then it's time to move on."

The Rock 'n' Roll Party Tour kicks off March 24 in Washington, D.C., with Beck once again performing Les Paul classics with the Imelda May Band. After finishing the tour in San Francisco April 9, Beck will rejoin his celebrated Emotion & Commotion band (Jason Rebello, Rhonda Smith and Narada Michael Walden) for a tour of North America beginning April 13 in Salt Lake City. More information can be found here.

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