Jeff Beck: Not An Egomaniac

Howdy, Chris Morris of Variety. Still smokin' those Camel® non-filters?

Jim Farber / New York Times:

Jeff Beck, Guitarist With a Chapter in Rock History, Dies at 78  —  His playing with the Yardbirds and as leader of his own bands brought a sense of adventure to their groundbreaking recordings.  —  Jeff Beck, one of the most skilled, admired and influential guitarists in rock history …

Newsday:   Jeff Beck, guitar god who influenced generations, dies at 78

Chris Morris / Variety:   Jeff Beck, One of the Guitar Masters of the Rock Era, Dies at 78

AJ McDougall / The Daily Beast:   Legendary Guitarist Jeff Beck Dies Suddenly

Christine Samra / FOX8 WGHP:   Legendary rock guitarist Jeff Beck dies after contracting bacterial meningitis

Naughty Peoples Radio has a good quote:

To Beck, the guitar — at least the way he played it — could be as versatile an instrument as the human voice. "I just tried to become a singer," he told NPR in a 2010 interview. "I think the Stratocaster, the particular guitar Stratocaster, lends itself to endless possibilities because of the spring-loaded bridge that it's got. I can depress the whammy bar they call it, but it's actually a vibrato bar. And I can do infinite variations on that by raising or lowering the pitch. I can play a chord and lower that pitch — six strings simultaneously."

[...]

In debates over guitar-virtuosity, Beck is often listed in the same breath as players like Clapton, Page and Keith Richards. But Beck was always a bit of a recluse — wary of the attention that came with being a famous musician. He explained to The New York Times in 2010 how he felt about the music industry as a whole:

"It's a diabolical business," he said. "I can't imagine how hellish it must be to be hounded like Amy Winehouse and people like that. I have a little peripheral place on the outskirts of celebrity, when I go to premieres and that sort of stuff, which is as close as I want to get. I cherish my privacy, and woe betide anyone who tries to interfere with that."