LOUD HALLER

As Jeff Beck prepared for his 2009 Rock Hall honors and show-stopping all-star jam, he sat down for a timely reflection on a life devoted to guitar.

- GARY GRAFF

BECK WAS IN Cleveland on April 4, 2009, to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, on his own this time after going into the shrine as part of the Yardbirds 17 years prior. At that earlier ceremony, the Rock Hall’s seventh, Beck got attention for his memorable acceptance speech in which he acknowledged being tossed out of the band in 1966. While his former bandmates, including Jimmy Page, looked on, Beck remarked, “Somebody told me I should be proud tonight, but I’m not, because they kicked me out. They did. Fuck them!” Fortunately, the smackdown was delivered in genial tones and received considerable laughter, and both Beck and Page were happily part of the night-ending all-star jam later on.

Beck was in fine fettle for his 2009 induction too, but palpably happier as he sat in the concierge lounge at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, post-rehearsal, with wife Sandra nearby and manager Harvey Goldsmith and photographer-friend Ross Halfin flitting in and out, preparing for the evening’s ceremony.

It turned out to be all sweetness and light — and fire once Beck strapped on his Stratocaster. Jimmy Page was on hand to make the induction speech, proclaiming that Beck “shifted the whole sound and face of electric guitar music. He’s been instrumental in pioneering a whole blueprint that was totally unique to him for everyone else to learn from.” Page then joined Beck onstage to sandwich Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” inside “Beck’s Bolero” from the JeffBeck Group’s 1968 debut,