3 stars (out of 4)Though he came up alongside such hardcore blues devotees as Eric Clapton and Peter Green in swinging ‘60s London, Jeff Beck was more beholden to the country-influenced rockabilly guitarists of the ‘50s and the sonic wizardry of Les Paul. Paul’s technical fluidity and his use of the studio as an instrument in his intricate pop recordings with the singer Mary Ford blew a young Jeff Beck’s mind. Beck went on to play with Paul many times, and then gathered a few friends at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club last year to pay tribute to the master after he died. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Party” (ATCO) documents the concert, with a handful of vocalists accompanying Beck in honoring his primary influences. The performances include relatively straightforward readings of classic rockabilly (a blistering “The Train Kept A Rollin’,” “Twenty Flight Rock”), treble-soaked instrumentals (“Apache,” “Sleep Walk”) and early ‘60s pop hits (“Peter Gunn,” “Walking in the Sand”). Beck continually transcends the somewhat shopworn arrangements and vocalists with his violent eloquence, drawing a line straight back to the source of his astonishing instrumental tone.Even better are his collaborations with Irish vocalist Imelda May on a handful of tunes popularized by Les Paul and Mary Ford. Beck dances on the strings while May swings on “How High the Moon” and the guitarist attacks “Bye Bye Blues” with percussive glee. An entire album of Beck-May collaborations would seem to be in order.
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