Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Joe Beck Trio: Just Friends

139

Joe Beck Trio: Just Friends

By

View read count
Joe Beck Trio: Just Friends
Joe Beck's resume dates back to the late sixties: opening for Cream; playing with Buddy Rich; backing Sinatra, Miles, and pop rocker Melanie; plus years of composing for films and TV. Beck is professional and versatile, with a very polished yet relaxed approach on his latest offering, Just Friends.

The guitarist got together with a couple of friends and long time collaborators—bassist Mark Egan and drummer Danny Gotlieb—for a laid-back, straight-ahead session that showcases their virtuosity and fluid musical rapport.

The trio opens with Cole Porter's classic, "I Love You," which must be Beck's tribute to family and friends, musical and otherwise. Beck's guitar just sings; he (as Monk advises) picks the notes and chords he means, bringing credence to the idea that "every straight ahead outing should include at least one Cole Porter tune." Beck's string work is crisp and snappy, while Egan's bass lines loop around the melody, in front of Gotlieb's tasteful high end skin work.

And that pretty much sets the tone for the entire CD: Ellington's "Prelude to a Kiss", Hammerstein & Romberg's beautiful "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise", a few shining Beck originals—his "Get Ready" might be the disc's higlight, in a start-to-finish fine set. Or maybe it's the classic "The Girl Next Door," Beck's fingers bringing out the crystalline notes in a magical dance. Seamless, flawlessly executed, a guitar delivery that somehow brings to mind Ella Fitzgerald—the flow and phrasing, the subtlety and nuance.

And the sound quality sparkles like a gemstone. Just Friends is an outstanding straight-ahead guitar trio outing.

www.whalingcitysound.com

Track Listing

I Love You, Just Friends, Prelude to a Kiss, Get Ready, The Girl Next Door, Zanzibar, Softly as in a Morning sunrise, Gentle Rain, There Will Never Be Another You, Blues for Joe Farrell

Personnel

Joe Beck
guitar

Joe Beck, guitar; Mark Egan, bass; Danny Gotlieb, drums

Album information

Title: Just Friends | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: Whaling City Sound

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.