The singer songwriter that other SSW’s love

(Translated from jazzquad.ru)

Joe Beck Trio – Get Me Joe Beck

By Leonid Auskern

Characteristic of English wordplay that are written differently but pronounced the same way , allowing a very free translation translate this title as ” Give me Joe .” And in this case it has a special meaning . In 2008, after a long illness , died at the age of only 63 years, one of the most talented jazz guitarists of his generation Joe Beck . The last years of his life, he collaborated closely with the label Whaling City Sound, released five of his albums , including a duet with John Abercrombie. And now, six years after the death of the musician , the label returns us music Joe Beck in his sixth , alas, the posthumous album.

Joe returned from a concert recording made ​​at Anna’s Jazz Island in Berkeley, California in September 2006 . We hear the last solo, last chords , the last notes played a great master . Here’s how Joe talks about his old partner and friend, John Abercrombie ( he also wrote liner notes to this edition ): ” Joe was and will always remain one of the greatest musicians ever to play on this damn instrument called a guitar .” He was echoed by another titan of jazz guitar , John Scofield : ” The guitar he was able to do everything.”

The program enables the album to see this. At Anna’s Jazz Island Joe played purely acoustic trio format , with rhythm section , consisting of Peter Barshai ( bass) and David Rokeach (percussion ) . Both musician almost all the time remained in the shadows , leaving the leader all the possibilities for full expression. That evening, Beck played a program of classic jazz standards. We hear Stella by Starlight, You and the Night and the Music, Tenderly, and Georgia on my Mind sounds even in two versions. Separate block of the program comprise two ” Brazilian ” composition – Manhã de Carnaval Luis Bonfim / Mary and Antonio Jobim Corcovado . That such well known topics are the touchstone on which the class is checked . And Beck demonstrates it fully . He plays quite slowly , emphasizing each note and investing in your game abyss feelings. No special effects , just a deep immersion in the subject at the highest technical level. His execution could serve as an ideal Evergreen textbook game for many young guitarists.

But apart from the music in the album sounds and his word . Four tracks of the album – it’s small passages in which Beck says of his instrument (The Guitar is a six piece band), on ballads about fellow trio of Jobim . In his remarks of many kind of humor , but also a lot of thought , which is also useful to listen . All together – music, performance and statements of Joe Beck – a kind of portrait of Joe , a musician and a person. This portrait is an opportunity to assess what scale identity lost in his face the jazz world . And if you do not want to put up with the loss , often put in their administration of any of his albums , for example , Get Me Joe Beck …

By BETH PERDUE

Some of life’s most important lessons come early and stick with us.

For New Bedford businessman Neal Weiss, life’s lessons hit hard in the mid-1980s when his wife was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor that left her mentally and physically disabled until her death four years later.

At the time, Weiss’ two sons were 3 and 6. He was working as a salesman in Brookline, commuting from the family’s South Dartmouth home, for an electronics company that was just beginning to explore a new and untested field of fiber optics.

For four years, Weiss lived with daily uncertainty — of what would happen to his wife, his family, and his career.

But when the clouds finally cleared, he had a new perspective on life, one he says had more empathy for the daily family struggles people encounter, as well as a strong desire to share his passions and good fortune.

“The good news about bad news is that it puts your life in perspective very quickly,” Weiss said. “You realize that there is family, friends and your health; nothing else really has value.”

Today Weiss runs his own fiber optics company, has been married to his second wife, Marjorie Waite, for 22 years, and is a generous and passionate supporter of the local arts and music communities, a wrestling coach and mentor for New Bedford area youth, an education advocate, and a community and business leader.

For his contributions to making this region better, Weiss was chosen as the first recipient of SouthCoast Media Group’s Irwin M. and Joan K. Jacobs Leadership Award and will be honored at an April 23 event at the Whaling Museum. Nominations for the award came from the community with the winner selected by representatives from the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund, SouthCoast Media Group and the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts.

“When we established the Jacobs Leadership Award last year, we wanted it to celebrate the virtues that we believe have allowed Irwin and Joan Jacobs to have such far-reaching impact,” said Bob Unger, editor and associate publisher of SouthCoast Media Group, which publishes The Standard-Times and the SouthCoast Business Bulletin. “We are so pleased that Neal Weiss was chosen as the award’s first honoree. His entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, boundless energy and generosity make him a model of what great business leaders should be.”

“I think Neal is a great choice,” said Craig Dutra, president of the Community Foundation and member of the award selection committee. “He is a business leader that has been involved in a variety of charitable organizations. He is a great president of the New Bedford Education Foundation, which is part of our organization. He is a very philanthropic man who runs a successful business and has a record label.”

Although he has started two businesses, one technical and one creative, Weiss, 67, refers to himself as a reluctant entrepreneur who never set out to own or run a company.

Faced with the prospect of losing his sales job, and needing employment that allowed him to care for his young boys, Weiss worked out a complex deal with his then employer and friend to buy the fiber optics piece of the business. He then relocated it to New Bedford, and, in the 22 years since, has grown it to a staff of 30.

Many people walk by Fiber Optics Center’s small building off Water Street, under the sign that still says Kaller Beef, and never know that within those historic walls employees are sending out as many as 100 orders a day supporting the creation of high-tech data networks all over the world.

In its early years, Weiss hired women with no technical backgrounds who were looking to transition from state aid to employment, to sell his equipment. As long as they were motivated and could speak and write well, he offered them a job.

“I had women here in the ’90s selling to engineers, selling high-tech fiber optics, and learning the business with no sales experience, no computer experience, and, in some cases, no education, not even a GED. That didn’t matter,” said Weiss.

In 1999, he founded Whaling City Sound, satisfying a passion for jazz by helping select musicians record and produce their music. Although an economically shaky venture, the studio has a respected reputation in music circles, and this winter had a CD top the playlist, with the most airtime for six straight weeks, for a nationwide group of 60 to 80 jazz stations.

The studio has also earned Weiss respect locally for his willingness to connect musicians with nonprofits in ways that benefit New Bedford.

“He supports and organizes benefit concerts for local non-profits … integrating the musicians he sponsors with an opportunity to benefit the larger community, wrote Candace Lee Heald, AHA! New Bedford director, in one of four award nominations received for Weiss.

To this day, if a community group is putting on a local jazz event, they often turn to Weiss for advice and just as often receive more than expected, including booked and paid for musicians and assistance promoting events. During the warmer months, Weiss also hosts monthly free AHA! concerts at FOC’s location.

While music is a passion for Weiss, so is art, education, and the YWCA’s mission to eliminate racism and empower women. He is a long-time supporter and former board member of the New Bedford Art Museum and continues to pay their mailings for them. He is a dedicated volunteer for the YWCA, serving on its Capital Campaign Committee and is the board chair of the New Bedford Education Foundation, where he works to solicit business donations that support teachers and students.

Weiss also works directly with children, coaching young wrestling athletes, ages 4 to 14, for the past 40 years, the last 10 through the New Bedford public schools.

“Few folks come to Neal Weiss for help with worthy projects and get turned away,” wrote New Bedford resident Jean Bennett in her nomination letter.

As the Jacobs award winner, Weiss ironically counts Qualcomm, Irwin Jacobs’ giant firm, as a customer. Fiber Optic Center makes a microscopic glass sphere, he said, whose properties of light caught the eye of one of Qualcomm’s departments.

“There is a division of Qualcomm that has purchased these balls,” he said. “It’s top secret; they won’t tell us (what they use them for).”

Weiss has met Jacobs and connected with him through the education foundation, which the Jacobs have supported. He admires him for his generosity and effectiveness in creating useful programs.

To be in his company is an honor, he said.

“It’s an amazing honor, because he is revered by me and by almost everyone I know,” said Weiss. “It seems that he knows what it takes to get the desired result. He’s not just putting money out there. He has developed programs and ideas that have produced results.”

Jazz alto sax legend Greg Abate brings his high-powered quartet to the Wamsutta Club in New Bedford Wednesday evening at 8. The concert continues the long-running series of concerts presented by Whaling City Sound with proceeds to benefit the YWCA of Southeastern Mass.

On Friday, Abate and the band will head into the studio to record the music they will be premiering at the Wamsutta. This is a rare chance to hear a top-notch, all-star jazz group explore original music written for this moment, and which has not previously been played publicly.

Based in Rhode Island for many years, Abate is a regular at festivals, clinics, clubs and universities all over the world. His impressive body of recorded CDs showcases Abate with many jazz legends in the rhythm section or as guest horn-players. Kenny Barron, Mark Soskin, Rufus Reid, Harvie S, Bill Miele, Paul Del Nero, Paul Nagel and others are just a few of those who can be heard on Abate’s recordings.

Keyboard wizard, composer and educator Tim Ray is the leader of the “chamber jazz” group Tre Corda, but that does not keep him from performances at places like the White House and Carnegie Hall, or on TV shows like the “Tonight Show” and “Letterman.” Recently Tim was part of this same rhythm section at Scullers in Boston with Abate’s baritone-heavy sextet. Currently on the faculty of Berklee College, Ray has taught at all of the major colleges, universities and conservatories in Boston.

John Lockwood has performed at the Wamsutta Club many times as one of the anchors of guitarist John Stein’s Quartet during the last five-plus years.

Behind the drums for this evening will be master drummer Mark Walker. A major contributor to the success of the bands Oregon and the Caribbean Jazz Project, Walker was a longtime member of Paquito D’Rivera’s touring group. He is a Grammy winner, and also teaches at Berklee.

The Wamsutta Club is a relaxed and pleasant setting for acoustic jazz. A limited food menu will be available, along with a cash bar.

The Wamsutta Club at 427 County St. is handicap accessible. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 day of show and are available from: YWCA, 20 S. Sixth St., or by calling (508) 999-3255; Whaling City Sound, (508) 992-6613; Wamsutta Club, (508) 997-7431.