Guitar Droppings

Around 8:52 p.m. Nearly half an hour into the show, it's clear that this band isn't going to stop collectively improvising until it takes its bows. There are few outright solos; just grooving groupthink. This is all right, as a loose logic has begun to emerge. Think of it like this:

• Wayne Shorter plays a loose, ambling melody
• Danilo Perez (or John Patitucci) establishes a countermelody
• We segue into completely unrelated new territory, and a new groove
• Seven minutes later, you realize it's morphed into something completely different
• A stray, unexpected Brian Blade cymbal crash begins an intense climax
• There's a denouement, and some meandering about
• Surprise! There's that melody fragment again
• Nebulous territory as everyone tries to figure out how to get to the next tune
• Lather, rinse, repeat

See, jazz is easy.

Not too impressed with the headliners, but there are some sleepers on the bill.

"Cissy Strut" The Meters, 1969

This just shows that the Meters had one of the great rhythm sections that ever existed. I don't know of any funkier band in the world. The JB's got their shit from these guys. Anyone who plays funk, if they don't know about the Meters, then their music just isn't any good.

True.

Grammy-winning guitarist Jeff Beck has inspired millions during a career spanning more than four decades, playing a wide variety of blues-rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion and electronica. After picking up the guitar as a child, Beck joined the famed guitar group The Yardbirds in 1965. By 1967, he decided to form The Jeff Beck Group — featuring Rod Stewart and Ron Wood — which became a model act for hard-rock aficionados. Before long, Beck was widely considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time; in 2009, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.