Jazz pianist whose main fanbase was in continental Europe
John Fordham / guardian.co.uk
There cannot be many jazz musicians who have simultaneously possessed a flying phobia and a pilot's licence. That has long been a favourite anecdote about Gordon Beck, the lean, stonily impassive and technically awesome pianist, who has died aged 76. Beck had the licence because his first career was in aeronautical engineering, and the phobia because his complex personality mixed deep-seated anxieties with a fearless appetite for freefall adventures, evident in his jazz improvisations.
R.I.P. Gordon Beck / Peter Hum Ottawa Citizen / Jazzblog
British pianist Gordon Beck, who played a wide range of greats including Kenny Wheeler, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Helen Merrill, Phil Woods and Allan Holdsworth, died on Sunday. Beck was 76. Beck was largely self-taught as a pianist and before he committed himself to music, he worked for nine years as a design draftsman in aeronautical engineering in London and in Canada.
