Gordon Beck

Gordon James Beck (16 September 1935 – 6 November 2011) was an English jazz pianist and composer. At the time of his death, 26 albums had been released under his name. and moved to Canada in 1957 for this reason.

Beck became a professional musician in 1960. In the spring of 1968, the Gordon Beck Quartet recorded some songs with Joy Marshall. Thirteen of the tracks with Marshall would appear on an album, When Sunny Gets Blue (Spring '68 Sessions) decades later.

Beck first played with vocalist Helen Merrill in 1969 and continued the relationship into the 1990s when she toured Europe.

Playing style Describing Beck, in his obituary for The Guardian, jazz critic John Fordham said: "He hardly ever played a cliche; he struck notes with a steely precision or a glistening delicacy depending on the mood, and his solos developed in constantly changing phrase lengths and rhythms that never sounded glib or routine."