Gordon James Beck (16 September 1935 ^[1] – 6 November 2011) was an English jazz pianist and composer. At the time of his death, 26 albums had been released under his name. ^[2]

Beck was born in Brixton, London, and attended Pinner County Grammar School – the school Reg Dwight ( Elton John) and Simon Le Bon later attended. He had a sister, Judy. ^[3] He studied piano in his youth, but decided to pursue a career as an engineering technical draughtsman ^[4] and moved to Canada in 1957 for this reason. ^[2]

Largely self-taught, he returned to music after returning from Canada in 1958, where he had been exposed to the works of George Shearing and Dave Brubeck. ^{[2] [5]}

Beck became a professional musician in 1960. ^[2] That year, he played with saxophonist Don Byas in Monte Carlo. ^[3] Beck joined the Tubby Hayes group in 1962 back in England. ^[2] He led his own bands from 1965, including Gyroscope, from 1968, a trio with bassist Jeff Clyne and drummer Tony Oxley. ^[3] Beck first played with vocalist Helen Merrill in 1969 and continued the relationship into the 1990s when she toured Europe. ^[3] From 1969 to 1972 he toured with saxophonist Phil Woods's European Rhythm Machine. Beck recorded ten albums with Woods. ^[2]

In the 1960s and 1970s he was a house pianist at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. ^[3] Beck also played "experimental funk in the Swiss musician George Gruntz's six-keyboard group Piano Conclave (1973-75), and free jazz with [...] British improv drummer John Stevens (1977, 1982)." ^[3] Beck was a member of Nucleus between 1973 and 1974. ^[3]

From middle age, Beck played predominantly in mainland Europe. ^[3] He also recorded albums with Allan Holdsworth, Henri Texier, Didier Lockwood and others. He often played solo from the 1980s and started teaching music at the same point. ^[3] He toured Japan with Holdsworth in 1985. ^[2] Beck stopped performing around 2005 because of poor health. ^[2] He died in Ely, Cambridgeshire, on 6 November 2011. ^[2]

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." ^[3]

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