Jeff Beck and Imelda May coming to New Brunswick March 29

PHOTO: LARRY BUSACCA/GETTY IMAGES. Jeff Beck and Imelda May at Iridium Jazz Club in New York City last June. I was there!

Guitarist Jeff Beck -- the eternally mop-topped, 66-year-old icon of British rock, blues and fusion -- has been a household name in musico circles since he replaced Eric Clapton in The Yardbirds 46 years ago. Which is why calling his recent stretch of over-the-top, Lady-Gaga-meets-Justin-Bieber-esque fame an overnight success story is odd -- and oddly accurate.

This late-career surge started at the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago. With the help of Tal Wilkenfeld, his brilliant young bassist at the time, Beck, with his mesmerizing sundown set, stole the show from every other guitarist on the bill -- including Clapton, the event's host.  

Up next was 2009's "Performing This Week: Live at Ronnie Scott's,'' a DVD and CD of Beck's high-profile 2007 show at the legendary London jazz club, which featured a Grammy award-winning performance of "A Day in the Life.''

Beck followed that with his first studio album in seven years, "Emotion & Commotion,'' which hit No. 11 on the Billboard 200 in the United States -- the highest debut of his career -- and earned him two Grammys (He earned a third from a collaboration with Herbie Hancock, thereby tying Gaga and out-Grammying Bieber and Eminem).

But amid all this top-strata activity -- which also includes his 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist and his 2010 appearance on "Idol Gives Back'' -- Beck decided to go small time.

Last June, he orchestrated a two-night tribute to one of his guitar idols, the late Les Paul, at the tiny Iridium Jazz Club in New York City, where Paul performed regularly until his death in 2009 at age 94. Backing Beck was Irish rockabilly singer Imelda May and her band, plus a handful of guest stars including Brian Setzer and Gary U.S. Bonds.

The tribute, which was released last month as a CD and DVD called "Rock 'n' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul,'' finds Beck performing note-perfect renditions of 1950s material by Les Paul & Mary Ford, Gene Vincent, Johnny Burnette and Sun Records-era Elvis Presley. Also included are Beck's takes on three vintage-appropriate instrumentals, The Shadows' "Apache,'' Santo & Johnny's "Sleep Walk'' and Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn Theme.''

Well, there's good news for everyone who appreciates vintage guitars, tube amps and heavy doses of Technicolor-tinted rock 'n' roll nostalgia: Beck and the Imelda May Band have taken their party on the road, and it's coming to the State Theatre in downtown New Brunswick Tuesday night.

The core band from the Iridium shows will be there, including Beck on lead guitar, May on vocals, May's husband Darrel Higham on vocals and guitar, Al Gare on double bass and Steve Rushton on drums.

Beck is clearly reaching back to his roots on this brief tour. More importantly, he's having a genuine ball, something audiences won't help but notice as he rips into the most exciting rendition of "The Train Kept A-Rollin'‚'' New Jersey has ever heard.

JEFF BECK AND THE IMELDA MAY BAND
8 p.m. March 29‚ State Theatre, 15 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick‚ $40, $75 and $85‚ 732-246-7469, www.statetheatrenj.org