Jeff Beck concert DVD a guitar freak's wet dream

Jeff Beck is arguably the finest rock guitarist alive, and that argument just got a lot stronger with the release of his new DVD, Performing This Week...Live at Ronnie Scott's.

Filmed over the course of a five-night stand at the 250-seat Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London, England, the 21-track DVD captures the Strat master with an incredible band that includes keyboardist Jason Rebello, drummer Vinnie Colaiuto, and 22-year-old bass wunderkind Tal Wilkenfeld, who looks about 16 but plays like a regular Jaco Pastorius.

Highlights of the set include cuts from Beck's widely acclaimed Blow By Blow/Wired era, including his versions of Stevie Wonder's "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" (with a stunning Wilkenfeld solo) and Charlie Mingus's "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". Beck also pays tribute to the work of American jazz-rock greats John McLaughlin ("Eternity's Breath") and Billy Cobham ("Stratus"), as well as Indian musician Nitin Sawhney, whose "Nadia" gets the inimitable Beck treatment via bottleneck, whammy bar, and volume-knob manipulation:

The camera work displayed throughout this DVD sets the standard for how guitar legends should be filmed, with all the closeups you've ever wanted of Beck's magical technique. The set closes with his astonishing rendition of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life", before the guy he replaced in the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, shows up to trade searing blues licks on a couple of gems by Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.

If you've been contemplating the switch to a Blu-Ray player of late, now's the time, because the Blu-Ray version of Performing This Week... includes a seven-track rockabilly set with the Big Town Playboys that includes the old Yardbirds standby, "Train Kept a-Rollin". And you know that can't be bad.