Day: January 11, 2023

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Zenas BioPharma Announces First Patient Dosed in Phase 3 Clinical Study of Obexelimab for the Treatment of Immunoglobulin G4-Related Disease (IgG4-RD)

Global Phase 3 INDIGO study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of obexelimab in patients with IgG4-RD, a chronic and serious fibroinflammatory disease typically affecting multiple organs

IgG4-RD is the first of several potential disease indications to be pursued for obexelimab given its unique non-depleting, B-cell inhibition

WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Zenas BioPharma, a global biopharmaceutical company committed to becoming a leader in the development and commercialization of immune-based therapies, today announced that the first patient has been dosed in the INDIGO Phase 3 registrational study of obexelimab. The INDIGO study will evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of obexelimab treatment in the prevention of IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) flare. Obexelimab is a high-affinity bifunctional antibody that inhibits B-cell lineages by simultaneously binding to CD19 and FcƳRIIB, thereby downregulating B-cell activity in patients with autoimmune diseases associated with autoantibodies, such as IgG4-RD.

“IgG4-RD is a chronic and serious fibroinflammatory condition that can affect nearly any organ system and can have a profound impact on many patients, leading to severe organ damage or death,” said Hua Mu, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Zenas. “There are no currently approved treatments for patients living with IgG4-RD. Based upon the promising data from a Phase 2 study of obexelimab in IgG4-RD patients, we are excited to continue to evaluate the potential of obexelimab in the INDIGO study.”

About the INDIGO Study

The INDIGO study is a global multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study enrolling up to 200 adults with active IgG4-RD signs/symptoms (i.e., flare) that require steroid therapy. Patients will be randomized in a ratio of 1:1 to receive either obexelimab or placebo, administered as subcutaneous injections.

The primary endpoint of INDIGO is time to first IgG4-RD flare (defined as the reappearance of previous signs/symptoms or appearance of new signs/symptoms of IgG4-RD) that requires initiation of rescue therapy from randomization to Week 52. Safety will be evaluated throughout the study duration.

More information on the INDIGO study (NCT05662241) is available at clinicaltrials.gov.

About Obexelimab

Obexelimab is an investigational Phase 3-stage, novel bifunctional antibody with first-in-class potential that inhibits B-cell lineages that express CD19. Simultaneous binding to CD19 and FcƳRIIB by obexelimab mimics a natural antigen-antibody complex and downregulates B cell activity. In several early-stage clinical studies, 198 subjects were treated with obexelimab. In these clinical studies, the molecule demonstrated effective inhibition of B cell function without depleting the cells and generated an encouraging treatment effect in patients with multiple autoimmune diseases. Zenas acquired exclusive worldwide rights to obexelimab from Xencor, Inc.

About IgG4-RD

IgG4-RD is a chronic and serious fibroinflammatory disease typically affecting multiple organs (e.g., pancreas, liver, kidney, bile duct, salivary and lacrimal glands). Approximately 20,000 people are diagnosed with IgG4-RD in the US, with similar prevalence rates across geographies. Many patients have some degree of irreversible organ damage at the time of diagnosis. Although nearly all patients initially respond to glucocorticoid (GC) therapy, a majority of patients will relapse/flare within a few months of discontinuing treatment, requiring rescue therapy. Chronic GC therapy is also associated with toxicity in many patients.

About Zenas BioPharma

Zenas BioPharma is a global biopharmaceutical company committed to becoming a leader in the development and commercialization of immune-based therapies for patients around the world. With clinical development and operations globally, Zenas is advancing a deep and balanced global portfolio of potential first- and best-in-class autoimmune therapeutics in areas of high unmet medical need while meeting the value requirements of the dynamic global healthcare environment. The company’s pipeline continues to grow through our successful business development strategy. Our experienced leadership team and network of business partners drive operational excellence to deliver potentially transformative therapies to improve the lives of those living with autoimmune and rare diseases. For more information about Zenas BioPharma, please visit www.zenasbio.com and follow us on Twitter at @ZenasBioPharma and LinkedIn.

Investor and Media Contact:
Joe Farmer, President & COO
Zenas BioPharma
IR@zenasbio.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8727743

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Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases Group Announces their First On-Site FAT Testing at their Marine Facility in Busan, Korea

TEMECULA, Calif., Jan. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases Group (“Group”), a part of the Nikkiso Co., Ltd (Japan) group of companies, is proud to announce its first on-site FAT testing at their new Marine facility in Busan, Korea. This accomplishment exemplifies their commitment to and support of the growth of the Korean market.

Since July 2022, they have been fabricating high-pressure pump skids in the 4,000 square meter facility. With the successful completion of this FAT test for Hapag Lloyd AG (for the largest fuel gas supply system), they demonstrate the capabilities of their factory and its LN2 (liquid nitrogen) test facility. This facility continues to provide the commissioning and maintenance support previously provided. With the HP pumps skid fabrication and testing capabilities, they now provide full-system marine solutions to their customers.

The FAT test is mandatory prior to skid delivery, which tests for overall performance (i.e., pump maximum flowrate, vaporizer performance, lube-oil (LO) system, nitrogen purge system, cryogenic valves, etc.). It must be witnessed by shipowner, class society, and customers, verifying the product meets its performance requirements.

According to Jay Lee, General Manager, Korea, “Nikkiso ACD has been the preferred supplier for Fuel Gas skids to the Korean shipbuilding industry for over 20 years! With our new skid packaging and testing facility located near the shipyards in Korea, we now have even greater capacity to provide local support and meet the significant global marine demands.”

“This is an important next step for our Group and the LNG powered Marine market, and an expanded benefit for our Marine customers. Nikkiso CE&IG will now be able to provide and test full systems and support our customers with a turnkey system solution,” according to Peter Wagner, CEO of Cryogenic Industries and President of the Group.

Contact Information:
Nikkiso Clean Energy and Industrial Gases – Korea
Head Office & Factory: 83, Nosansanupjung-ro, Gangseo-gu, Busan, 46752, Korea
Branch office: #1912, 170, Gwanggyojungang-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, 16614, Korea
info@NikkisoCEIG-Korea.com

ABOUT CRYOGENIC INDUSTRIES
Cryogenic Industries, Inc. (now a member of Nikkiso Co., Ltd.) member companies manufacture and service engineered cryogenic gas processing equipment (pumps, turboexpanders, heat exchangers, etc.) and process plants for Industrial Gases, and Natural Gas Liquefaction (LNG), Hydrogen Liquefaction (LH2) and Organic Rankine Cycle for Waste Heat Recovery. Founded over 50 years ago, Cryogenic Industries is the parent company of ACD, Nikkiso Cryo, Nikkiso Integrated Cryogenic Solutions, Cosmodyne and Cryoquip and a commonly controlled group of 20 operating entities.

For more information, please visit www.nikkisoCEIG.com and www.nikkiso.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Anna Quigley
+1.951.383.3314
aquigley@cryoind.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8727431

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FURA Gems Appoints Mazars SA and Initiates the Process for Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) Registration

FURA Gems

Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire from FURA Gems

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FURA Gems announced today it had initiated the certification process with the RJC, demonstrating its commitment to responsible business practices. The project will be headed by Mazars Switzerland, which will accompany FURA Gems and all its operating mining locations in Colombia for emeralds, Mozambique for rubies, and Australia for sapphire through the process of RJC preparation. FURA has already registered its Australian location with RJC, and FURA will now look to expand the certification for the group and all its operating sites. With Mazar’s support, FURA will target to complete the certification process on or before December 31, 2023, for all its operating locations.

The certification with RJC is part of the ambitious ESG strategy deployed by FURA since its foundation in 2017. Earlier last year, FURA announced the partnership with Gübelin to provide traceability for all its stones through the Provenance Proof Blockchain. RJC Certification marks an additional important step towards achieving FURA’s ambitious ESG goals.

“This is a strong statement from our side, as we launch certification of all our mines producing emeralds, rubies and sapphires,” says Dev Shetty, Founder & CEO of FURA Gems. “The certification process will enable us to formalize our commitment since our foundation: to provide the jewellery market with traceable, sustainably sourced colour gemstones. To achieve this, we have identified Mazars as the ideal partner to conduct the process throughout our production sites and at the headquarters level. Mazars offers the ideal combination of regional expertise and global perspective, enabling us to conduct the project with the greatest level of competencies & professionalism.”

Franck Paucod, Partner at Mazars, explains, “We are thrilled to accompany FURA Gems through the demanding process of RJC COP Certification. Conducting the project for the three (3) mines simultaneously shows FURA’s commitment to responsible mining. We are confident that with our experiences in the gems and jewellery sector, we will be able to support FURA with its commitment to building the solid framework to achieve the RJC certification.”

ABOUT FURA GEMS

FURA Gems Inc. is a coloured gemstone mining and marketing company established in 2017. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, FURA has over 1,200 employees across continents. It is the first pioneering, creative and ethical enterprise to cover the entire spectrum of coloured gemstones. It operates three mining subsidiaries in Colombia, Mozambique, and Australia that mines emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. FURA also initiated its exploration program in Madagascar for sapphire mining. It is the fastest-growing coloured gemstone mining company to ensure the stability and traceability of ethically mined coloured gemstones from rough to retail.

ABOUT MAZARS

Mazars is an internationally integrated partnership, specialising in audit, accountancy, advisory, tax and legal services. Operating in over 90 countries and territories around the world, Mazars draws on the expertise of more than 44,000 professionals to assist clients of all sizes at every stage in their development.

Mazars Switzerland is specialised in the watch & jewellery industry. Mazars can either accompany clients throughout the RJC Code of Practice COP certification preparation and registration which is the case for FURA Gems or perform audits for the certification of companies in conformity of the RJC COP.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/80695a84-8e96-48d7-a21d-6548f0e035e7

FURTHER INFORMATION

Gianluca Maina, Marketing Director, FURA Gems, gianluca.maina@furagems.com

Franck Paucod, Partner, Mazars SA, franck.paucod@mazars.ch

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 1000776648

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Historically Black US School Leaps Into College Gymnastics

Jordynn Cromartie entered her senior year of high school facing a daunting choice, one countless other Black gymnasts have faced for decades.

The teenager from Houston wanted to attend a historically Black college or university. And she wanted to compete in the sport she’s dedicated most of her life to.

One problem. She knew she couldn’t do both, something Cromartie brought up over Thanksgiving dinner while talking to her uncle, Frank Simmons, a member of the Board of Trustees at Fisk University, a private HBCU of around 1,000 students in Nashville, Tennessee.

“He and my aunt were like, ‘Oh you haven’t made a decision, you should come to Fisk,’” Cromartie said. “I’m like, ‘Well, they don’t have a gymnastics team.’ To go to a college that doesn’t have what I would be working for forever was crazy to me.”

Simmons, stunned, made a promise to his niece.

“Watch,” he told her. “I’ll make it happen.”

In the span of a few weeks, Simmons connected Derrin Moore — the founder of Atlanta-based Brown Girls Do Gymnastics, an organization that’d been trying to drum up support for an HBCU for years — with Fisk’s trustees. One trustee listened to Moore’s pitch and offered to make a $100,000 donation on the spot if Fisk adopted the sport.

And seemingly in a flash, all the roadblocks and misconceptions Moore had encountered while spending the better part of a decade trying to persuade an HBCU to take the leap on an increasingly diverse sport evaporated.

On Friday afternoon at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, barely 14 months after Fisk committed to building a program from the ground up, Cromartie — now a freshman at her uncle’s alma mater — and the rest of her teammates will make history when they become the first HBCU to participate in an NCAA women’s gymnastics meet. The Bulldogs will compete against Southern Utah, North Carolina and Washington as part of the inaugural Super 16, an event that also includes perennial NCAA powers like Oklahoma, UCLA and Michigan.

“I feel like it’s nice to show that Black girls can do it, too,” Cromartie said. “We have a team that’s 100% of people of color and you’ve never seen that before anywhere. … I feel like we have a point to prove.”

The face of high-level women’s gymnastics is changing. While athletes of color have excelled at the sport’s highest level for decades, participation among Black athletes has spiked over the last 10 years thanks in part to the popularity of Olympic champions Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles.

Black gymnasts account for around 10% of scholarships at the NCAA Division I level, an increase from 7% in 2012, when Douglas became the first Black woman win to Olympic gold. More than 10% of USA Gymnastics members self-identify as Black.

It’s a massive jump from when Corrinne Tarver became the first Black woman to win an NCAA all-around title at Georgia in 1989.

“When I first went to school, there were a scattering of (Black gymnasts),” said Tarver, now the head coach and athletic director at Fisk. “One on this team, one on that team … there wasn’t a lot of African-American gymnasts around back then compared to today.”

Still, it caught Umme Salim-Beasley off guard when she began exploring her college options in the early 1990s. Salim-Beasley grew up in the Washington, D.C., area and competed in the same gym as four-time Olympic medalist Dominique Dawes. Salim-Beasley wanted to go to an HBCU. When she approached an HBCU recruiter at a college fair and told the recruiter she was a gymnast, the response she received shocked her.

“They didn’t see it as a sport for women of color,” said Salim-Beasley, who ended up competing at West Virginia and is now the head coach at Rutgers. “And that was the perception, that gymnastics was not a sport that was welcoming or had enough interest from women of color.”

Which has made the response to Fisk’s inaugural class even more rewarding.

For years, Moore and Salim-Beasley — a member of the advisory council at Brown Girls Do Gymnastics — would struggle just to set up exploratory interviews with HBCU athletics officials. In the months since Fisk’s program launched, Moore and Salim-Beasley have talked to presidents at nine HBCUs.

“People are really interested,” Moore said. “They still have a lot of questions and still not pulling the trigger, but they are reaching out.”

All of which puts Fisk in an enviable if challenging spot. The program is a beta test of sorts as other HBCUs watch from afar to see how Fisk handles the massive logistical and economic hurdles that come with launching a program.

The Bulldogs don’t have an on-campus facility and are currently training at a club gym a few miles from campus, though they are fundraising in hopes of remedying that soon. They are competing this year as an independent while waiting to get their NCAA status sorted out.

And Tarver immediately threw the program into the deep end of the pool. Their inaugural schedule includes meets at Michigan, Georgia and Rutgers.

“It would have been really easy to just put in schools that were not as strong and then make our whole schedule like that and then just hope for the best,” Tarver said. “But I didn’t want to do that. I wanted them to realize that they belong on that stage.”

In that way, Tarver is following through on her recruiting pitch last spring, when she spent hours on Zoom asking young women of color to believe in something that had never existed before.

“Basically, I pitched them on the dream,” Tarver said. “I told them they’ll be a part of history. Their names will go down in history as the first HBCU ever.”

It proved to be a far easier sell than Tarver imagined.

Morgan Price initially committed to Arkansas so she could compete with her older sister, Frankie. Yet once Fisk announced it was going to take the ambitious step of competing in 2023, Price felt drawn to the opportunity.

“Since we are the first, it’s kind of special,” Price said. “We get to build it from the ground up.”

And yes, the perks of being the first don’t hurt. Several Bulldogs appeared on Jennifer Hudson’s talk show in the fall. An Emmy-winning documentarian is following them throughout the season. The splash on social media has been sizable.

So has the splash in real life. When Price returned to her club gym in Texas shortly after committing to Fisk, the energy she felt from younger gymnasts of color as they peppered her with questions was palpable.

“They were telling me, ‘I can’t wait until I can be recruited so I can be an HBCU gymnast as well,’” Price said.

That’s the big-picture plan. Moore is optimistic several HBCU schools will follow in Fisk’s footsteps soon.

They just won’t be the first. That honor will go to the women in the blue-and-gold leotards who will salute the judges for the first time Friday, as the team filled with athletes who “come from backgrounds where they were kind of told that they weren’t as good,” as Tarver put it, makes history.

Athletes who no longer have to choose between heritage and opportunity.

“Already being an HBCU, we’re the underdogs,” Cromartie said. “We haven’t had much time to practice. We don’t have the resources of other schools yet … but we are eager to prove we can keep up with everyone else. That we belong.”

Source: Voice of America

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Covid-19: South Africa not to impose travel restrictions for other countries

PRETORIA, South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said that there is no need to impose restrictions for other countries with high COVID-19 infections following the detection of the Omicron XBB.1.5 variant in his country.

“We were not imposing any restrictions or travel requirements for China, the United States or any country with rising infections,” said Phaahla when briefing the media virtually about COVID-19.

A patient with the XBB.1.5 variant was discovered on Dec. 27 during a random sampling and further details remain unknown, he said.

The minister said they have engaged scientists, the World Health Organization and the ministerial advisory committee, who suggested that there is no need to impose travel restrictions internally or for any country.

“We were advised to increase surveillance and vaccination. We will do wastewater testing on aircraft from China, the United States or any country with rising infections to check for the virus. We will step up our communication and messaging for people to get vaccinated or a booster,” he said.

Michelle Groome, an official at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, said wastewater testing on aircraft will start next week as part of the surveillance.

Source: Nam News Network

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Refugee Response Plan – Education (As of December 2022)

Within the framework of the 2022 Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP), 22 partners appealed under the plan to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees fleeing from Ukraine and multi-sectoral support to authorities in the response to the refugee situation. The current number of RRP partners is not exhaustive of the operational number of humanitarian partners. The figures in this dashboard are reflective of the support that is being reported to the RRP coordination structure. The Education sector activities contribute to measures 13.1-14 and 17 of the National Plan of Measures and SDG 4 and 8.

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

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World Bank Warns Global Economy Could Easily Tip Into Recession in 2023

The World Bank slashed its 2023 growth forecasts on Tuesday to levels teetering on the brink of recession for many countries as the impact of central bank rate hikes intensifies, Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, and the world’s major economic engines sputter.

The development lender said it now expected global GDP growth of 1.7% in 2023 — the slowest pace outside the 2009 and 2020 recessions in nearly three decades. In its previous Global Economic Prospects report, in June 2022, the bank had forecast 2023 global growth at 3.0%

The bank said major slowdowns in advanced economies, including sharp cuts to its forecast to 0.5% for both the United States and the euro zone, could foreshadow a new global recession less than three years after the last one.

“Given fragile economic conditions, any new adverse development — such as higher-than-expected inflation, abrupt rises in interest rates to contain it, a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic or escalating geopolitical tensions — could push the global economy into recession,” the bank said in a statement accompanying the report.

The bleak outlook will be especially hard on emerging market and developing economies, the World Bank said, as they struggle with heavy debt burdens, weak currencies and income growth, and slowing business investment that is now forecast at a 3.5% annual growth rate over the next two years — less than half the pace of the past two decades.

“Weakness in growth and business investment will compound the already devastating reversals in education, health, poverty and infrastructure and the increasing demands from climate change,” World Bank President David Malpass said in a statement.

China’s growth in 2022 slumped to 2.7%, its second slowest pace since the mid-1970s after 2020, as zero-COVID restrictions, property market turmoil and drought hit consumption, production and investment, the World Bank report said. It predicted a rebound to 4.3% for 2023, but that is 0.9 percentage-point below the June forecast due to the severity of COVID disruptions and weakening external demand.

The World Bank noted that some inflationary pressures started to abate as 2022 drew to a close, with lower energy and commodity prices, but warned that risks of new supply disruptions were high, and elevated core inflation may persist. This could cause central banks to respond by raising policy rates by more than currently expected, worsening the global slowdown, it added.

The bank called for increased support from the international community to help low-income countries deal with food and energy shocks, people displaced by conflicts, and a growing risk of debt crises. It said new concessional financing and grants are needed along with the leveraging of private capital and domestic resources to help boost investment in climate adaptation, human capital and health, the report said.

The report comes as the World Bank’s board this week is expected to consider a new “evolution road map” for the institution to vastly expand its lending capacity to address climate change and other global crises. The plan will guide negotiations with shareholders, led by the United States, for the biggest revamp in the bank’s business model since its creation at the end of World War II.

Source: Voice of America

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Video showing soldiers burning corpses is latest evidence of atrocities in forgotten war in Cabo Delgado

In response to a video being circulated on social media purportedly showing soldiers throwing dead bodies onto a pile of burning household items in the northern Mozambique province of Cabo Delgado, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah, said:

“The viral video showing soldiers burning corpses is another horrific event that gives a glimpse of what is going on away from the attention of international media in this forgotten war in Cabo Delgado.

“Tragically it appears that incidents of violence against civilians, extrajudicial executions and other human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law are still occurring, as previously documented by Amnesty International.”

The video, which Amnesty International reviewed gained traction on social media on 10 January. The incident is believed to have taken place during the month of November 2022 in Cabo Delgado, where the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) regional force, which includes troops from the South African National Defence Force, has been fighting armed rebel groups since 2021 alongside Mozambique government forces.

The video also depicts at least one South African National Defence Force (SANDF) member, who is seen watching and filming the event. The South African National Defence Force released a statement on 10 January in which they acknowledged SANDF member(s) were present.

Tigere Chagutah said: “The burning of what appears to be dead bodies by soldiers is deplorable and is likely a violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits the mutilation of corpses and requires that the dead be disposed of in a respectful manner.

“Mozambican authorities and SAMIM must launch a prompt, thorough and independent investigation into the circumstances of these killings and the burning of the bodies and anyone against whom there is sufficient admissible evidence should be prosecuted in fair trials. Security in Cabo Delgado must not come at the cost of human rights violations.”

Background

Attacks in Cabo Delgado started in October 2017 with killings of civilians by an armed group calling itself Al-Shabaab, which has no known operational relationship with Al-Shabaab in Somalia. SAMIM was established in 2021 to fight Al-Shabaab, and involves personnel from Rwanda, Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Amnesty International has previously revealed evidence of extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings, attempted beheadings, torture, mutilation, and other ill-treatment of alleged Al-Shabaab fighters who were held, as well as the transfer of a large number of corpses to apparent mass graves in Cabo Delgado.

Source: Amnesty International

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Jeff Beck, Star Guitarist Who Influenced Generations, Dies at 78

Jeff Beck, a guitar virtuoso who pushed the boundaries of blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, influencing generations of shredders along the way and becoming known as the guitar player’s guitar player, has died. He was 78.

Beck died Tuesday after “suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis,” his representatives said in a statement released Wednesday. The location was not immediately known.

“Jeff was such a nice person and an outstanding iconic, genius guitar player — there will never be another Jeff Beck,” Tony Iommi, guitarist for Black Sabbath, wrote on Twitter.

Beck first came to prominence as a member of the Yardbirds and then went out on his own in a solo career that incorporated hard rock, jazz, funky blues and even opera. He was known for his improvising, love of harmonics and the whammy bar on his preferred guitar, the Fender Stratocaster.

“Jeff Beck is the best guitar player on the planet,” Joe Perry, the lead guitarist of Aerosmith, told The New York Times in 2010. “He is head, hands and feet above all the rest of us, with the kind of talent that appears only once every generation or two.”

Beck was among the rock-guitarist pantheon from the late 1960s that included Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. Beck won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice — once with the Yardbirds in 1992 and again as a solo artist in 2009. He was ranked fifth in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”

Beck played guitar with vocalists as varied as Luciano Pavarotti, Macy Gray, Chrissie Hynde, Joss Stone, Imelda May, Cyndi Lauper, Wynonna Judd, Buddy Guy and Johnny Depp. He made two records with Rod Stewart — 1968’s “Truth” and 1969’s “Beck-Ola” — and one with a 64-piece orchestra, “Emotion & Commotion.”

“I like an element of chaos in music. That feeling is the best thing ever, as long as you don’t have too much of it. It’s got to be in balance. I just saw Cirque du Soleil, and it struck me as complete organized chaos,” he told Guitar World magazine in 2014. “If I could turn that into music, it’s not far away from what my ultimate goal would be, which is to delight people with chaos and beauty at the same time.”

Beck’s career highlights include joining with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice to create the power trio that released “Beck, Bogert and Appice” in 1973, tours with Brian Wilson and Buddy Guy and a tribute album to the late guitarist Les Paul, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Party (Honoring Les Paul).”

Geoffrey Arnold Beck was born in Surrey, England, and attended Wimbledon Art College. His father was an accountant, and his mother worked in a chocolate factory. As a boy, he built his first instrument, using a cigar box, a picture frame for the neck and string from a radio-controlled toy airplane.

He was in a few bands — including Nightshift and the Tridents — before joining the Yardbirds in 1965, replacing Clapton but only a year later giving way to Page. During his tenure, the band created the memorable singles “Heart Full of Soul,” “I’m a Man” and “Shapes of Things.”

Beck’s first hit single was 1967’s instrumental “Beck’s Bolero,” which featured future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, and future Who drummer Keith Moon. The Jeff Beck Group — with Stewart singing — was later booked to play the 1969 Woodstock music festival, but their appearance was canceled. Beck later said there was unrest in the band.

“I could see the end of the tunnel,” he told Rolling Stone in 2010.

Beck was friends with Hendrix, and they performed together. Before Hendrix, most rock guitar players concentrated on a similar style and technical vocabulary. Hendrix blew that apart.

“He came along and reset all of the rules in one evening,” Beck told Guitar World.

Beck teamed up with legendary producer George Martin — a.k.a. “the fifth Beatle” — to help him fashion the genre-melding, jazz-fusion classic “Blow by Blow” (1975) and “Wired” (1976). He teamed up with Seal on the Hendrix tribute “Stone Free,” created a jazz-fusion group led by synthesizer player Jan Hammer and honored rockabilly guitarist Cliff Gallup with the album “Crazy Legs.” He put out “Loud Hailer” in 2016.

Beck’s guitar work can be heard on the soundtracks of such films as “Stomp the Yard,” “Shallow Hal,” “Casino,” “Honeymoon in Vegas,” “Twins,” “Observe and Report” and “Little Big League.”

Beck’s career never hit the commercial highs of Clapton. A perfectionist, he preferred to make critically well-received instrumental records and left the limelight for long stretches, enjoying his time restoring vintage automobiles. He and Clapton had a tense relationship early on but became friends in later life and toured together.

Why did the two wait some four decades to tour together?

“Because we were all trying to be big bananas,” Beck told Rolling Stone in 2010. “Except I didn’t have the luxury of the hit songs Eric’s got.”

Beck is survived by his wife, Sandra.

Source: Voice of America