So many times, directors just get it wrong when making a concert film. Too many quick cuts, MTV-style editing, no focus on the performers, annoying special effects. It’s not only in recent years either. The effects problem started way back when Tony Palmer documented Cream playing its Farewell concert at Royal Albert Hall in 1968.

It’s a pleasure to note that the film makers of Jeff Beck Performing This Week … Live At Ronnie Scott’s got it right. So right it’s one of the best concert films in recent memory. The last with this type of professionalism and dedication to the music and musicians was another Cream gig, the reunion concert from 2005, also at RAH. But the Beck show is better.

The intimate atmosphere of one of the world’s great jazz clubs, Ronnie Scott’s in London, the tightknit performance by Beck’s group on a small stage, the immediacy of the audience, complete with rock celebs such as Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, all contribute to this excellent video document of the same performance released on Beck’s CD version of the show late last year.

The DVD has all of the CD performances, plus five numbers with guests Joss Stone, Imogen Heap and Eric Clapton. Most important, the DVD reveals much of what Jeff Beck is all about. The camera work is stellar in capturing his unique guitar playing style and technique, often zooming in on his hands, which are an endless source of fascination.

I’ve written about most of these numbers in the CD review from March. But viewing the DVD, it’s a marvel to watch Beck employ his hybrid technique of eschewing a pick and using his thumb and fingers to coax myriad sounds from his Fender Strat.

It’s especially fixating during the poignant ballads such as  Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers, during which you also get a first-hand look at bass player Tal Wilkenfeld’s skills during an extended solo, and Nadia and Angel (Footsteps) on which he alternates between using a glass bottleneck slide from various positions, including over the top of the guitar to get at notes above the fingerboard, and a delicate touch of the strings with his right hand while making subtle adjustments with the volume control and his tremolo (whammy) bar for precise bends.

Of the instrumentals, the Beatles’ A Day In The Life is a showstopper as Beck brings out the lyrical beauty of the melody with slight variations in each verse and then simulates the unruly orchestra from the Fab Four’s version with a long, power slide up the Strat’s neck. He never leaves the original tempo, as the Beatles do when they go to double-time in the bridge, and it works perfectly.

Joss Stone delivers a passionate reading of Curtis Mayfield’s People Get Ready, which Beck recorded with Rod Stewart in the ’80s and reprised a couple of weeks ago when Beck played in L.A. Imogen Heap, who I’ve had little exposure to, is extemely impressive on her own Blanket and a unique take on Muddy Waters’ Rollin’ And Tumblin’. It’s a startling contrast to hear this pure English voice interpreting the blues number against a rumbling arrangement with its unexpectedly abrupt stops on the tune’s main riff.

Beck introduces Clapton by saying “Here’s a fellow who knows his way around a Strat.” They pull out two blues tunes, Waters’ slow blues Little Brown Bird and Willie Dixon’s You Need Love. The contrast in styles is striking as Clapton sounds more traditionalist against Beck’s blue pyrotechnics. Both songs feature fiery solos and Clapton’s understated vocals.

The DVD really brings out Jason Rebello’s abilities on keys as well. During a concert at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in April, his contributions tended to get overlooked a little next to Wilkenfeld and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta. Not so here as the camera work reveals his virtuosity on a number of tunes.

No one could underestimate Colaiuta, who has been with Beck since the early 2000s and is a perfect foil for the axe man. His chops and technique are impeccable. And Wilkenfeld draws obvious comparisons to bass great Jaco Pastorius but she is quickly establishing her own style and presence on the fusion scene.

The DVD also includes an interview with Beck and each of his bandmates. The Beck interview is very detailed as he discusses how the Ronnie Scott’s gig came about, how he put his current band together, a comment on each instrumental in the show and each of his guests. The story on how he recruited Clapton is particularly entertaining.

It also can not go unnoticed that Beck, in fact, does sound a bit like Nigel Tufnal of Spinal Tap, Chris Guest’s character, who is based at least partly on Beck, from the film parody. That alone is kind of amusing. The band’s interviews are shorter but have insights on the music and the group’s cammaradarie worth hearing.

Kudos must go to director of photography Barry Dodd, film editor Nick Morris and producer and director Stuart Woods who captured this project’s high level of music sensibility and musicality along with all the nuances of one of the great artists of our time.

If you’re a Beck fan and have not picked up this DVD up, run out and get it. It’s essential and quite reasonable. If you’re not a convert yet, this will do the trick.