Bert Jansch, legendary songwriter and guitarist, is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential musicians of all time. Since the mid 1960s generation after generation have been held spellbound by his extraordinary ground-breaking guitar playing and classic emotive songs. Jimmy Page, Neil Young, Nick Drake, Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler and Beth Orton have all been devotees, and further generations, led by Devendra Banhart and Pete Doherty, are still discovering Jansch for themselves. Read More...
Bert Jansch, legendary songwriter and guitarist, is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential musicians of all time. Since the mid 1960s generation after generation have been held spellbound by his extraordinary ground-breaking guitar playing and classic emotive songs. Jimmy Page, Neil Young, Nick Drake, Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler and Beth Orton have all been devotees, and further generations, led by Devendra Banhart and Pete Doherty, are still discovering Jansch for themselves.
Bert began performing his unique synthesis of folk, blues and jazz on the folk scene of the early 1960s, having hitch-hiked to London from his hometown of Edinburgh. His iconic first album, Bert Jansch (April 1965), was played on borrowed guitars and recorded on a reel-to-reel tape deck. Bert Jansch caused a sensation for its innovative guitar technique and powerful songs, and has been phenomenally influential to this day – cited by legions of guitar players (famous and otherwise) as a major inspiration. It was followed by It Don’t Bother Me (December 1965) and the also hugely influential Jack Orion (September 1966), where Bert began exploring innovative treatments of traditional folk, something he took further with Pentangle, the acoustic supergroup he formed with John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox.
After Pentangle split in 1973, Bert returned to a prolific solo career. His 21st solo album, Crimson Moon, appeared in 2000 accompanied by a Channel 4 documentary, Dreamweaver, and Bloomsbury’s publication of a major biography: Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival by Colin Harper (new expanded edition August 2006 with foreword by Johnny Marr). In 2001 Bert was awarded a BBC Radio 2 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Radio 2 Folk Awards. Edge of a Dream (featuring Bernard Butler, Hope Sandoval, Dave Swarbrick and Ralph McTell) was released in October 2002 to widespread critical acclaim across Europe. In November 2003 Bert celebrated his 60th birthday with a BBC TV Special shown on BBC4, and a sell-out birthday concert with guests at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
In 2006 Bert worked with some of the latest musicians to emerge on the scene on his highly acclaimed most recent album, The Black Swan, including producer Noah Georgeson (Devendra Banhart – Cripple Crow, Joanna Newsom – Milk-Eyed Mender), and musicians and vocalists Beth Orton, Devendra Banhart, Otto Hauser (Espers, Vetiver), Helena Espvall (Espers) and Kevin Barker (Currituck Co.). The Black Swan was hailed internationally as one of Bert’s greatest albums – MOJO called it an “instant classic” and gave it five stars (something hardly ever seen), while in the US it was “better than Dylan”.
On 5 June 2006 Bert received the MOJO Merit Award from MOJO magazine at the MOJO Honours List ceremony. The award was “based around an expanded career that still continues to be inspirational” and was presented by Beth Orton and Roy Harper. Bert was also involved in the major BBC TV series Folk Britannia, and featured in Will Hodgkinson’s books: Guitar Man and Song Man. October 2006 saw Bert performing with Neil Young at Young’s Bridge School Benefit concert, and in April 2007 Bert guested with Pete Doherty at his concerts at the Hackney Empire. In November 2007 Bert received an honorary Doctorate of Music from Napier University in Edinburgh.
A lavish Pentangle box set, The Time Has Come, featuring much previously unheard material, appeared in March 2007 to extensive commercial and critical acclaim, and Pentangle received a Lifetime Achievement Award of their own at the 2007 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, where they performed two songs – the first time the original band had played together in 35 years. A full UK tour for Pentangle followed in 2008 – a truly triumphant reunion, hailed by press and public alike. Bert’s own classic solo back catalogue has also been digitally remastered and most is now available beautifully re-packaged, featuring all the original artwork plus new sleevenotes and photographs and many extra bonus tracks. This culminated on 15 June 2009 with the long awaited first-time CD release of Bert’s three Charisma albums: the seminal L.A. Turnaround, Santa Barbara Honeymoon and A Rare Conundrum. The re-mastering of these most sought-after albums in Bert’s catalogue was supervised by Bert himself and as well as unreleased bonus tracks, the new CD of L.A. Turnaround includes a previously unseen 13 minute film made during the recording of the album. Each of these new editions is handsomely packaged using the original artwork along with contemporary photos and memorabilia plus specially written notes.
More than 40 years since the start of his distinguished career, passion and demand for Bert’s work has never been higher. Today Bert is still as active, innovative and influential as ever, and in a live setting his performances are still a rare opportunity to see one of the British music scene’s true legends play. His understated, low key approach treats the audience to a guitar playing master class, and an impressive catalogue of some of the most haunting songs in the British canon.
