Bert Jansch
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| Bert Jansch | |
|---|---|
| Image:Jansch2.jpg | |
| Born | 3 November 1943 |
| Genre(s) | Folk |
| Affiliation(s) | Pentangle |
| Label(s) | Transatlantic |
| Years active | 1965 – present |
| Official site | www.bertjansch.com |
Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 - ), known as Bert Jansch, is a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and, in the 1960s, he was heavily influenced by the guitarist Davey Graham and folk singers such as Anne Briggs. He is best known as an innovative and accomplished acoustic guitarist but is also a singer and songwriter. His work has influenced such artists as Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler, Jimmy Page and Neil Young, and earned him a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2001 BBC Folk Awards.
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[edit] Early years
Bert Jansch was born in Glasgow in 1943, but brought up in Edinburgh, where he attended Pennywell Primary School and Ainsley Park Secondary School. As a teenager, he acquired a guitar and started visiting a local folk club run by Roy Guest. There, he met Archie Fisher and Jill Doyle (Davey Graham's sister<ref>Will Hodgkinson writing in The Independent, 5 May 2006</ref>), who introduced him to the music of Big Bill Broonzy, Pete Seeger, Brownie McGhee and Woody Guthrie.<ref>Doug Kennedy: The Songs and Guitar Solos of Bert Jansch, New Punchbowl Music, 1983. p.7</ref>
After a stint as a nurseryman, Jansch became a full-time musician and spent two years playing one-night stands in British folk clubs. This was a musical apprenticeship which exposed him to a range of influences, including Martin Carthy and Ian Campbell, but especially Anne Briggs, from whom he learnt some of the songs (such as Blackwaterside and Reynardine) that would later feature strongly in his recording career.
Between 1963 and 1965, he travelled alone around Europe and beyond, hitch-hiking from place to place and living on earnings from busking and casual musical performances in bars and cafes. He was eventually repatriated to Britain after catching dysentery in Tangiers.<ref>Kennedy p.10</ref>
[edit] London: mid-1960s
Jansch moved to London where, in the mid-1960s, there was a burgeoning interest in folk music. There, he met the engineer and producer, Bill Leader, at whose home they made a recording of Jansch's music on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Leader sold the tape for £99 to Transatlantic Records, who produced an album directly from it.<ref>See sleevenotes of the CD re-release of the album</ref> The album Bert Jansch was released in 1965 and went on to sell 150,000 copies.<ref>Christoph Grunenberg, Jonathan Harris: Summer Of Love: Psychedelic Art, Social Crisis and Counterculture in the 1960s, Liverpool University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-85323-919-3. p.140</ref> It included Jansch's protest song "Do You Hear Me Now" which was brought to the attention of the pop music mainstream later that year by the singer Donovan, who covered it on his Universal Soldier EP, which reached No. 1 in the UK EP chart and No. 27 in the singles chart.<ref>John Crosby's sleeve notes from the Donovan CD Donovan: The Very Best Of The Early Years</ref> Also included in Jansch's first album was his song "Needle of Death" which is claimed to have influenced the drug-taking habits of a generation of British youth.<ref>Grunenberg & Harris pp139-140: "Needle of Death...did far more to make skag a drug of choice among hip British teenagers than a decade's worth of later releases on the same subject by the likes of Lou Reed [and others]..."</ref> In his early career, Jansch was sometimes characterized as a British Bob Dylan. This, however, was misleading, in that Jansch's best work has always been fundamentally instrument-driven unlike Dylan's which is primarily lyric-based.
Jansch followed his first album with two more, produced in quick succession: It Don't Bother Me and Jack Orion—which contained his first recording of Blackwaterside, later to be taken up by Jimmy Page and recorded by Led Zeppelin as Black Mountain Side. Jansch says:
- The accompaniment was nicked by a well-known member of one of the most famous rock bands, who used it, unchanged, on one of their records.<ref>Kennedy p.21</ref>
In London, Jansch met up with other innovative acoustic guitar players, including John Renbourn (with whom he shared a flat in Kilburn), Davey Graham and Paul Simon. They would all meet and play in various London music clubs, including The Troubadour, in Old Brompton Road, and Les Cousins club in Greek Street, Soho. Renbourn and Jansch frequently played together, developing their own intricate interplay between the two guitars, often referred to as Folk Baroque. In 1966, they recorded the Bert and John album together, featuring much of this material. Late in 1967 they tired of the all-nighters at Les Cousins and helped Bruce Dennett, a Scottish entrepreneur, set up a music venue at The Horshoe pub (now defunct) at 264-267 Tottenham Court Road.<ref>Dead Pub Society website</ref> This became the haunt of a number of musicians, including the singer Sandy Denny. Another singer, Jacqui McShee began performing with the two guitarists and, with the addition of Danny Thompson (string bass) and Terry Cox (drums), they formed the group, Pentangle. The venue evolved into a jazz club, but by then the group had moved on.<ref>The Scotsman, 3 Nov 2003: interview with Bert Jansch on his 60th birthday</ref>
In 1968, Jansch married Heather Sewell, then an art student—as Heather Jansch she has become a well-known sculptor. She inspired several of his songs and instrumentals: the most obvious is Miss Heather Rosemary Sewell, from his 1968 album, Birthday Blues, but Jansch says that, despite the name, M'Lady Nancy (from the 1971 Rosemary Lane album) was also written for her.<ref>Kennedy p.26</ref>
[edit] The Pentangle years (1968–1973)
Image:RosemaryLane.png Pentangle's first major concert was at the Royal Festival Hall, in 1968, and their first album was released in the same year. Although Pentangle were regarded as a folk music group, they played many of their own compositions and Jansch undertook much of the writing. Pentangle embarked on a demanding schedule of touring the world and recording and, during this period, Jansch largely gave up solo performances. He did, however, continue to record, releasing Rosemary Lane in 1971. The tracks, for this album were recorded on a portable tape recorder by Bill Leader at Jansch's cottage in Ticehurst, Sussex — a process which took several months, with Jansch only working when he was in the right mood.<ref>Triste magazine archive online</ref>
Pentangle split up in 1973, and Jansch and his wife bought a farm near Lampeter, in Wales, and withdrew temporarily from the concert circuit.
[edit] The late 1970s
After two years as a farmer, Jansch left his wife and family and returned to music. In 1977, he recorded the album A Rare Conundrum with a new set of musicians: Mike Piggott, Rod Clements and Pick Withers. He then formed the band Conundrum with the addition of Martin Jenkins (violin) and Nigel Smith (bass). They spent six months touring Australia, Japan and the United States.<ref>Kennedy p.32</ref>
With the end of the tour, Conundrum parted company and Jansch spent six months in the United States, where he recorded the Heartbreak album with Albert Lee.
On returning to England, he set up Bert Jansch's Guitar Shop in the New King's Road, Fulham.<ref>Kennedy p.32</ref>
[edit] 1980s
In the 1980s, Pentangle reformed with a new line-up, of which Jansch and McShee were the only original members.
[edit] 1995 onwards
Image:BlackSwan.png Since 1995, Jansch has appeared frequently at the "12 Bar Club" in Denmark Street, London. "Live at the 12 Bar" was originally a bootleg, but was of studio standard, and issued officially in 1996. In 2002 Jansch, Bernard Butler and Johnny "Guitar" Hodge performed live together at the Jazz Cafe, London.
In 2005, Jansch teamed up again with one of his early influences, Davey Graham, for a small number of concerts in England and Scotland. However, his concert tour had to be postponed, owing to illness, and Jansch underwent major heart surgery in the later part of 2005.<ref>See Jansch's website</ref> In 2006 he has recovered and is playing concerts again. Jansch's long-awaited album The Black Swan was released on Sanctuary on 18 September 2006, featuring Beth Orton and Devendra Banhart, amongst other guests. <ref>Details are given on the Sanctuary Records website or Jansch's website</ref>.
[edit] Recognition and awards
In 2001 Jansch received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
On 5 June 2006, Jansch received the Mojo Merit Award at the Mojo Honours List ceremony, based on "an expanded career that still continues to be inspirational". The award was presented by Beth Orton and Roy Harper. Another award winner at the ceremony was Sir Elton John, who reminisced from the stage about how he and Bernie Taupin used to listen to Bert Jansch records.<ref>See Jansch's website</ref>
[edit] Bert Jansch's music
Bert Jansch's musical influences are many and varied: folk (Anne Briggs and A.L. Lloyd); jazz (Charlie Mingus and John Coltrane); early music (John Renbourn and Julian Bream); Indian music (Ravi Shankar) and many others. From these, he has distilled his own unmistakable guitar style.
Some of his songs feature a basic clawhammer style of right-hand playing but these are often distinguished by unusual chord voicings or by chords with added notes. An example of this is his song Needle of Death, which features a simple picking style but several of the chords are decorated with added 9ths. Characteristically, the 9ths are not the highest note of the chord, but appear in the middle of the arpeggiated finger-picking, creating a "lumpiness" to the sound.<ref>Kennedy p.14</ref>
Another characteristic feature is his ability to hold a chord in the lower strings whilst bending an upper string—often bending up from a semitone below a chord note. These can be heard clearly on songs such as Reynardine where the bends are from the diminished 5th to the perfect 5th.<ref>Kennedy p.8</ref> Like many guitarists, string bends are a feature of his work and are often used to create notes which are just slightly sharp or slightly flat (by bending a little less than a semitone), creating the impression of a modality that does not belong to a diatonic scale.
Jansch often fits the accompaniment to the natural rhythm of the words of his songs, rather than playing a consistent rhythm throughout. This can lead to occasional bars appearing in unusual time signatures. For example, his version of the Ewan McColl song "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", unlike most other covers of that song, switches from 4/4 to 3/4 and 5/4.<ref>Kennedy p.16</ref> A similar disregard for conventional time signatures is found in several of his collaborative compositions with Pentangle: for instance, "Light Flight" from the Basket of Light album includes sections in 5/8, 7/8 and 6/4 time.<ref>See sleeve notes of Basket of Light</ref>
[edit] Instruments
Through the development of Pentangle, Jansch played a number of instruments: banjo, Appalachian dulcimer, recorder and concertina—on rare occasions he has even been known to play electric guitar.<ref>Richie Unterberger: Eight Miles High: Folk-Rock's Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock, Backbeat Books, 2003. ISBN 0-87930-743-9. p.146</ref> However, it is his acoustic guitar playing that sets him apart from other folk musicians.
Jansch's first instrument was a Zenith which was marketed as the "Lonnie Donegan guitar" and which he played in the folk clubs in the early 1960s. His first album was reputedly recorded using a Martin 002 borrowed from Martin Carthy.<ref>The Observer 17 September 2006</ref> Pictures of Jansch in the middle 1960s show him playing a variety of models, including Martin and Epiphone guitars.<ref>See photographs section of Jansch's website</ref> He had a guitar hand-built by John Bailey, which was used for most of the Pentangle recordings but was eventually stolen. He then had a contract with Yamaha, who provided him with an FG1500 which he is still playing, along with a Yamaha LL11 1970s jumbo guitar.<ref>The Observer 17 September 2006</ref> Jansch's relationship with Yamaha continues and they presented him with an acoustic guitar with gold trim and abalone inlay for his 60th birthday although, valued at about £3000, Jansch is quoted as saying that it is too good for stage use.<ref>The Scotsman 29 December 2003</ref>
[edit] Influence
Jansch's music, and particularly his acoustic guitar playing, have influenced a range of well-known musicians.
- Jimmy Page not only recorded a version of Jansch's Blackwaterside but cites him as an influence. He is quoted as saying "At one point, I was absolutely obsessed with Bert Jansch. When I first heard that LP [1965], I couldn't believe it. It was so far ahead of what everyone else was doing. No one in America could touch that."<ref>Biography on the Soneyport Agency website</ref>
- Neil Young is quoted as saying, "As much of a great guitar player as Jimi [Hendrix] was, Bert Jansch is the same thing for acoustic guitar...and my favourite."<ref>Quoted on Jansch's website</ref>
- Mike Oldfield practised acoustic guitar alone as a child, and was then heavily influenced by Jansch's style. "Angie" (Jansch's version of the Graham tune) was his favourite, and would drive Oldfield to call his first band (with sister Sally) "The Sallyangie".<ref>Jim DeRogatis, Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock, Hal Leonard, 2003. ISBN 0-634-05548-8. See p 173</ref>
- Bernard Butler states that Noel Gallagher, Jarvis Cocker, and Johnny Marr (as well as himself) have "paid homage to this quiet, unassuming, but hugely revered master".<ref>Jansch biography on Bernard Butler's website</ref>
- Several musicians have had the honour of being described as 'The New Bert Jansch', including guitarist Dave Ellis, in the early 1970s.
Colin Harper's biography says "the guitarists' guitarist and the songwriters' songwriter, the legendary Bert Jansch has influenced stars as diverse as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Paul Simon, Sandy Denny, Nick Drake, Donovan, Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Bernard Butler, Beth Orton and Devendra Banhart...Surviving alcoholism and heart surgery, Jansch has recently enjoyed a career renaissance — delivering a series of albums from 1995 onwards which have secured his standing as one of the true originals of British music."
[edit] Pronunciation note
Jansch pronounces his surname 'Jansh' [dʒænʃ], although his name is often pronounced as 'Yansh' [jænʃ].<ref>See discussion thread on rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic</ref> The latter pronunciation has been adopted by two of Bert's sons, Kieron and Adam.
[edit] Partial discography
See Wikipedia article on Pentangle for Jansch's contributions to Pentangle albums.
[edit] Albums
- Bert Jansch (April, 1965)
- It Don't Bother Me (December 1965)
- Bert And John With John Renbourn (September 1966)
- Jack Orion (September 1966)
- Nicola (July 1967)
- Lucky Thirteen (1969) U.S. L.P.
- Birthday Blues(January 1969)
- Rosemary Lane (June 1971)
- Moonshine (February 1973)
- L. A. Turnaround (September 1974)
- Santa Barbara Honeymoon (October 1975)
- A Rare Conundrum (May 1977 in UK/possibly late 1976 in Denmark)
- Avocet (February 1979 in UK/1978 in Denmark)
- Thirteen Down Bert Jansch Conundrum (July 1980)
- Heartbreak (April 1982)
- From The Outside (September 1985, only released officially in Belgium)
- Leather Launderette With Rod Clements (March 1989)
- The Ornament Tree (November 1990)
- Sketches (November 1990)
- From the Outside (1993)
- When the Circus Comes to Town (August 1995)
- Toy Balloon (March 1998)
- Crimson Moon (June 2000)
- Edge Of A Dream (October 2002)
- The Black Swan (September 2006)
[edit] Singles/E.P.'s
- Needle of Death (EP) (September 1966)
- Life Depends on Love/A Little Sweet Sunshine (45) June 1967
- Oh My Father/The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face (45) March 1973
- In The Bleak Midwinter/One For Jo (45) October 1974 (non-album A-side)
- Dance Lady Dance/Build Another Band (45)November 1975
- Time and Time/Una Linea Di Dolcezza (45)(April 1980
- Heartbreak Hotel/Up To The Stars (45) February 1982
- Playing the Game/After the Long Night 1985
[edit] Compilations
- Bert Jansch: The Bert Jansch Sampler (1969)
- Box Of Love: The Bert Jansch Sampler Volume 2 (1972)
- Strolling Down The Highway (1986)
- The Gardener: Essential Bert Jansch) (1992)
- Three Chord Trick (1993)
- Dazzling Stranger: The Bert Jansch Anthology (September 2000)
[edit] Live
- Bert Jansch Live at La Foret (March 1980, released in Japan only)
- BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert(September 1993)
- Live at the 12 Bar:An Authorised Bootleg August 1996
- Blackwaterside 1997
- Young Man Blues November 1998
- Downunder: Live in Australia (January 2001)
- The River Sessions (June 2004)
[edit] References
<references/>
[edit] Bibliography
- Doug Kennedy: The Songs and Guitar Solos of Bert Jansch, New Punchbowl Music, 1983. Although this is a book of music, it contains a great deal of biographical information and photographs of Bert Jansch.
- Colin Harper: Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival (2000, Bloomsbury) ISBN 0-7475-5330-0 (pbk)
