- Bert Jansch
Infobox musical artist
Name = Bert Jansch
Img_capt = Jansch performing in August 2006
Img_size = 250
Landscape = Yes
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1943|11|3|df=yGlasgow , Scotland
Died =
Instrument =Guitar
Voice_type =
Genre = Folk
Occupation =Musician , Songwriter
Years_active = 1965 – present
Label = Transatlantic
Associated_acts = Pentangle
URL = [http://www.bertjansch.com www.bertjansch.com]
Notable_instruments =Herbert Jansch (born 3 November 1943 [cite book| last =Harper | first =Colin | title =Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival (2006 edition) | publisher =Bloomsbury | year =2006 | isbn =0-7475-8725-6] ), known as Bert Jansch, is a Scottish
folk music ian and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born inGlasgow and, in the 1960s, he was heavily influenced by the guitaristDavey Graham and folk singers such asAnne Briggs . He is best known as an innovative and accomplished acoustic guitarist but is also a singer and songwriter.He has recorded at least 25 albums and has toured extensively starting in the 1960s and continuing into the 21st century. His work has influenced such artists as
Johnny Marr ,Bernard Butler ,Jimmy Page , Ian Anderson,Nick Drake ,Donovan andNeil Young , and earned him aLifetime Achievement Award at the 2001BBC Folk Awards.Early years
Bert Jansch was born at Stobhill Hospital, 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 ("The Howff") run byRoy Guest . There, he metArchie Fisher andJill Doyle (Davey Graham 's half sister [cite journal | last =Hodgkinson | first =Will | title = Bert Jansch: A lesson with the master | date =5 May 2006 | journal =The Independent | url=http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article361942.ece] ), who introduced him to the music ofBig Bill Broonzy ,Pete Seeger ,Brownie McGhee andWoody Guthrie . [cite book| last =Kennedy | first =Doug | title =The Songs and Guitar Solos of Bert Jansch | publisher =New Punchbowl Music | year =1983 | p=7] He also met and shared a flat withRobin Williamson , with whom he travelled to London in 1963.After a stint as a nurseryman, Jansch became a full-time musician and spent two years playing one-night stands in British
folk club s. This was a musical apprenticeship which exposed him to a range of influences, includingMartin Carthy and Ian Campbell, but especiallyAnne 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 around Europe and beyond, hitch-hiking from place to place and living on earnings from
busking and casual musical performances in bars and cafes. [Kennedy p.10] Before leaving Glasgow, he married a 16-year-old girl called Lynda Campbell: a marriage of convenience, which allowed her to travel with him although she was too young to have her ownpassport . They split up after a few months and Jansch was eventually repatriated to Britain after catchingdysentery inTangiers . [Harper. p.125]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 £100 toTransatlantic Records , who produced an album directly from it. [See sleevenotes of the CD re-release of the album] The album "Bert Jansch" was released in 1965 and went on to sell 150,000 copies. [cite book| last =Grunenberg | first =Christoph |coauthors=Harris, Jonathan | title =Summer Of Love: Psychedelic Art, Social Crisis and Counterculture in the 1960s | publisher =Liverpool University Press | year =2005 |isbn=0-85323-919-3| p=140] 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 singerDonovan , who covered it on his "Universal Soldier" EP, which reached No. 1 in the UK EP chart and No. 27 in the singles chart. [John Crosby's sleeve notes from the Donovan CD "Donovan: The Very Best Of The Early Years"] 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. [Grunenberg & Harris. pp.139-140: "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] ..."] In his early career, Jansch was sometimes characterized as a BritishBob 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 byJimmy Page and recorded byLed 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. [Kennedy p.21]In London, Jansch met up with other innovative acoustic guitar players, including
John Renbourn (with whom he shared a flat in Kilburn),Davey Graham andPaul Simon . They would all meet and play in various London music clubs, includingThe Troubadour , inOld Brompton Road , and Les Cousins club inGreek 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 became the resident musicians at a music venue set up by Bruce Dunnett, a Scottish entrepreneur, at The Horseshoe pub (now defunct) at 264-267 Tottenham Court Road. [cite web | title =Dead Pub Society website| url =http://www.deadpubssociety.org.uk/index.php?title=The_Horseshoe | accessdate = 2007-01-10] This became the haunt of a number of musicians, including the singerSandy Denny . Another singer,Jacqui McShee began performing with the two guitarists and, with the addition ofDanny Thompson (string bass) andTerry Cox (drums), they formed the group, Pentangle. The venue evolved into a jazz club, but by then the group had moved on. [cite journal | last =McKay | first =Alastair | title =No Strings Attached | journal =The Scotsman | date = 3 November 2003 | url =http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/s2.cfm?id=1210472003 | accessdate = 2007-01-10 Interview with Bert Jansch on his 60th birthday]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. [Kennedy p.26]Pentangle years (1968 – 1973)
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 inTicehurst ,Sussex — a process which took several months, with Jansch only working when he was in the right mood. [cite journal | last =Wilcock | first =Steve | title =Bert Jansch – "Rosemary Lane" | journal =Triste | issue =4 | url =http://www.triste.co.uk/artroselane.htm | accessdate = 2007-01-10 "Triste" examines just what makes Bert Jansch's 1971 solo album, Rosemary Lane, recorded on sabbatical from Pentangle, so special.] Pentangle split up in 1973, and Jansch and his wife bought a farm nearLampeter , inWales , and withdrew temporarily from the concert circuit.Late 1970s
. 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. [Kennedy p.32]
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 .Jansch toured Scandinavia, working as a duo with
Martin Jenkins and, based on ideas they developed, recorded the "Avocet" album (initially released in Denmark). [Harper. p.263] Jansch rates this as amongst his own favourites from his own recordings. [Harper. p.313]On returning to England, he set up "Bert Jansch's Guitar Shop" at 220, New King's Road,
Fulham . [Kennedy p.32] The shop specialised in hand-built acoustic guitars but was not a commercial success and closed after two years. [Harper p.296]1980s
In 1980, an Italian promoter encouraged the original Pentangle to reform for a tour and a new album. The reunion started badly, with Terry Cox being injured in a car accident, resulting in the band's debuting at the
Cambridge Folk Festival as a four-piece Pentangle. They managed to complete a tour of Italy (with Cox in a wheelchair) and Australia, before Renbourn left the band in 1983. There then followed a series of personnel changes, ultimately leaving Jansch and McShee as the only original members. [Harper. pp. 269–282]Jansch had always been a heavy drinker, but in 1987 he fell ill while working with
Rod Clements and was rushed to hospital, where he was told that he was "as seriously ill as you can be without dying" and that he had a choice of "giving up alcohol or simply giving up". [Harper. p.278] He chose the former option:Colin Harper states that "There can be no doubt that Bert's creativity, reliability, energy, commitment and quality of performance were all rescued dramatically by the decision to quit boozing". [Harper. p.279] Jansch and Clements continued the work they had started before Jansch's illness, resulting in the 1988 "Leather Launderette" album.1995 onwards
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 andJohnny "Guitar" Hodge performed live together at the Jazz Cafe, London.In 2003, Jansch celebrated his sixtieth birthday with a concert at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall , London. Guest musicians includedJohnny Marr ,Ralph McTell ,Hope Sandoval ,David Roback andColm Ó Cíosóig . [Harper. p.313]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. [cite web | title =Bert Jansch's website | url =http://www.bertjansch.com/live.html
accessdate = 2007-01-10 "Live gigs were due to resume in the later part of [2005] ...however that tour had to be postponed, as Bert had to undergo heart surgery. He is now recovered..."] By 2006 he had recovered and was playing concerts again. Jansch's long-awaited album "The Black Swan" was released on Sanctuary on 18 September 2006, featuringBeth Orton andDevendra Banhart , amongst other guests. [cite web | title =Bert Jansch's website | url =http://www.bertjansch.com/live.html | accessdate = 2007-01-10 Details of the album are given on Jansch's website] .In 2007, he featured on
Babyshambles album,Shotter's Nation , playing acoustic guitar in the song "The Lost Art of Murder".Recognition and awards
In 2001 Jansch received a
Lifetime Achievement Award at theBBC 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 byBeth Orton andRoy Harper . Another award winner at the ceremony was SirElton John , who reminisced from the stage about how he andBernie Taupin used to listen to Bert Jansch records. [cite web | title =Bert Jansch's website | url =http://www.bertjansch.com/news.html | accessdate = 2007-01-10 ]Music
Bert Jansch's musical influences are many and varied: folk (
Anne Briggs andA.L. Lloyd );jazz (Charlie Mingus andJohn Coltrane );early music (John Renbourn andJulian 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 addedninth s. Characteristically, the ninths are not the highest note of the chord, but appear in the middle of the arpeggiated finger-picking, creating a "lumpiness" to the sound. [Kennedy p.14]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 thediminished fifth to theperfect fifth . [Kennedy p.8] Like many guitarists, string bends are a feature of his work and are often used to create notes which are just slightly sharp or slightlyflat (by bending a little less than a semitone), creating the impression of atonality that does not belong to adiatonic 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 unusualtime signature s. For example, his version of theEwan MacColl song "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face ", unlike most other covers of that song, switches from 4/4 time to 3/4 and 5/4. [Kennedy p.16] 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. [See sleeve notes of "Basket of Light"]Instruments
Through the development of Pentangle, Jansch played a number of instruments:
banjo ,Appalachian dulcimer ,recorder andconcertina —on rare occasions he has even been known to playelectric guitar . [ cite book| last = Unterberger | first = Richie| title = Eight Miles High: Folk-Rock's Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock | year = 2003 | isbn =0-87930-743-9| pages = p.146] 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 . ["The Observer" 17 September 2006] Pictures of Jansch in the middle 1960s show him playing a variety of models, including Martin andEpiphone guitars. [See photographs section of [http://www.bertjansch.com Jansch's website] ] 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. ["The Observer" 17 September 2006] Jansch's relationship with Yamaha continues and they presented him with an acoustic guitar with gold trim andabalone inlay for his 60th birthday although, valued at about £3000, Jansch is quoted as saying that it is too good for stage use. [cite journal | last =Mulvey | first =John | title =The guitar men | journal =The Scotsman | date= 29 December 2003 |url =http://heritage.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=715&id=1416532003 | accessdate = 2007-01-10 ]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." [Biography on the [http://www.stoneyport.demon.co.uk/bio/janschbio.html Soneyport Agency website] ] Unfortunately, Page's magnanimity did not extend to crediting Jansch for the arrangement of "Blackwaterside" that he recorded as "Black Mountain Side" on "Led Zeppelin", nor a heavy slice of Jansch's arrangement of "The Waggoner's Lad" that he incorporated in "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" for "Led Zeppelin III".
*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." [Quoted on [http://www.bertjansch.com/ Jansch's website] ]
*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". [ cite book
last = DeRogatis | first = Jim | title = Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock | year = 2003 | publisher = Hal Leonard | isbn =0-634-05548-8 | pages = p.173]
*Bernard Butler states thatNoel Gallagher ,Jarvis Cocker , andJohnny Marr (as well as himself) have "paid homage to this quiet, unassuming, but hugely revered master". [ [http://www.bernardbutler.com/bert/bio.html Jansch biography on Bernard Butler's website] ]
*Nick Drake was an admirer of Jansch, and covers of "Courting Blues" and "Strolling down the Highway" were included on the bootleg "Tanworth-in-Arden".
*Donovan wrote two songs dedicated to Jansch; "Bert's Blues" appeared on his "Sunshine Superman" LP, and "House of Jansch" on his fourth album "Mellow Yellow".
*Gordon Giltrap 's album "Janschology" (2000) has two tunes by Jansch, plus two others that show his influence.
*Tsuneo Imahori is known to have been heavily influenced by Jansch.Pronunciation note
Jansch pronounces his surname 'Jansh' [dʒænʃ] , although his name is often pronounced as 'Yansh' [jænʃ] . [See discussion thread on [http://groups.google.co.uk/group/rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic/browse_thread/thread/9b473369e25b8ffd/b096a8b2b2a2e0e6?lnk=st&q=Bert+Jansch&rnum=11&hl=da rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic] ] The latter pronunciation has been adopted by two of Bert's sons, Kieron and Adam.
Partial discography
:"See also:" Pentangle
Albums
*1965 – "Bert Jansch"
*1965 – "It Don't Bother Me"
*1966 – "Lucky Thirteen" (U.S. release containing tracks from Jansch's two UK LP's.)
*1966 – "Bert And John" (with John Renbourn)
*1966 – "Jack Orion "
*1967 – "Nicola"
*1969 – "Birthday Blues"
*1971 – "Rosemary Lane"
*1973 – "Moonshine"
*1974 – "L.A. Turnaround "
*1975 – "Santa Barbara Honeymoon"
*1977 – "A Rare Conundrum" (released 1976 in Denmark and 1977 in UK)
*1979 – "Avocet" (released 1978 in Denmark and 1979 in UK)
*1980 – "Thirteen Down" (as Bert Jansch Conundrum)
*1982 – "Heartbreak"
*1985 – "From The Outside" (only released officially in Belgium)
*1989 – "Leather Launderette" (with Rod Clements)
*1990 – "The Ornament Tree"
*1990 – "Sketches"
*1993 – "From the Outside"
*1995 – "When the Circus Comes to Town"
*1998 – "Toy Balloon"
*2000 – "Crimson Moon"
*2002 – "Edge of A Dream "
*2006 – "The Black Swan"ingles/E.P.s
*1966 – "Needle of Death" (EP)
*1967 –"Life Depends on Love"/"A Little Sweet Sunshine"
*1973 – "Oh My Father"/"The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face"
*1974 – "In The Bleak Midwinter"/"One For Jo" (non-album A-side)
*1975 – "Dance Lady Dance"/"Build Another Band"
*1978 – "Black Birds of Brittany"/"The Mariner's Farewell"
*1980 – "Time and Time"/"Una Linea Di Dolcezza"
*1982 – "Heartbreak Hotel"/"Up To The Stars"
*1985 – "Playing the Game"/"After the Long Night"
*2003 – "On the Edge of a Dream"/"Walking This Road"/"Crimson Moon"Compilations
*1969 – "Bert Jansch: The Bert Jansch Sampler"
*1972 – "Box Of Love: The Bert Jansch Sampler Volume 2"
*1986 – "Strolling Down The Highway"
*1992 – "The Gardener: Essential Bert Jansch"
*1993 – "Three Chord Trick"
*1997 – "Blackwater Side"
*2000 – "Dazzling Stranger: The Bert Jansch Anthology"Live
*1980 – "Bert Jansch Live at La Foret" (released in Japan only)
*1993 – "BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert"
*1996 – "Live at the 12 Bar:An Authorised Bootleg"
*1997 – "Blackwaterside"
*1998 – "Young Man Blues"
*2001 – "Downunder: Live in Australia"
*2004 – "The River Sessions"
*2007 – "Fresh As a Sweet Sunday Morning" (Live concert 2006)DVD
*2007 – "Fresh As a Sweet Sunday Morning" (Live concert 2006)
References
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)External links
* [http://www.bertjansch.com Official Bert Jansch website]
* [http://www.folkblues.co.uk/artistsjansch.htm Bert Jansch website]
* [http://www.folkblues.co.uk/discographyjansch.html Bert Jansch Complete Discography] at the [http://www.folkblues.co.uk Folk Blues & Beyond] website
* [http://www.acousticmagazine.com Acoustic Magazine] The UK's only dedicated Acoustic magazine – cover feature with Bert Jansch
* [http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/bert_jansch_tabs.htm Bert Janschtablature page, from Ultimate Guitar]
* [http://www.sanctuaryrecords.com Sanctuary Records]
* [http://www.heatherjansch.com Heather Jansch website]Interview links
* [http://www.trilogyrock.com/historial-descarregues.php Interview with Bert Jansch on Trilogy Rock (Spain)]
Persondata
NAME=Jansch, Bert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Jansch, Herbert
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Guitarist and folk musician
DATE OF BIRTH=3 November 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH=Glasgow , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=
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