Bert Jansch, is a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and, particularly in his early career, was sometimes characterized as a British Bob Dylan. In the 1960s, he was heavily influenced by the guitarist Davey Graham and folk singers such as Anne Briggs. Having hitch-hiked to London from his hometown of Edinburgh, Bert began performing his unique blend of folk, blues and jazz on the folk club scene of the time, playing the Marqueeand the 100 Club amongst others.
His first album "Bert Jansch" (1965), played on a borrowed guitar caused a sensation at the time for his innovative technique and powerful songs, and was phenomenally influential. It is still selling today and is cited by legions of guitar players, famous and otherwise, as a major influence. Bert Jansch was followed by It Don’t Bother Me, and the also enormously influential Jack Orion. On this album, Bert was already exploring innovative treatments of the traditional folk ballad form, something he took further with Pentangle, the band he formed with John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Terry Cox and Danny Thompson. Pentangle made six albums and enjoyed an unprecedented degree of success for an acoustic band, even making the singles chart with ‘Light Flight’ - the theme from the BBC drama series, ‘Take Three Girls’. They toured the world extensively, headlining shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Carnegie Hall and the Filmore East in New York and the Filmore West in San Francisco.
After Pentangle split in 1973, Bert returned to his solo career and is still as active, innovative and influential as ever. Crimson Moon, was released in June 2000 to a torrent of major press and TV attention. The album featured contributions from long-time Jansch fans Johnny Marr and Bernard Butler, and was also accompanied by a Channel 4 documentary about Bert and his music (featuring appearances by Marr, Butler and more) and the publication by Bloomsbury of Colin Harper’s excellent biography of Bert, Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival. A double CD tribute album, People On The Highway: a Bert Jansch Encomium, was also released in 2000, featuring many of Bert’s songs specially recorded by other artists.
Since then, interest in Bert has not waned. In February 2001 he was awarded a BBC Radio 2 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Radio 2 Folk Awards in London.
His work influenced such artists as Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler, Led Zeppelin and Neil Young, and earned him a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2001 BBC Folk Awards. |
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