Deathblog:
Bert Jansch
(1943 - 2011)

It goes without saying that I was very sad today to hear of the death of Bert Jansch. It was cancer what done it, but I never even knew he was ill, to coin a phrase.

I went through a period of listening to Jansch a LOT a few years back, and whilst there’s not been much folky stuff on my plate of recent, I’ve no doubt those records will be staying with me in irregular rotation for the rest of my life. Just great, great music, made to last the years, etc.

Thinkin’ about it, it’s difficult to really get an angle on how influential Jansch was in his chosen field – hitting the ball that had been thrown out there by Davey Graham a year or two earlier and knocking it outta the court, taking a musical form that had previously stuck stubbornly to tradition and perceived ‘authenticity’, and quietly opening it up into a dense, rolling musical language taking in psychedelia, improvisation, moments of clanging modernist dissonance and Eastern drone.

Whilst still sounding as naturalistic and rootsy as [insert yr own rustic, folkie cliché here], his guitar style, his songs and his deeply peculiar singing voice all have an incredibly strange cadence to them that seems to come from somewhere entirely off the map, something that’s proved impossible to really replicate, however much his successors might try. It would probably sound quite startling if it wasn’t also so welcoming and familiar – music built up out of earth and wood, mushrooms and garlic cookin’ up in a black pan on some portable gas hob, faded floral curtains, twigs and moss and rolling tobacco, that sorta thing.

And I’ve not even got round to Pentangle yet… what an incredible band, like the sound of a bunch of guys in hand-woven hemp robes suddenly launching a mission into deep space… absolutely love ‘em. ‘Cruel Sister’ is just, like, the best damn record ever. [Disclaimer: ok, it’s probably not actually the best record ever, but… y’know, it’s pretty good. Or at least I think it is.]

Needless to say, I’m now cursing the fact I never bothered to make it to any of those Pentangle reunion shows, but I was at least lucky enough to see Jansch at an All tomorrows Parties some time last decade. He was a grumpy sod, but endearingly so, and his playing was absolutely extraordinary – seems like his sound just kept getting more knotty and determined as the years went on.

Really sad to see him go anyway. A sound that no one else can make has gone, to be made no more.

So, a few favourite moments, courtesy of Youtube. There’s a lot more awesome Pentangle footage out there than there is awesome solo Bert footage, so the selection probably reflects that. And seriously, the live Pentangle stuff is SO GOOD. Kinda weird how they always made Jacqui Mcshee sit on that uncomfortable looking high chair, but whatever - these five people so clearly WIN at music, it's almost frightening.

I've been listening to this stuff all through this evening and really enjoying it, so if you're unfamiliar with this whole malarky, do yourself a favour and dig in.

Labels: Bert Jansch, deathblog, folk, Pentangle