Coordinates | 52°24′29″N1°30′38″N |
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name | Bert Jansch |
landscape | Yes |
background | solo_singer |
born | November 03, 1943Glasgow, Scotland |
instrument | Vocals, guitar |
genre | Folk, folk rock, folk baroque |
occupation | Musician, singer-songwriter |
years active | 1965–present |
label | TransatlanticCharisma |
associated acts | Pentangle |
website | www.bertjansch.com |
notable instruments | }} |
Herbert Jansch (born 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 came to prominence in London in the 1960s, particularly as an innovative and accomplished acoustic guitarist, but also as 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.
Jansch was a leading figure in the British folk music revival of the 1960s, touring folk clubs and recording several solo albums, as well as collaborating with other musicians such as John Renbourn and Anne Briggs. In 1968, he joined the band Pentangle, touring and recording with them until their break-up in 1972. He then took a few years' break from music, returning in the late 1970s to work on a series of projects with other musicians. He joined a reformed Pentangle in the early 1980s and remained with them as they evolved through various changes of personnel until 1995. Since then, Jansch has continued to work as a solo artist.
His work has influenced such artists as Paul Simon, Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler, Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Graham Coxon, Donovan, Neil Young and Devendra Banhart. He has received two Lifetime Achievement Awards at the BBC Folk Awards: one, in 2001, for his solo achievements and the other, in 2007, as a member of Pentangle.
After leaving school, Jansch took a job as a nurseryman, then in August 1960, he gave this up, with the intention of being a full-time musician. He appointed himself as an unofficial caretaker at The Howff and, as well as sleeping there, he may have received some pay to supplement his income as a novice performer who did not own his own guitar. He spent the next two years playing one-night stands in British folk clubs. This was a musical apprenticeship that exposed him to a range of influences, including Martin Carthy and Ian Campbell, but especially Anne Briggs, from whom he learned 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. 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 own passport. They split up after a few months and Jansch was eventually repatriated to Britain after catching dysentery in Tangiers.
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. Transatlantic took legal advice about the alleged copyright infringement and were advised that there was "a distinct possibility that Bert might win an action against Page". Ultimately, Transatlantic were dubious about the costs involved in taking on Led Zeppelin in the courts, and half the costs would have had to be paid by Jansch personally, which he simply could not afford, so the case was never pursued.
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 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. 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.
On 19 October 1968, Jansch married Heather Sewell. At the time, she was an art student and had been the girlfriend of Roy Harper. She inspired several of Jansch's 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. As Heather Jansch she has become a well-known sculptor.
Pentangle reached their highest point of commercial success with the release of their ''Basket Of Light'' album in 1969. The single, ''Light Flight'', taken from the album became popular through its use as theme music for a TV drama series Take Three Girls (the BBC's first drama series to be broadcast in colour) for which the band also provided incidental music. In 1970, at the peak of their popularity, they recorded a soundtrack for the film ''Tam Lin'', made at least 12 television appearances, and undertook tours of the UK (including the Isle of Wight Festival) and America (including a concert at the Carnegie Hall). However, their fourth album, ''Cruel Sister'', released in October 1970, was a commercial disaster. This was an album of traditional songs that included a 20-minute long version of ''Jack Orion'', a song that Jansch and Renbourn had recorded previously as a duo on Jansch's ''Jack Orion'' album.
Pentangle recorded two further albums, but the strains of touring and of working together as a band were taking their toll. Then Pentangle withdrew from their record company, Transatlantic, in a bitter dispute regarding royalties. The final album of the original incarnation of Pentangle was ''Solomon's Seal'' released by Warner Brothers/Reprise in 1972. Colin Harper describes it as "a record of people's weariness, but also the product of a unit whose members were still among the best players, writers and musical interpreters of their day". Pentangle split up in January 1973, and Jansch and his wife bought a farm near Lampeter, in Wales, and withdrew temporarily from the concert circuit.
Jansch toured Scandinavia, working as a duo with Martin Jenkins and, based on ideas they developed, recorded the ''Avocet'' album (initially released in Denmark). Jansch rates this as amongst his own favourites from his own recordings. On returning to England, he set up ''Bert Jansch's Guitar Shop'' at 220, New King's Road, Fulham. The shop specialised in hand-built acoustic guitars but was not a commercial success and closed after two years.
As a solo artist in the mid 80s, he often appeared on Vivian Stanshall and Ki Longfellow-Stanshall's showboat, the Old Profanity Showboat, in Bristol's Floating Harbour.
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". 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". Jansch and Clements continued the work they had started before Jansch's illness, resulting in the 1988 ''Leather Launderette'' album.
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. By 2006 he had recovered and was playing concerts again. Jansch's album ''The Black Swan'' (his first for four years) was released on Sanctuary on 18 September 2006, featuring Beth Orton and Devendra Banhart on tracks "Katie Cruel", "When the Sun Comes Up", and "Watch the Stars", amongst other guests. In 2007, he featured on Babyshambles album, Shotter's Nation, playing acoustic guitar in the song "The Lost Art of Murder". After recording, he accompanied Babyshambles' lead singer Pete Doherty on several of his acoustic gigs, and performed on the Pete and Carl Reunion Gig, where ex-Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things singer Carl Barat joined Doherty on stage.
In 2009 he played a concert at the London Jazz Cafe to celebrate the release of three of his older albums (''LA Turnaround'', ''Santa Barbara Honeymoon'' and ''A Rare Conundrum'') on CD format. However, later that year, due to an unexpected illness, he had to cancel a 22-date North American tour that was due to start on 26 June. Jansch's website reported: "Bert is very sorry to be missing the tour, and apologises to all the fans who were hoping to see him. He is looking forward to rescheduling as soon as possible."
Jansch opened for Neil Young on his Twisted Road solo acoustic tour in the US and Canada, starting on 18 May 2010. He also performed at Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival in June 2010. These were Jansch's first shows since his illness.
In January 2007, the five original members of Pentangle (including Jansch) were given a Lifetime Achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. The award was presented by Sir David Attenborough. Producer John Leonard said "Pentangle were one of the most influential groups of the late 20th century and it would be wrong for the awards not to recognise what an impact they had on the music scene." Pentangle played together for the event, for the first time in over 20 years and their performance was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Wednesday 7 February 2007. Also in 2007, Jansch was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by Edinburgh Napier University, "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the UK music industry".
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 ninths. 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.
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 fifth to the perfect fifth. 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 tonality 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 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. 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.
The same debut album included Jansch's version of the Davy Graham instrumental "Angie". This was a favourite of Mike Oldfield, who practised acoustic guitar alone as a child, and was then heavily influenced by Jansch's style. The title of the instrumental inspired Oldfield to call his first band (with sister Sally) "The Sallyangie". Jansch's version of Angie was also the inspiration for Paul Simon's recording of the piece on his "Sounds of Silence" album. From the same era, 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." Nick Drake and Donovan were both admirers of Jansch: both recorded covers of his songs and Donovan went on to dedicate two of his own songs to Jansch; "Bert's Blues" appeared on his ''Sunshine Superman'' LP, and "House of Jansch" on his fourth album ''Mellow Yellow''. Other tributes included Gordon Giltrap's album ''Janschology'' (2000) which has two tunes by Jansch, plus two others that show his influence.
Jansch went on to influence a later generation of guitar players. 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". Further afield, the Japanese acoustic guitar player Tsuneo Imahori is known to have been heavily influenced by Jansch.
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Category:Scottish folk musicians Category:Scottish guitarists Category:British blues guitarists Category:Fingerstyle guitarists Category:Scottish male singers Category:Scottish buskers Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:Drag City artists Category:Appalachian dulcimer players Category:Folk rock musicians Category:Charisma Records artists Category:Acoustic guitarists
de:Bert Jansch fr:Bert Jansch it:Bert Jansch nl:Bert Jansch ja:バート・ヤンシュ no:Bert Jansch nn:Bert Jansch pt:Bert Jansch sv:Bert JanschThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Coordinates | 52°24′29″N1°30′38″N |
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Name | Bernard Butler |
Background | non_performing_personnel |
Birth name | Bernard Joseph Butler |
Born | May 01, 1970Stamford Hill, London, England |
Instrument | Guitar, Piano, Vocals, Bass guitar, violin |
Genre | Alternative rock, Britpop |
Occupation | Songwriter, guitarist, record producer |
Years active | 1989–present |
Label | Creation RecordsColumbia Records (US) |
Associated acts | SuedeThe TearsMcAlmont and ButlerDuffy |
Website | www.bernardbutler.com |
Notable instruments | Cherry red Gibson ES-355 TD SV (Stereo Varitone) with a Bigsby tailpiece Gibson Les Paul }} |
Bernard Joseph Butler (born 1 May 1970, Stamford Hill, North London) is an English musician and record producer. He first emerged in the early Britpop era with Suede. He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of his generation, as well as one of Britain's most original and influential guitarists. He was voted the 24th greatest guitarist of the last 30 years in a national 2010 BBC poll.
In 1994 Butler formed the duo McAlmont and Butler with David McAlmont. They released two singles, "Yes" and "You Do". A compilation album, ''The Sound of McAlmont and Butler'', was released after the split. He went on to release two solo albums under his own name, ''People Move On'' and ''Friends and Lovers'' on Creation Records yielding the hit single "Stay". In 2001 Butler teamed up with McAlmont for a second McAlmont and Butler album, ''Bring it Back'', touring the UK with two singles, "Falling" and "Bring it Back".
In 2004 Butler healed his rift with former Suede singer Brett Anderson, forming a new band, The Tears. The Tears released their debut LP, ''Here Come The Tears'', produced by Butler, in June 2005. Singles include "Refugees", which reached #9 in the UK Singles Chart, and "Lovers".
In 2005 he was introduced to Welsh singer Duffy contributing to her five million selling debut ''Rockferry'' which was nominated for three Grammy Awards. Butler contributed the title track as well as "Syrup & Honey" which was used in a worldwide Nivea advertisement campaign, produced "Please Stay" for "Telstar - The Movie" and co wrote "Smoke Without Fire", to be used in the 2009 film, ''An Education''. They also produced a cover version of Wings "Live & Let Die" for the 2009 Warchild album at Sir Paul McCartney's request. In 2009 Butler has produced the music for the Diet Coke television advertisement featuring Duffy, as well as a cover of the "Stay With Me Baby" for the Richard Curtis film ''The Boat That Rocked''. The pair continue to collaborate.
He has played on and/or produced records by Aimee Mann, Edwyn Collins, Neneh Cherry, Tim Booth (of James), Duffy, Eddi Reader, Hopper, Roy Orbison, Bert Jansch, The Libertines, Heather Nova, Mark Owen, The Veils, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, The Cribs, Pretenders, The On-Off's, 1990s, The Mescalitas, Cut Off Your Hands, Cajun Dance Party, The View, Arkitekt, Sons and Daughters, Black Kids, Tricky, Sharleen Spiteri and Nerina Pallot. He created the soundtrack to the 1997 film ''The James Gang'' and played on the soundtrack of ''Velvet Goldmine'', alongside Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. He has played live with The Cranberries, Sparks, Paul Weller, Teenage Fanclub, Manic Street Preachers, and Duke Special.
Butler names former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr as his major inspiration. He started learning to play guitar after hearing Marr and was able to play all Smiths songs by ear. He is often seen performing with a 1961 cherry red Gibson ES-355 TD SV (Stereo Varitone) with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.
Butler is managed by Rough Trade's Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee.
Butler won the Producer's Award at the 2009 BRIT Awards, Producer Of The Year at the 2008 Music Managers Forum Awards, and was nominated for Best Producer at the 2009 Music Week Awards.
In 2009 Butler co-wrote/produced/played on tracks by The Veils, Tommy Reilly, Jonathan Jeremiah, Duffy, Kate Jackson, Catherine A.D. He completed Kate Nash's second album "My Best Friend Is You" at his own "355" Studios .
In 2010 Butler has been working concurrently with Nerina Pallot, Fyfe Dangerfield, Noisettes, Slow Club, Gabrielle, Howling Bells, The Veils, Simon Dine, as well as the new artists Vince, Daley, Summer Camp, Joe Worricker, Jodie Low, and Scott McFarnon. He switches between co-writing, producing and performing and sometimes all three on any of these works.
Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:English guitarists Category:English rock guitarists Category:English songwriters Category:English record producers Category:English vegetarians Category:Britpop musicians Category:Suede members Category:Old Ignatians Category:English people of Irish descent Category:Alumni of Queen Mary, University of London Category:Creation Records artists Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners
ca:Bernard Butler cy:Bernard Butler fr:Bernard Butler it:Bernard Butler nl:Bernard Butler ja:バーナード・バトラー pt:Bernard Butler fi:Bernard Butler sv:Bernard ButlerThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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