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the artsartists' cornerBert Jansch: Modern MinstrelBy MICHAEL KOROLENKOBert Jansch, a great guitarist with a darkly beautiful, brooding, Scottish voice, recorded his first album ten years ago. He became the major influence for a whole new generation of guitar playing minstrels, among them Paul Simon.In the mid 60's he recorded a number of jaz2y folk * blues albums with friend John Ren-bourn. In 1968, Jansch and Henboum formed The Peniaugte, an amazing group also composed of Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox. The Renaissance of English folk music had begun.After performing at the FUmore East in 1969, The Pen-taugle gained a following. In early 1970, their album “Cruel Sister11 was released in the U.S. and they became something of acult group. It's been suggested that the “Cruet Sister albumdirectly influenced Traffic’s rendering of “John Barleycorn Must Die”.The Peotangle was together for five years and produced six records, all uniquely beautiful, combining the best of traditional folk, jazz, and soft rock.During this time, Jansch did a number of solo albums, his bestbeing the beautiful Rosemary'Lane.In 1973, after the group split, Jansch disappeared from theublic scene. , in early 1974,puhe signed a new record contract and began making public apnoara Uiiul nJansch: “A young girl named Ann Briggs, a traditional English singer. But that was only the beginning. My major interests were influenced by the artists from the U.S.; men like Lead-belly, Guthrie, etc. After a time, I became mainly interested in blues. You wanna beer?M.K.: “Sure. How did the group The Pentangle form, why did it break up, and is there any chance of it reforming again'’ Jansch: “Well, to answer your first question: Renboum and me had been playing together for some three years before the formation of the group. We ran a club in I/ondon then and we invited other musicians to come and play. That's how we met the other members of the group. Some of them were into jazz and well, there’s your jazz influence. As for your otherSuestion: We split from boredom, /e all wanted to do something else by the time we split. Yeah, we just felt like we wanted to doother things.”M.K.: “Is there any chance of you and Renboum doing analbum together again?Jansch: “Yes. But not in the near future, though we just did our first concert together in a long time this past June.M.K.: “Where do you see your music heading now?Jansch: “What type of music do they like at... where do you go again'’”M.K.: “Vawir.”Jansch: “Yeah. What type of music do they like at Vassar?”M K • “Tlh I cntees hnnjripJansch: Just as long as they bought the records.M.K.: “O.K. On the Simon Garfunkle album Souuds ofSilence, there’s an instrumental called “Angie On the album sleeve it says the piece was composed by Davy Graham, on the album itself, it says it was composed by you. Who wrote it0 Jansch: “Davy Graham wrote it for Paul. 1 played it often and gave it a bit of fame in the clubs of l/mdon: that might be where the confusion set in You should listen to Davy Grahamsometimes He’s absolutely great. Terrific guitarist.i At this point, Jansch suddenly turned to a girl standing nearby i “What do you think about folkmusic?Girl: Huh'*”Jansch: “Do you want to get involved in this?Girl: ‘ Are you interviewing people?”Jansch: i putting an armaround M.K-i; “Yes. We re from a big American newspaper and we’re interviewing people about folk music, , .**M K.: “Actually, this is Bert Jansch and I’m interviewing• *'? do Jansch j•Girl: “Are youJansch: “Scottish! Watch it!” M.K.: I would’ve beenScottish if I wasn’t bom Jewish .«iJansch: “There are Scottish Jews ya know? like, uh. Simon MacSchwartz.Girl iTo Interviewer) “Are youRntfliah?”
Newspaper Details
Poughkeepsie Miscellany News
Poughkeepsie, New York, US
Fri, Oct 17, 1975
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Patrick G.
NA, 29 Jan 2020
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Poughkeepsie Vassar Alumnae Quarterly
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Poughkeepsie Unscrewed
Poughkeepsie Vassar Miscellany
Poughkeepsie Miscellany News
