BERT JANSCH:OF ALL the guitarists to emerge from the early days of the British folk music revival, it was Bert Jansch, who has died aged 67, who had the most sustained influence, not only within folk circles, but on the wider music scene.
To Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Jansch was “the innovator of the time . . . so far ahead of what anyone else was doing”. Johnny Marr of the Smiths described Jansch’s effect on his musicianship as “massive . . . one of the most influential and intriguing musicians to have come out of the British music scene”. Other artists he influenced included Paul Simon, Donovan and Neil Young, with whom Jansch toured in the US last year.
On stage, he was an introverted, shy, yet riveting solo performer. In his early days especially, he was often unkempt on stage. He was a non-conformist who cared little for personal possessions and who often had no fixed address.
It was as a member of groundbreaking folk band Pentangle that he first achieved recognition beyond the folk scene. Formed in 1967, the band toured extensively until 1972, and although the original members reunited in 1982, it was only Jansch and Jacqui McShee who stayed the course until the band folded in 1995.
His finger-picking playing style included a good deal of improvisation, bending the strings and varying the time signatures.
Jansch, whose forebears had come from Germany in the 19th century, was born in Glasgow but the family moved to Edinburgh, where he attended Ainslie Park secondary school. He worked briefly as a nurseryman, spending his early wages on a guitar.
He sought lessons at the Howff folk club, wishing to emulate the guitar style of the American Big Bill Broonzy. Soon, Jansch had become resident unofficial caretaker at the Howff, spending much of his time developing his playing skills, with Scottish singer Archie Fisher as a significant influence.
In the early 1960s, Jansch graduated from playing for his own pleasure to performing for an audience. He was one of the first guitarists to understand and then interpret and popularise Davy Graham's guitar solo Anji.
After busking in Europe in 1964, he moved to London, where his instrumental and songwriting skills were recognised by the producer Bill Leader, who recorded his first album, released on the Transatlantic label in 1965. The album included Needle of Death,a stark anti-drugs song written after a friend died of an overdose. His second record, I t Don't Bother Me, followed the same year.
It was a time of innovation in traditional song accompaniment. Graham had already brought his jazz and Arabic rhythms to a joint recording project with the folk singer Shirley Collins, and Jansch was by then greatly influenced by the young singer Anne Briggs. The traditional folk songs she taught him, plus his bluesy, improvised guitar accompaniment, dominated his third solo album, Jack Orion (1966), which featured John Renbourn on guitar. The success of Jansch’s albums led to sell-out concerts in London and a tour of provincial city concert halls.
Renbourn was already performing with McShee when the idea of a band was suggested by Jansch; Danny Thompson (bass) and Terry Cox (percussion) added a jazz flavour to the mix of folk and blues. After a debut at the Royal Festival Hall in 1967, they began a relentless touring schedule as well as doing TV and radio work.
Their third album, Basket of Light,reached number five in the charts, and the band appeared on Top of the Popson BBC television.
During the Pentangle years, Jansch recorded three solo albums, notably Rosemary Lane(1971).
Jansch found the touring with Pentangle too much, and he forced the band to split in early 1973. By the time his album LA Turnaroundwas released in 1974, he had separated from his second wife, Heather, and moved back to London. At this point, his heavy drinking was taking its toll on his performances and reliability.
Appreciative audiences worldwide and the need to earn a living meant a return to international touring, and Jansch teamed up with the multi-instrumentalist Martin Jenkins.
Pentangle re-formed in 1982, but within a couple of years Renbourn, Thompson and Cox had left. In 1987, Jansch became seriously ill and he gave up alcohol. In 1995 he left Pentangle, which then re-formed as Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle.
In 2001, Jansch received a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and, in 2007, so did Pentangle. The original line-up performed at the award ceremony and on a 2008 reunion tour. In 2007 he performed with Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty, and the singer-songwriter Beth Orton guested on his 2006 album The Black Swan.
Jansch had heart surgery in 2005, and a further operation for lung cancer led to the cancellation of his 2009 tour of the US. But in the summer of 2010, he joined Young on his Twisted Road tour of the US. Last summer, he and the other original members of Pentangle were reunited at Glastonbury, Cambridge folk festival and the Royal Festival Hall. His last Irish show was with Joanna Newsom in Dublin’s Marlay Park in July.
Jansch was married three times: briefly to Lynda Campbell in 1963, to sculptor Heather Jansch, and to Loren Auerbach, who survives him. His sons, Kieron and Adam, also survive him. Another son, Richard, predeceased him.
Bert (Herbert) Jansch: born November 3rd, 1943; died October 5th, 2011