This fantastic book by Colin Harper chronicles the life and influence of guitarist and songwriter Bert Jansch.
He is known as the guitarist's guitarist with a technique and songwriting style, that influenced artists as diverse as: Jimi Hendrix, Paul Simon, Jimmy Page, and Neil Young.
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland he was part of the folk revival in the late 50’s and 60’s - propelled by the influence of American artists such as Lead Belly,Pete Seeger and The Weavers and Woody Guthrie.
It’s a fascinating delve into the artists and the folk clubs that were an incubator for future talent in the UK and beyond.
It’s important that key pioneers in the British folk movement such as Davey Graham and Wizz Jones are given their recognition.
Grahams’ “Anji” single-handedly inventing new heights for the folk guitar instrumental - and was a measure of technical excellence to those on the scene who attempted to play it.
Of equal fascination is the description of folk clubs like Cousins in London in the early 60’s - where American visitors such as Paul Simon came and saw and learned.
We can speculate there would be no Simon and Garfunkel hit “Scarborough Fair’ - a traditional song arranged by Simon - if he had not been in London at that time.
Forming Pentangle the folk jazz group in 1967 , Jansch would take his developing style together with guitarist John Renbourn -and the other band members- to new commercial heights.
Their album “Basket of Light” (containing the hit “Light Flight”) was a top 5 album in the UK charges in 1969 and used in a BBC TV drama “Take Three Girls”.
That is when I first discovered the enigmatic and modest Bert Jansch - mesmerized as a kid when the song came on the TV in 1970.
He influenced several generations - let’s not forget his arrangement of the traditional song “Blackwaterside” - repurposed by Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin ,leaning on Berts arrangement as “Black Mountain Side” in 1969.
I was fortunate enough to see Bert Jansch in concert late in his career, in a theater in Downtown Los Angeles around 2000.
It was not a sell out show - but us fans that were there were impressed by his dexterity and technique that was still there.
I remember I was sitting next to Bert at the cafe next to the theater before the show.
Nobody recognized him - only myself and the other few people in the cafe going to the gig.
It was like witnessing a link to an earlier time of someone who was key in developing the British folk boom - but influencing everybody and taking it to a new genre of folk jazz in Pentangle.
This book is a great read and describes that story so well.
More info:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/dazzling-stranger-9781408831021/