An amazing, influential musician.

I suppose this puts the kibosh on the mooted Gerry Rafferty collaboration.

There have been many other reports of this sad news on this site but I'm amazed that the time that it's considered "official" is when it appears on the BBC site. I don't know about others but I stopped believeing what I read in their news pages long ago, not due to any intention to mislead but as a result of the miriad of errors due to sloppy journalism and poor research. I certainly wouldn't put it past them to have used the Word forum as the main source of their story (I don't think they have though!).

...they sort of did...

and my thoughts are with Mark Ellen who may have mentioned Pentangle once or twice...a podcast.

a good man gone

when he did a session on London's GLR station. I was so struck by the disparity between the humility of the man and the incredible talent of the musician. It was amazing watching him play his acoustic up close... seldom have I seen someone make something fiendishly difficult seem so effortless.

RIP Bert.

has revealed himself to be a (possibly unexpected) fan ---see this afternoon's conversation between him and Eddy Mair on R4's PM. ...I think a Pestoncast is in order. ..

I've been a fan since I first came across a Transatlantic sampler in about 1981. Only saw him play live a couple of times, though. The first was with Pentangle at Newcastle City Hall (1983) and a few weeks later playing solo at the Leadmill in Sheffield (the only gig I've been to that was divided into three sets - which seemed more geared towards him being able to go to the bar and get another drink - he was knocking back the beers).

My wife hates his voice, so I have tended to listen to him when I'm alone! But it's no guilty secret, I think he was one of the greats. A modest man, I don't think he ever made much money from his craft, but at least he has been incredibly influential.

I'm feeling quite glum now.

This news really threw me - I loved his (and Pentangle's) music without ever reaching the point of obsession (like I do with some artists) or, to my shame, making an effort to see him live.

Until - I finally got my arse in gear and went to the Pentangle gig on 1 August in London. It was a spellbinding concert - Jansch played and sang like a dream - and I made mental note upon note to see them again as much as I could. Won't happen now, sadly.

He was brilliant.

but it's always worth watching.

Remember Bert this way.

Bert was one of the most influential guitarists, ever. His percussive style was the basis of John Martyn's playing, and Jimmy Page cites him too. "Back in the day", your passport to the mic at any folk club was a run-through of Anji, and it was his version, not Davy Grahame's, that everyone learned.

It sometimes irks me that "Americana" gets so much respect and attention, where English contemporary folk gets so little. Pentangle was a truly great band (saw them in their heyday a couple of times) and Jansch was in every way as accomplished and important as better-known, and inevitably richer, U.S. artists.

"Black Swan" is a beautiful way to remember him.

For me it's Jack Orion from 1966. I think it was the last of his run of solo albums before he helped to form Pentangle, and there's a bleak simplicity to it that is missing from a lot of that band's more fiddly fruity stuff. It's also refreshingly out of kilter with just about everyone else in the music world at that time (apart from people like John Renbourn who ended up in Pentangle as well).

And great banjo playing on the opening track!

I saw Bert perform many times often in very small venues. Of the latter albums I think Crimson Moon is an overlooked gem so I thought I'd share this