John Martyn 11th September 1948 - 29th January 2009

With heavy heart and an unbearable sense of loss we must announce that John died this morning.

http://www.johnmartyn.com/

From his official website:

"John Martyn 11th September 1948 - 29th January 2009

With heavy heart and an unbearable sense of loss we must announce that John died this morning."

A real talent, and the writer of one of my fave songs, "Solid Air".

...Solid Air.

a quiet reflective afternoon now......

I'll remember him this way.
This is a quote from his recent 'Word' interview - When asked 'What has living full on taught you?'

"It's taught me two things. One is that I honestly believe no man who has ever *lived* has had more fun than me. The second is that living full on is the best fucking way to do it and I would absolutely do it all again in a fucking moment!"

A great quote from a fantastic musician.

One of the true greats.

I met him at the Mojo Awards last year. What a nice bloke he was too. Scary, but nice.

Hope it wasn't a shock to his nearest and dearest.

From BBC wires:

The cult singer and songwriter John Martyn has died. He was sixty. Martyn, who was appointed OBE in the New Year Honours, is widely regarded as one of the most soulful and innovative singer-songwriters of his generation. His music - a marriage of blues, folk and funk - has been cited as an influence by artists as varied as U2, Portishead and Eric Clapton. John Martyn's contribution was recognised at the Radio Two Folk Awards last year where he was won the Lifetime Achievement Award.

A fantastic songwriter, singer, musician and sheer force of nature. And to be frank looked much better with a beard than almost anybody else I can think of.

Musically I suspect John is one of those people who will unite a lot of different tastes across the Word Blogs. For instance I got into him through two quite different paths. My sister, back in the late 80s was a huge fan of Wet Wet Wet and they use to play May You Never and were constantly talking about how good John was. I went out and bought my sis some of his albums and ended up keeping them.

Not long after that a lot of the clubs I was going to in their 'chill out' areas started playing him and in a club at three in the morning John can sound pretty damn good.

I'm presuming here, but I expect a lot of the Richard Thompson fans around these parts and also the Prog crews to be into John too...

A poster boy for Word Blogs?

You can rest now John.

A sad day indeed. Released at least 3 beautiful albums, Solid Air
Inside Out, One World. Will be toasting this great man tonight!

I felt I'd been punched in the stomach when I read that.

He will be sadly missed.

But I think there are two high compliments you can pay to a late musician:

1. He sounded good
2. Nobody else sounded like him.

I think they both apply in John Martyn's case.

He can be largely forgotten for many years, leap off and crawl back on the wagon, be surgically maimed, get improbably fat and sound a bit more croaky than velvet-voiced with each passing year...I can accept all that. But he's not supposed to die.

I seriously, genuinely think I've been more upset by hearing this news than by the murder of Lennon.

Oh bugger. This is just...wrong.

We had May You Never as one of our wedding tunes, and Bless The weather as the honeymoon album..

I was lucky enough to see him at the Cambridge Corn Exchange last year - a true trooper.

I'll be raising a glass in his memory tonight

Small Hours

I guess you cannot live the way he did and expect to make very old bones. But the man himself never seemed to have any regrets - not about the leg, the booze or even the cow in the windscreen - and that - along with the music - is what made him so fantastic.

Just raise a glass and enjoy his music - it's what he would have done.

particurlarly for his family and friends. He has left a legacy of great music. It's a great pity he left it so soon.

I worked as his press oficer for a couple of years and despite all the stories I'd heard he was a lovely chap who was always as polite as could be to me. My signed copy of London Conversations is going straight on the stereo. A very sad day. God bless John.

It's difficult to look busy with tears in your eyes...

thinking heavily about a relationship that's progressively going tits-up, yet the thing that sets me off in tears today is this. Very sad

I have my friend James to thank for switiching me on to this guy ages ago. He's in Africa at the moment and will be very upset by this news.

John Martyn's music was a soundtrack to a very happy time in my life and a real solace since. Saw him solo at the Camden Jazz Cafe about 10 years ago. He shuffled on to no intro and stood with an acoustic for over 2 hours and held us all rapt.

What a musician, what a writer, what a singer. What was he indeed?

Rest in Peace and thank you.

..and we will miss him dearly. Not just a great musician but a larger than life character.

I should have complemented Rob Fitzpatrick at the time but his wonderful Word interview with John a few issues back is a fitting tribute.

After seeing that TV documentary about him last year, I thought he was one of those invincible types who'd keep going, despite the years of hard-living, into advanced old age. It seems not. Very, very sad. I know what I'll be listening to this weekend.

The aspiring singer-songwriter who wishes to purge himself of his inner pain in song would do well to think about John Martyn. Anyone looking to guess at his character from his songs would, I think, come to the conclusion that he must have been quiet, reflective and sensitive. The truth is of course somewhat different... in his sober moments he may have been all of those things, but he was also a street tough brawler who loved a drink. This is important, as I think it provided him with an inbuilt sentimentality detector which alerted him if any of his songs started to cross the line into mawkishness. The vast majority of them did not. So you do not have to be a wallflower to sing sensitive songs; the great John Martyn was proof of that.

Tonight I'll light the fire, turn out all the lights, pour myself a large Laphroaig, lie back and play Small Hours chuckling to myself at the impish audacity of a man who was quite content to record such an astonishingly beautiful piece of music whilst accompanied by the sounds of the geese he was disturbing nearby.

John Martyn RIP

Such a wild beauty
He smiled at Wild Irish
Such a controlled voice
He fucked to Wild Irish
Such a life to live
In sensual supplication
I’ll raise a glass to you
Wild Irish
I’ll toast your ghost
You glorious fool

..but I am on a client site and I know I will start blubbing. Better save it for later with a scotch and a naughty cig - I think he would approve.

...playing here as I write.

When you went to see John Martyn live - especially in the 1970s - you never knew what you were going to get. Every gig was a joy and a surprise.

Even when he went along with the 80's production values and the band, his voice and songs shone through.

A sad, sad loss

One about a colleague's daughter given months to live and another whose sister died suddenly. I didn't think the day could get much worse and then I read this news. That old saying of bad news comes in 3's comes to mind.
John was true genius - RIP.

One about a colleague's daughter given months to live and another whose sister died suddenly. I didn't think the day could get much worse and then I read this news. That old saying of bad news comes in 3's comes to mind.
John was true genius - RIP.

but not shocked. The inevitability doesn't reduce the unexpectedness of any death, particularly if delayed by a greater than believable ability to shrug off the demon drink and diabetes, treating neither but with the other. Not a huge early fan, came to him late thru' the jazzier end, Glasgow Walker, sounding like Portishead at the wrong speed, but became gradually drawn in, the myth helping, scooping up the inevitable early folkier gems in Solid Air.
And to think I turned down, for inescapable reasons, the chance of an unexpected free ticket at the BirminghamTown Hall less than 3 months ago......
Who's next........

...just played nothing but John Martyn on his BBC London show - it'll be on the iPlayer shortly.

Is a term that is constantly overused. Not today. Add to that, greatly missed. I'm glad that a magazine like The Word was clever enough to feature him on the cover. They know who our heroes are.

Working 150 miles from home watching a broken computer blue screen of death for the 4th time and trying to cope with the news.
Need to get home cimb into a bottle of Scotland's finest and raise a few to his memory.

Saw him years ago at the Festival Hall, drunk as a lord was handed the biggest spliff I've ever seen and proceeded to hold the whole place in the palm of his hand.

Saturday nights at Paisley Tech Union in the early seventies. If the disco didn't end with May You Never there would have been a riot!! Hanging on to my ex, both hammered on snakebites singing along with everyone else.

Thanks John, for songs that got me through the breakups.

That band upstairs has just got an awfull lot better!

Really saddened to hear of John Martyn's passing today. No-one else made folk, jazz and ambient seem like such comfortable bedfellows. He could write the sweetest pop too. The double cd compilation of his work on Island is right up there among my favourite albums; music doesn't get any better than the song 'Solid Air'

Not that this is very important, but much of his mid 1970s stuff was also quietly influential. It had a noticeable impact on artists like Kate Bush (The Sensual World) and David Sylvian (Gone to Earth) in the mid-late 80s. More recently the influence can be heard on stuff by the more adventurous types from the folk world such as Tunng and Jim Moray.

But no-one ever really sounded quite like him. That lovely combination of beautiful, dreamy atmospherics with that gorgeous woozy way of singing. Soul music that possessed a special essence and always sounded so natural and unforced.

Also a unique performer. The only other person I can think of who similarly creates a sublime, contemplative mood and then takes delight in regularly puncturing it with humour/vulgarity/aggression is Richard Hawley.

Have to say I've only been affected by the passing of one other musician, the Go-Betweens' Grant McLennan, but I feel really deflated by this news.

Kevin

...mainly because although he clearly enjoyed living life to the full I'd always expected him to live on well into old age, a one-off mix of Rowley Birkin QC, and some old grizzled reggae or blues musician offering to tell you a few choice stories from his life in exchange for a tot of rum, pint of Guinness or some spliff...

A unique man and unique musician

is here.

"I've just sent someone down to HMV to get stuff, because I never play it on the radio. It's just too good. Too personal."

Says it all really.

There are not enough words, nor enough time and space to relay my love of JM's music, and the moments I'll not forget: the first time I saw him live, headlining over Dr Feelgood, Byzantium and Carol Grimes at the Roundhouse; the first hearing of One World and knowing that in the midst of punk, here was another, quieter revolution; or the gig with Danny Thompson at Brunel University in the late 70s where John silenced a heckler with a multi-lingual outburst of profanity.

For all the memorable moments, there are many more forgotten ones where I listened, in awe of the beauty and sensitivity of his songs. I will continue to do so for many years to come.

Cheers John, and thanks.

Nothing really to add except my own 3 routes in: a superb BBC TV Rock Goes to College with the definitive Johnny Too Bad[*], his playing and singing on Grace and Danger , and a great live performance at the Dominion in Tottenham Court Road in '81-was v lucky to be living v close to the venue.

A great artist.

[*] If while we are musing on his life anybody can tell me where this show is now to be found I'd be grateful-I think it must have been '79 or '80, '81 at latest.

(edit: later than I thought, but always is .. must have been March '81 show here
http://www.johnmartyn.com/?location=/web/Videography

Wish I'd seen the later Brighton show-immortalised on another live disc-that he appeared to kick off with a line about "blenders[?], benders and dirty weekenders" ...)

Very sad, very sudden but hardly a surprise given his recent health although in an entirley contradictary way i was still shocked. grace and danger probably my favourite closley followed by bless the weather and solid air. A life lived without compromise, something that few of us will be able to say about ourselves.

Just listening to his BBC sessions CD in quiet reflection. Never heard such a laid back singer. Will always remember his appearance on TV show Rock Steady in the nineties, when he did a live session with Dave Gilmour. He was quite drunk in the interview before the show and hadn't even rehearsed with David Gilmour yet! It made hilarious viewing but his performance later that night of "Look At That Girl" was sublime, a true performer. Don't think I have ever heard anything so mellow and beautiful since. Cheers John, thanks for your music, pour yourself a large one, wherever you are now.

Also at work, I knew this day would come, but, not so damned soon. Over here in the US very few people knew, or cared about John's work. Which is their loss really, still a shame though. This man and his lovely, lovely voice got me through many a dark night and made my life better for having heard him. If you're drinking today, raise the first to John, then have many more, he would want it that way. Farewell John.

.

Another fan here, not just of the well-loved classics but also of the less-respected 80s records. Having seen him live a quite few times and met him once, I'd say he did incredibly well to last as long as he did, but like the man himself said, there's probably no-one out there who had as much fun. The Word interview was a treat; rare to read an interview from someone of that era who isn't bitter and twisted.

...and fighting back the tears...the Lagavulin on the shelf is looking at me...

to John Martyn at 10pm GMT. Altogether for a fitting cheerio to the man. At the moment I have just gotten the Danny Baker show to work on iPlayer. Must have been popular..

but living out of the UK its not available on iplayer. Anyone got any ideas?

David Hepworth summed it up perfectly although, like many others it seems, I assumed he was going to be one of those "so knackered he was destined to live to 90" cases. Sadly not so.

How many times I dozed off to Solid Air at the end of a long and lubricated evening.

Currently listening to Danny's show. It's a wonderfully beautiful and heartfelt tribute show. He sounds genuinely shell-shocked. Playing "Day Is Done" almost tipped me over the edge.

R.I.P. Big Fella

to Danny

Wonderful, informal, but heart rending tribute.

Even someone with a constitution as robust as JM's has to give in to it at some point...

I can't remember how many times I saw him live, especially from 1981-1991, when he was a lithe (if pissed) presence on stage. Always unpredictable, but always engaging.

I have an especially fond memory of seeing him at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre in about 1991. There was a play on at the time and the band fitted in around the stage set, which was like a stately home with a sweeping staircase and candelabras. For the first set, the band struck up and JM made a grand entrance from the top of the stairs and trotted down to great applause. We were expecting the same when the second set started, but he was nowhere to be seen. After a few seconds a banging noise was heard and the the band were looking at each other as if to say 'Where is he?'. The banging got louder, along with muffled cries of 'Let me out!' Eventually a band member walked over and opened the understairs cupboard, where, of course, JM had been hiding! Great knockabout stuff.

I didn't see much of him after that, but I did see him on the Solid Air tour a couple of years ago and also a great show a few years ago with just him and Danny Thompson - that was probably the best partnership/combo he ever had.

I'll drink to you tonight, John.

...was a 2nd cousin of mine....a great big bear of a man who suffered no fools... but his demise comes as no surprise.He had the grace, but he was a danger only to himself. RIP Ian, you were the best.

Thanks Word for making him the cover star he deserved to be.

The first song by John & Beverley Martin I ever heard as a teenager, when I bought the Bumpers double LP.

I believe in a minute for every man
When he must take notice of the clock and all its hands
If he sees the road lead straight ahead
Gotta run on down and never never be afraid
It's yours, go out and get it
Don't get wet, please keep dry
Think about the people who made you cry

Played on the same bill as him once and he was a lovely big bear of a man when I met him after. Brilliantly individual musician and songwriter. God how I love that Solid Air album. A real miss.

Gutted when I read this on the train (sorry to the other passengers for the anguished "Noooo!").

Last saw him at the Lowry a couple of years ago on the Solid Air tour, where someone shouted "John, you're a living legend". Quick as a flash, John growled back "Leg-end? You taking the piss?"

The best gig I remember, though, was sometime in the mid-80s at Nottingham Uni, where after coming on very late, a bad tempered perfomance looked likely, until it something seemed to click between John and Foster Paterson, and suddenly it spun off into jaw dropping demonstration of what he was capable of.

..available from people of his vintage has just been reduced by about 30 per-cent.

May you never lay your head down without a hand to hold
May you never make your bed out in the cold

RIP an exceptional talent and thanks for many, many hours of great listening.

I couldn't believe such a beautiful thing existed. I think the general reaction to his death shows how much people respond to, and need, beauty and love. It gives me hope.

and Danny B for his show. Its rare to hear someone so spontaneous and jovial clearly so rawly emotional and floored like that.

And in days when the playlist is all done by computer its rarer for someone to be sent to the local HMV to get a CD. Thank the lord they are still in business!

Danny's always giving The Sony Awards a kicking but he bloody earnt one today.

At Uni he'd agreed to turn up for a radio interview, but never appeared. I didn't really mind, but my mum did. She went to HMV in Oxford Street, got him to sign it and then told him off! I wish I'd been there.

...that I've run out of whisky to toast John.

First saw him when I was doing A-levels and he sang at my school folk club (I have vague memories of Beverley and small child being present, but maybe that's just my memory playing tricks). I particularly recall some guy refusing to take off his crash helmet during the set, pissing him off. John stopped playing and told him to "get that f***ing get that thing off" - turns out the guy had bought a Mars bar out of the fridge and frozen his teeth together, so his helmet wouldn't come off. Must have amused John, who told the story at later gigs.

Since then, I've seen him many time, and his songs are rarely far from the player. Had it not been for John, I'd never have picked up a guitar, nor spent my late teens and early twenties playing folk clubs in the vain hope that just once I could do justice to May You Never.

Shane Pacey says the good stuff available from people of his vintage has just been reduced by about 30%. John never drank watered whisky - good malt or bugger all - nor did he ever to my knowledge give only 30%. He must have adored poteen.

Hope you don't mind, John; in the absence of a good malt, I'll raise a gin in your memory. It is a good one. So were you. Even through solid air.

Good, wasn't he? I've been listening to his 'Best of' on rotation for the last 6 hours. Couldn't Love You More really is one of most wondrous things ever achieved in a studio. And thanks to all for the tip-off about the DB show.

What a wonderful piece of broadcasting that was. Almost makes up for George Lamb. I hope he doesn't get any stick from his bosses.

Reading all these posts restores one's faith in fellow men, remarkable how one man's talent can touch so many, so deeply for so long.
I walked the dog last night with the i-pod and found myself in the middle of a field, frost settling all around me, singing away at full volume, to Angeline, Over The Hill and Sweet Little Mystery with tears in my eyes.
The dog gave me some funny looks but I didn't care, just relished the moment.
Hope the BBC shows some vintage footage over the weekend.

Was so so fortunate to witness his Birmingham Town Hall show in November and was moved at the time when he performed Rock Salt and Nails which I think is a beautiful song that he has made his own. It is somehow strange that his last tour was performing Grace and Danger which is achingly sad and deeply personal to him. I feel in retrospect that this must have been a touchingly carthartic experience for him. Something that he needed to do perhaps?
Whatever, he has moved me and obviously all of the posters to this blog with some beautiful music and it is indeed a much more painful loss for me than even John Lennon as someone else mentioned.
By a strange coincidence I orderd the deluxe edition of Grace and Danger from Amazon on monday - its arrival will be even more poignant.
(By the way Richard Thompson said he would be working on a tribute at his Bristol show tonight)

as I am in USA on business. With you on the emotion of the gig - I thought RT had tinkered too much with the setlist for this show. Maneater was a good replacement for oops but see my friends and night and day both missed the spot.I would imagine he knows John Martyn very well given their common friend Danny Thompson - if he plays a tribute tonight I would be curious to know what he chooses. May you never is my bet.

For those that want a copy of Dan's radio show to listen to offline, it's being torrented at:

http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1780526/23604504/

or

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4688982/Danny_Baker_John_Martyn_tribute

Enjoy

I'm off out tonight so I'll leave the Demonoid one on seed till I return the better for drink having toasted the Big Man

Having just listened to Danny Baker's very moving tribute programme I have to make a confession, I do like John Martyn but I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of his music.

Could some kind soul supply a track listing for the programme? The music is fantastic but I have no idea which albums to find it all on.

Any help would be much appreciated.

......"Lay your head down without a hand to hold". The hearts and hands that you have held spellbound with your sublime music over the years will make damned sure of that.
I'm glad that you lived your life as you always did, right to the end. My heart goes out to Teresa and to your family.

I don't know when I started listening to your music, you seem to have been with me for ever. I've lost count of the number of live performances I've seen. Your music's been the sound-track of my life. We've been through all the highs and lows togther. What really stands out for me is the timelessness of it all. It sounds as fresh and unique today as it did 30 odd years ago and more.

If pushed, I would say my 2 most memorable concerts were in Edinburgh, the first in the 'Odeon' and you brought your little girl on stage briefly... Wonder how old she is now. The second, in the more intimate venue of 'Queen's Hall'. Both perfomances were outstandingly brilliant. I'll continue listening to your music for long years to come, but not tonight, too raw, I only heard the news a few hours ago.

So 'I'll bid you good night' in the words of the Incredibe String Band:

"May the long-time sun shine upon you, all love surround you. And the clear light within you, guide your way on".

Rest In Peace John.

Very sad news. Another great artist off to the big gig in the sky.