Bert Jansch - Live At The Palms Playhouse, Davis, California (1996)
The widely circulated and iconic soundboard live recording of Scottish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist Bert Jansch, recorded on April 19, 1996, at The Palms Playhouse in Davis, California during his "When The Circus Comes To Town" tour.
Tracklist:
01. Intro
02. Open Road
03. Blues Run The Game
04. Untitled
05. Walk Quietly By
06. Come Back Baby
07. Black Waterside
08. Morning Brings Peace Of Mind
09. Let Me Sing
10. Instrumental
11. Living In The Shadows
12. No One Around
13. My Donald
14. Summer Heat
15. A Woman Like You
16. When The Circus Comes To Town
17. Lily Of The West
18. Instrumental
19. Just A Dream
20. Untitled
21. Running From Home
22. Anji
23. Candyman
24. Back Home
25. As She Moved Through The Fair
26. Let Your Hair Down Woman
27. Key To The Highway
28. Untitled
29. Strolling Down The Highway
30. Stealing The Night Away
Bert Jansch - Guitar & Vocals
Bert Jansch was born 1943 in Glasgow, Scotland and raised in Edinburgh. He started playing guitar at 15, immediately displaying outstanding ability, and became a songwriter at 16. The early 60s in the U.K. were a time of musical ferment. Black American blues artists like Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee had toured there and had records issued that that were purchased by a small, devoted audience. The U.K.'s own folk music was being rediscovered and a network of clubs and folk song societies had sprung up, presenting traditional performers and young innovators.
American jazz, all styles, Modern, Swing and New Orleans was widely available on records and had a substantial following. Jansch had the talent and the ears to learn from it all, especially Broonzy and McGhee, but his biggest influence was Davy Graham, composer of “Angie” aka “Anji” recorded by Paul Simon and many others.
Graham (1940-2008), son of a Scottish father and a Guyanese mother, developed a guitar style incorporating blues, jazz, U.K. folk, Indian and Middle Eastern music, playing with great facility, two and sometimes three lines simultaneously.
Jansch took the style further, playing with a looser, more bluesy feeling, using dissonance and unusual chords, adding or subtracting bars and beats and using counter rhythms to accompany his vocals which had a unique mournful quality and were devoid of flashy technique, histrionics or overt borrowings from black blues singers. In 1964, Jansch became a phenomenon on the U.K. folk scene and beyond, playing clubs all over the country, his songs and astonishing guitar playing amazing musicians.
Jimmy Page, in 1971 commented, “He was the innovator of that time. He tied up the acoustic guitar in the same way Hendrix did the electric. His first two LPs had some instrumental work that was totally unbelievable. I watched him play once at a folk club and it was like watching a classical guitarist playing. All the inversions he was playing were unrecognizable. His playing was amazing.” In 1968, Jimmy Page recorded for the Led Zeppelin album, Jansch's guitar arrangement of the traditional song “Black Waterside”, calling it “Black Mountain Side”.
When Pentangle broke up in 1973, Jansch retired from music to become a farmer. In the late 70s he resumed a solo career and then reformed Pentangle with various lineups during the 80's. In 1987, damage to his pancreas due to long term heavy drinking nearly caused his death and he remained sober for the rest of his life.
A creative and career resurgence began in the 1990s, culminating in the commercial success of his last studio CD, 2006's, The Black Swan, which paired Jansch with Beth Orton, Devendra Banhart and other later generation musicians. In June 2009, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and half of one of his lungs was removed. In May 2010, he resumed performing, opening shows for a Neil Young acoustic tour. A second operation for lung cancer caused Jansch to cancel his appearances on another Neil Young tour in the Fall of 2010. He was able to make a short headlining tour of the Northeast U.S. with Pegi Young as the opening act in November and December 2010 including Johnny D's in Somerville MA. Bert Jansch died ten months later. RIP Bert Jansch (1943-2011)
