To mark what would have been his 80th Birthday, there is to be a special Concert to celebrate the enduring legacy of Bert Jansch’s peerless guitar playing and songwriting at the Royal Festival Hall within Southbank Centre in London on Saturday, 4th November.
Presented by Eat Your Own Ears, Earth Records and The Bert Jansch Foundation in association with the Southbank Centre, among those performing are Bernard Butler and Sam Lee; Brigid Mae Power and Steve Gunn; Pentangle’s Jacqui McShee, Mike Piggott and Kevin Dempsey; James Yorkston and Ranjana Ghatak; Kathryn Williams; Martin Simpson and Louis Campbell, Robert Plant’s Saving Grace; and Sarathy Korwar. Stewart Lee will compere the concert.
A similar concert was held in 2013 at the Royal Festival Hall, the set of which recalled the Les Cousins club in London’s Soho. That concert also featured Bernard Butler, Jacqui McShee, Robert Plant and Martin Simpson, as well as Ralph McTell, Donovan, members of Pentangle, Martin Carthy, Beverley Martyn, Lisa Knapp, Bonnie Dobson, Wizz Jones, as well as special recordings made for the show, including Neil Young covering ‘Needle of Death’ (find out more here).
One of the most influential songwriters and guitarists of all time, a leading light of the 1960s British folk revival and a founding member of folk-jazz supergroup Pentangle, his career spanned five decades, inspiring generations of musicians with his ground-breaking acoustic guitar technique and emotive songs. A stellar line-up, including his friends, fans and collaborators, celebrate his extraordinary musical legacy.
Jansch had a long history of performing at the Royal Festival Hall: Pentangle’s first major performance took place here in 1967, and they recorded part of their Sweet Child album here in 1968. The original Pentangle line-up reformed to play the same hall exactly 40 years later, and it was a Pentangle show at the Royal Festival Hall in August 2011 that proved to be his last performance.
Also, in celebration of Bert Jansch 80, there will be three reissues out on 27th October on Earth Recordings. Long out of print, the art edition of Avocet vinyl will be available on a limited edition run. Avocet begins with 18-minute-long title track inspired by the traditional song ‘The Cuckoo’. The five following compositions, also named after birds, are rich instrumental tapestries rooted in traditional folk and folk rock. Listen to Kittiwake:
Two Rough Trade exclusives sees Edge Of A Dream revisited on cream vinyl and The Black Swan on jade green vinyl.