Bert & John cover

Bert & John

Released

A humble, intimate set, this one, from the time when Bert Jansch and John Renbourn were living in a building in St. John’s Wood, London, hanging out with nascent folk revival royalty – Anne Briggs and The Young Tradition were living in the downstairs apartment, too. Bert & John landed at a particularly creative juncture for both guitarists, with Jansch readying his Jack Orion album, and Renbourn about to release Another Monday, and the formation of their boundary-breaking quintet, The Pentangle, mere months away. Nothing here sounds like a dry run for any of that action, though – if Bert & John sounds casual, it’s simply down to the joy of two friends and fellow musicians weaving their six strings around each other. There’s a jazzy freedom to the playing here, their take on Mingus’s “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” a good indication of where they’re at, though the songs shine the brightest, with Jansch’s brooding “Soho,” and a wistful take on Briggs’s “The Time Has Come” the album’s strongest moments.

Jon Dale

Suggestions
Ghosts On Water cover

Ghosts On Water

Ghosts on Water, Andrew Chalk, Naoko Suzuki, Daisuke Suzuki
Bavarian Fruit Bread cover

Bavarian Fruit Bread

Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions
Yahho No Potori cover

Yahho No Potori

Eddie Marcon
2 cover

2

Carcáscara
Trips Und Träume cover

Trips Und Träume

Witthüser & Westrupp
Stoned & Dethroned cover

Stoned & Dethroned

The Jesus and Mary Chain