| John Renbourn & Wizz Jones — Joint Control (September 9, 2016) |
John Renbourn & Wizz Jones — Joint Control (Sept. 9, 2016)
♦ Tato půvabná, bez známky námahy udělaná sbírka písní je plná elegance a současně je to finální nahrávka Johna Renbourna. Jeden z kytarových hrdinů folk~baroque scény 60. let byl spoluzakladatelem Pentangle společně s Bert Janschem. V posledních letech života byl na turné s jiným jemným britským kytaristou a zpěvákem na volné noze, Wizz Jonesem. Ti, kteří by chtěli slyšet od Renbourna skladby Bacha nebo Erica Satieho, by se měli poohlédnout po albu ‘Palermo Snow’ z roku 2011 na Shanachie Records. Renbourn je fascinován širokou škálu stylů a tato nová sbírka dokazuje pozoruhodný rozsah jeho hraní s vybranými spolupracovníky tak, jako tomu bylo i dříve. Renbourn stále boří bariéry. 13 písní skvěle ztělesňuje plody přátelství s Riverboat i s Wizzem. Zachycují dva velké umělce a suverénní kytaristy ve hře i společném nahrávání ve studiu. Album je o to palčivější, protože představuje konečné nahrávky Johna Renbourna: konečné stopy vyprodukované jen několik dní před jeho smrtí dne 26. března 2015 (infarkt ve svém domě v Hawick u skotských hranic. Nahrávky však zní naprosto svěže a moderně. Máme velké štěstí, že se jim to všechno podařilo zachytit včas. Většina písní je zpívaných a na albu jsou hned po sobě od druhé. Na rozdíl od alba ‘The Lady and the Unicorn’, kde z deseti hned 7 písní hraje stylem medley A+B (a ve dvou z nich dokonce A+B+C), zde není tento způsob použit ani jednou. Naopak jsou laděny bluesově a pokud v písni není jednoznačný leader, jeden hráč tvoří melodii a druhý přírazy tvoří kontrapunkt, jakýsi akustický bas (Glory Of Love). Zrovna tato píseň a vzápětí následující ‘Getting There’ a 3 další jsou sejmuty živě s publikem, často končí společným a spokojeným smíchem kytaristů. Opravdovou perlou je ‘Blues Run The Game’ od dalšího zemřelého barda jménem Jackson C. Frank. Pilotní píseň ‘Joint Control’ si Renbourn & Jones nechali nakonec jako druhou nejdelší z alba a při soustředěném poslechu musím uznat, že je pro souhru zároveň snad i nejtěžší. Mistrovský kousek! 
Born: 8 August 1944, Marylebone, London, England
Died: 26 March 2015, Hawick, Scotland
Birth name: Raymond Ronald Jones
Born: 25 April 1939
Origin: Thornton Heath, Croydon, Surrey, England
Album release: September 9, 2016
Record Label: Riverboat Records
Genre: Baroque~Folk, Blues, Finger~picking, Singer~Songwriter
Duration: 53:08
Tracks:
01. Hey Hey 3:02
02. Buckets Of Rain 4:21
03. Glory Of Love 2:38
04. Getting There 3:16
05. National Seven 4:01
06. Mountain Rain 4:41
07. Great Dream From Heaven 6:12
08. Strolling Down The Highway 4:49
09. In Stormy Weather 2:58
10. Balham Moon 3:16
11. Blues Run The Game 3:28
12. Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning 4:31
13. Joint Control 5:47
Review
Robin Denselow, Thursday 8 September 2016 18.45 BST / Score: ****
√ This charming, effortlessly classy album is the final recording by John Renbourn. One of the guitar heroes of the 60s folk~baroque scene, he was a co~founder of Pentangle, along with Bert Jansch, and in recent years had been touring with another fine British guitarist and laidback singer, Wizz Jones.
√ They first met more than 50 years ago, and there’s more than a dash of nostalgia in a folk~blues set that starts with a swinging revival of Big Bill Broonzy’s Hey Hey and includes the hitchhiking anthem National Seven, which appeared on Renbourn’s 1965 solo debut, along with songs by Jackson C Frank, and (of course) Jansch.
√ Those who want to hear Renbourn play Bach or Satie should check out Palermo Snow from 2011. Here he’s enjoying himself with an old friend, and their collaborations on Jansch’s “Strolling Down the Highway” or the instrumental title track are a delight. ♦ https://www.theguardian.com/
© Wizz Jones
Editorial Reviews
♦ Riverboat Records is delighted and proud to be releasing Joint Control whose 13 songs wonderfully embody the fruits of that friendship, capturing the two great artists and consummate guitarists performing together live and in the studio. The album is all the more poignant because it represents the final recordings by John Renbourn, the final tracks made just days before his death on 26 March 2015 from a heart attack at his home in Hawick in the Scottish borders. At the time of John’s death, Joint Control was almost entirely finished. The pair had been working together since the start of the year in a small studio, about an hour from John’s Hawick home. Alongside the sheer artistry of their playing you can’t but escape the warmth of the camaraderie permeating these performances. Most of the songs are drawn from a repertoire honed through their touring together since 2012; the only original composition, Wizz’s instrumental ‘Balham Moon’, was recorded at the insistence of John, who also gave it a title. Of course, many of the songs date back to that extraordinary period of the 1960s when Wizz and John first met, reflecting the ideas and techniques that were shared by all the young British pickers and the influences which neither Wizz nor John would have hesitated to acknowledge — Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Josh White and Davy Graham. Joint Control is fundamentally steeped in the history of British folk music in the 1960s with many songs by Wizz and John’s contemporaries such as Al Jones and Archie Fisher. Another on the scene was Jackson C. Frank who first arrived in London in 1965; his most famous song, ‘Blues Run The Game’, was one Wizz had never got round to recording. It was only in more recent years that he started to play it, albeit it from Bert Jansch’s version. Bert Jansch himself is appropriately represented on this album by no less than three performances each one bearing the hallmarks of his unique technique and great songwriting. The unreleased instrumental ‘Joint Control’ is an early example of the reflective, intricate filigree work that would dramatically bear fruit on 1966’s Bert & John album. It was actually recorded for Jansch’s It Don’t Bother Me the previous year but inexplicably left off the final selection. Masterfully interpreted here by John with Wizz, it makes it’s presence here all the more special and significant. The anthemic ‘Strolling Down The Highway’ first appeared on Jansch’s debut which in the hands of Wizz and John — as eloquently dsecribed by Peter Paphides: “now sounds like a careworn validation of the bohemian aspirations parlayed by Bert and all the contemporaries for whom the guitar represented an escape route from the expectations of their forebears.” The other Jansch song, ‘Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning’, from his LA Turnaround album, always provided one of the most moving moments in Wizz and John’s shows together; Wizz would usually look skywards at the song’s close. In the wake of John’s death, this recorded version becomes even more heartfelt and moving. As much as Joint Control is steeped in the celebrated history that its two participants shared, these genuinely historic recordings also sound utterly fresh and contemporary. John and Wizz had only rarely appeared on record together in the past. John produced (and played a little) on Wizz’s 1972 album Right Now, as well as on 2011’s Lucky The Man so we can be particularly thankful that these recordings were made. As Peter Paphides concludes: “Joint Control is a fitting testament to two musicians who never forgot the spirit of joy and exploration which made them pick up their instruments in the first place; two fires of more than fifty years standing. We’re very fortunate that they managed to capture it in time.”
Website: http://www.wizzjones.com/
♦___________________________________________________________♦
| John Renbourn & Wizz Jones — Joint Control (September 9, 2016) |
Died: 26 March 2015, Hawick, Scotland
Birth name: Raymond Ronald Jones
Born: 25 April 1939
Origin: Thornton Heath, Croydon, Surrey, England
Album release: September 9, 2016
Record Label: Riverboat Records
Genre: Baroque~Folk, Blues, Finger~picking, Singer~Songwriter
Duration: 53:08
Tracks:
01. Hey Hey 3:02
02. Buckets Of Rain 4:21
03. Glory Of Love 2:38
04. Getting There 3:16
05. National Seven 4:01
06. Mountain Rain 4:41
07. Great Dream From Heaven 6:12
08. Strolling Down The Highway 4:49
09. In Stormy Weather 2:58
10. Balham Moon 3:16
11. Blues Run The Game 3:28
12. Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning 4:31
13. Joint Control 5:47
Review
Robin Denselow, Thursday 8 September 2016 18.45 BST / Score: ****
√ This charming, effortlessly classy album is the final recording by John Renbourn. One of the guitar heroes of the 60s folk~baroque scene, he was a co~founder of Pentangle, along with Bert Jansch, and in recent years had been touring with another fine British guitarist and laidback singer, Wizz Jones.
√ They first met more than 50 years ago, and there’s more than a dash of nostalgia in a folk~blues set that starts with a swinging revival of Big Bill Broonzy’s Hey Hey and includes the hitchhiking anthem National Seven, which appeared on Renbourn’s 1965 solo debut, along with songs by Jackson C Frank, and (of course) Jansch.
√ Those who want to hear Renbourn play Bach or Satie should check out Palermo Snow from 2011. Here he’s enjoying himself with an old friend, and their collaborations on Jansch’s “Strolling Down the Highway” or the instrumental title track are a delight. ♦ https://www.theguardian.com/
Editorial Reviews
♦ Riverboat Records is delighted and proud to be releasing Joint Control whose 13 songs wonderfully embody the fruits of that friendship, capturing the two great artists and consummate guitarists performing together live and in the studio. The album is all the more poignant because it represents the final recordings by John Renbourn, the final tracks made just days before his death on 26 March 2015 from a heart attack at his home in Hawick in the Scottish borders. At the time of John’s death, Joint Control was almost entirely finished. The pair had been working together since the start of the year in a small studio, about an hour from John’s Hawick home. Alongside the sheer artistry of their playing you can’t but escape the warmth of the camaraderie permeating these performances. Most of the songs are drawn from a repertoire honed through their touring together since 2012; the only original composition, Wizz’s instrumental ‘Balham Moon’, was recorded at the insistence of John, who also gave it a title. Of course, many of the songs date back to that extraordinary period of the 1960s when Wizz and John first met, reflecting the ideas and techniques that were shared by all the young British pickers and the influences which neither Wizz nor John would have hesitated to acknowledge — Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Josh White and Davy Graham. Joint Control is fundamentally steeped in the history of British folk music in the 1960s with many songs by Wizz and John’s contemporaries such as Al Jones and Archie Fisher. Another on the scene was Jackson C. Frank who first arrived in London in 1965; his most famous song, ‘Blues Run The Game’, was one Wizz had never got round to recording. It was only in more recent years that he started to play it, albeit it from Bert Jansch’s version. Bert Jansch himself is appropriately represented on this album by no less than three performances each one bearing the hallmarks of his unique technique and great songwriting. The unreleased instrumental ‘Joint Control’ is an early example of the reflective, intricate filigree work that would dramatically bear fruit on 1966’s Bert & John album. It was actually recorded for Jansch’s It Don’t Bother Me the previous year but inexplicably left off the final selection. Masterfully interpreted here by John with Wizz, it makes it’s presence here all the more special and significant. The anthemic ‘Strolling Down The Highway’ first appeared on Jansch’s debut which in the hands of Wizz and John — as eloquently dsecribed by Peter Paphides: “now sounds like a careworn validation of the bohemian aspirations parlayed by Bert and all the contemporaries for whom the guitar represented an escape route from the expectations of their forebears.” The other Jansch song, ‘Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning’, from his LA Turnaround album, always provided one of the most moving moments in Wizz and John’s shows together; Wizz would usually look skywards at the song’s close. In the wake of John’s death, this recorded version becomes even more heartfelt and moving. As much as Joint Control is steeped in the celebrated history that its two participants shared, these genuinely historic recordings also sound utterly fresh and contemporary. John and Wizz had only rarely appeared on record together in the past. John produced (and played a little) on Wizz’s 1972 album Right Now, as well as on 2011’s Lucky The Man so we can be particularly thankful that these recordings were made. As Peter Paphides concludes: “Joint Control is a fitting testament to two musicians who never forgot the spirit of joy and exploration which made them pick up their instruments in the first place; two fires of more than fifty years standing. We’re very fortunate that they managed to capture it in time.”
Website: http://www.wizzjones.com/
♦___________________________________________________________♦