“Jansch’s influence on modern music is incalculable” - TIME OUT

“As much of a great guitar player as Jimi [Hendrix] was, Bert Jansch is the same thing for acoustic guitar…and my favourite” – Neil Young

“He completely re-invented guitar playing and set a standard that is still unequalled today…Without Bert Jansch, rock music as it developed in the ‘60s and ‘70s would have been very different. You hear him in Nick Drake, Pete Townshend, Donovan, The Beatles, Jimmy Page and Neil Young. There are people playing guitar who don’t even realise they’ve been influenced by him” – Johnny Marr

Bert Jansch, legendary songwriter and guitarist, is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential musicians of all time. Since the mid 1960s generation after generation have been held spellbound by his extraordinary ground-breaking guitar playing and classic emotive songs. Jimmy Page, Neil Young, Nick Drake, Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler and Beth Orton have all been devotees, and now yet another new generation of musicians and fans, led by Devendra Banhart, are discovering Jansch for themselves.

Bert began performing his unique synthesis of folk, blues and jazz on the folk club scene of the early 1960s, having hitch-hiked to London from his hometown of Edinburgh. His first album, Bert Jansch (played on a borrowed guitar and recorded on a reel-to-reel tape deck) was legendarily sold to the Transatlantic label for £100. On its release in April 1965 Bert Jansch caused a sensation for its innovative guitar technique and powerful songs and it has been phenomenally influential to this day, cited by legions of guitar players (famous and otherwise) as a major inspiration.

Bert Jansch was followed by It Don't Bother Me, and the also hugely influential Jack Orion, where Bert was already exploring innovative treatments of the traditional folk ballad form, something he took further with Pentangle, the unique acoustic supergroup he formed with John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Terry Cox and Danny Thompson. Pentangle made six albums and enjoyed an unprecedented degree of success for an acoustic band, touring the world including several appearances at London's Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York. After Pentangle split in 1973, Bert returned to a prolific solo career.