Search - Bert Jansch :: Avocet

Instrumental Magic

Chris Holmes | Corfu, Greece | 12/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"God bless Castle Music for *finally* bringing this wondrous album out on CD, just as only He knows why it took so long for this 1979 tour de force to appear. I actually had one of the first vinyls handed to me by the Charisma label stalwarts in Soho's Nellie Dean pub as Bert scrawled his moniker across the artistic cover in return for a Newcastle Brown.It went round the world with me for 15 years, finally finding a good home in a Hong Kong fishing village with the most literate karateka it's been my nervous pleasure to befriend.Highly unusual Bert, this is, and at the same time utterly typical - up there with his best works around the inspired 'Nicola' period. No leathery vocals this time, just exquisite guitar (and some tasteful tinkling of the ivories, no less), Martin Jenkins' fiddle and the incomparable Danny Thompson on bass.Colin Harper's sleevenotes are among the best I've read and the feast of photos and Janschiana complete the feast. Six tracks: Avocet, Lapwing, Bittern, Kingfisher, Osprey, and Kittiwake (a cliff-nesting gull). No more convincing courtesy can there be than for me to keep the review blatherings short and simply hail this as a crucial piece in the Jansch jigsaw puzzle. Buy it."

Superb instrumental album

A. Pearson | 10/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bert Jansch is generally regarded as one of the greatest guitarists to come out of the British folk scene. His voice is an acquired taste, but this album is a rare instrumental jewel combining elements of folk, blues and jazz. I consider it to be the high point of his career and my personal favorite. It's a reflective and quiet piece that rewards repeated listening. A definitive work of art."

Finally...

C. H Smith | Bowling Green, Kentucky United States | 12/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Finally we have the CD release of one of Bert Jansch's best, but now unfortunately least known, albums. Originally available in the U.S. in 1979, it had first been released the year before in Denmark, probably because the powers-that-be at the time thought it too much of a shift in style from his earlier work. Indeed it is that; apart from being Jansch's only entirely instrumental album, it crosses well out of the folk realm and into the world of jazz and chamber music. Parts of it remind me of Pentangle, but it is also reminiscent of present players such as the Tin Hat Trio, or even some of the more sprightly "New Age" programming one might hear on the public radio series "Echoes."But the folk feel is still there, even in the long featured piece 'Avocet' (all the tracks on the album have birds' names), a cleverly constructed and beautifully performed suite based on the theme to the traditional song 'The Cuckoo.' The intimate instrumentation is key in this: Jansch plays guitar throughout, and is joined by Martin Jenkins on fiddle, mandocello or flute, and by double-bassist extraordinaire Danny Thompson.And yes, this *is* a program featuring a good deal of out-front virtuoso guitar play (and bass play too--Thompson has been one of the very top session players on his instrument for over forty years).The masters to this album disappeared for years, but now the copyright to the material has been returned to Bert, and we, the faithful and the about-to-be-faithful, finally come out winners. Now, can someone please do something about "L.A. Turnaround" and "A Rare Conundrum"??"