Bert Jansch, the mystery master of acoustic guitar

the mystery master of acoustic guitar many music lovers have never heard of

Jim Farber, Thursday, April 21st 2011, 4:00 AM

Bert Jansch will be performing at Avery Fisher Hall Sunday, April 24 and Monday, April 25.

Jimmy Page ripped off his arrangement of the traditional folk song “Blackwaterside” on Led Zeppelin’s debut.

Neil Young used his song “Needle Of Death,” as the template for his own 1974 wasteland epic “Ambulance Blues.”

And songwriters from Paul Simon, Nick Drake and Donovan to Devendra Banhart, Johnny Marr and Bernard Butler have aped or honored his style.

What a shame, then, that so few fans have heard the name, or the work, of Bert Jansch. (To make matters more obscure, most people pronounce his last name “Yanch,” while he opts for “Jansh”).

To shed a wider light on this master acoustic guitarist — and, presumably, to pay back a sonic debt — Neil Young has asked Jansch to open several legs of his current solo tour, the latest of which comes to Avery Fisher Hall Sunday and Monday.

According to Jansch, 67, the two legends first collided back in the late ’60s.

“He came to the Troubadour in L.A. to meet me, but I can’t only barely remember it,” he says. “At time time I didn’t know who he was.”

…moar barn here (nydailynews.com) …

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:: Bert Jansch official site –  new album: “The Black Swan” – on tour
:: Neil Young site. – on tour

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