Jethro Tull

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Jethro Tull
Band leader Ian Anderson 2007
Band leader Ian Anderson 2007
General information
origin Blackpool , England
Genre (s) Progressive rock , hard rock , blues rock , folk rock
founding 1967, 2015
resolution 2012
Website jethrotull.com
Founding members
Ian Anderson
Mick Abrahams (until 1968)
Clive Bunker (until 1971)
Glenn Cornick(until 1970)
former members
guitar
Tony Iommi (1968)
guitar
Martin Barre (1968-2012)
guitar
Florian Opahle (from 2012)
bass
Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (1971–1975)
bass
John Glascock(1976–1979)
bass
Tony Williams (1978-1979)
bass
Dave Pegg (1979-1995)
bass
Jonathan Noyce (1995-2007)
bass
David Goodier (from 2007)
Keyboard
John Evan (1970-1980)
David Palmer (1976-1980)
Keyboard
Eddie Jobson (1980-1981)
Keyboard
Peter-John Vettese (1981-1987)
Keyboard
Don Airey (1987)
Keyboard
Maartin Allcock(1988–1991)
Keyboard
Andrew Giddings (1991-2007)
John O'Hara (from 2007)
Drums
Barriemore Barlow (1971-1979)
Drums
Mark Craney(1980-1981)
Drums
Paul Burgess (1981-1983)
Drums
Gerry Conway (1981-1983, 1987)
Drums
Dave Mattacks (1991-1992)
Drums
Doane Perry (1984-2011)
Drums
Scott Hammond (from 2012)

Jethro Tull is a British rock band formed in 1967 . Permanent member and band leader is the composer , multi-instrumentalist and singer Ian Anderson ( vocals , flute , saxophone , tin whistle , harmonica , acoustic guitar , mandolin and others).

Jethro Tull is the only internationally successful band in rock history in whose music the flute plays a leading role. Characteristic are perfected techniques of forced expression, such as sharp blowing , fluttering tongue and simultaneous use of voice . The musical style of the band is widely assigned to progressive rock and hard rock and partially to blues and folk rock . In addition, Jethro Tull processed influences from jazz , world music and electronic music .

Band history

Early years

In November 1967, Jethro Tull was founded by Ian Anderson, Mick Abrahams , Glenn Cornick and Clive Bunker in Blackpool , then part of Lancashire . At first she appeared under the name The Four Fingers . The first time she was booked at London's legendary Marquee Club , a historically savvy booking agent called her "Jethro Tull" and it stayed that way. Jethro Tull , who lived in the 18th century, is considered to be the founder of modern agriculture.

At the beginning of her career, Jethro Tull toured numerous music clubs in England. The formation played regularly at the Marquee Club and quickly found a fan base. When Sunbury Jazz Festival in the summer of 1968, the breakthrough came for Jethro Tull.

The first album This Was (1968) was very blues-oriented, but with the distinctive vocals and the flute of Ian Anderson some aspects of the later style are already present. After the exit of the blues-focused guitarist Mick Abrahams, who had about the same share of songwriting on the debut album as Ian Anderson, the musical spectrum was significantly expanded. An example of this is the adaptation of Bourrée from the Suite for Lute in E minor ( BWV 996) by Johann Sebastian Bach , which on the second album Stand Up (1969) is far removed from the blues rock of the debut: initially suggesting the Bach theme, a driving, precise jazz rock number develops with a flute solo.

One of the few commercially successful single releases is the early 1969 song Living in the Past in 5/4 time. In the same year, the band toured several times in the United States and became known there. In 1970 the album Benefit was released .

The band achieved their greatest success with the first of three successive concept albums , Aqualung (1971), entitled Locomotive Breath .

Progressive Rock (1972-1976)

In the follow-up album Thick as a Brick (1972), various musical themes were combined into a larger musical unit. Another, less commercially successful concept album was released in 1973 with A Passion Play . The complexity reached polarized fans and critics - from blatant rejection to the assessment as the most important album of the band. The following albums were again structured in the form of individual songs, whereby up to 1980, in addition to a few more catchy songs, mainly complex arranged pieces dominated the picture.

Folk-Rock (1977-1979)

The albums Songs from the Wood (1977), Heavy Horses (1978) and, to a lesser extent , Stormwatch (1979) are often grouped together under the label “ Folk-Rock- Phase”. At first sight, this seems understandable due to the largely acoustic instrumentation and the textual references to life in the country and to natural myths, but also misleading due to the independent compositions and the complexity of the arrangements, which is rather untypical for traditional folk music , especially on Songs from the Wood . In addition, from Stormwatch on, politics increasingly played a textual role; the said album criticized the oil production in the North Sea .

Electronic rock (1980-1984)

The follow-up album A (1980) had references to nuclear policy with texts on early warning systems and civil protection .

From 1982 onwards, Doane Perry was the main drummer for the band. An exception is the again highly polarizing album Under Wraps from 1984. The strong influence of keyboardist Peter-John Vettese, who is well versed in handling the new digital synthesizers, as well as a drum computer programmed by Ian Anderson , which in part led to drum tracks, the a human drummer can hardly reproduce, led to another (in parts) very complex arranged album. Ian Anderson's vocal performance is also energetic, which he himself described in interviews as the best of his career. Fatally, the new pieces placed such high demands on Ian Anderson's vocal cords on the subsequent tour that they were permanently damaged. For years this limited Anderson's vocal possibilities.

Hard rock (1987-1994)

Jethro Tull 2006 at a concert in Budapest

The follow-up album Crest of a Knave , which was only released in 1987 after the shared echo and the vocal problems , ended the phase of a keyboard-dominated sound and brought Martin Barres' haunting electric guitar playing more to the fore than on all previous albums. In 1989, Crest of a Knave won the first and only ever awarded Grammy in the category Best Hard Rock / Metal Performance - Vocals or Instrumental .

World music influence (1995-2000)

Roots to Branches (1995) is often considered the most innovative album of the 1990s . In contrast to the albums of the early 1980s, this album focuses on Anderson's flute playing. For the first time clear influences of traditional oriental music can be heard, and for the first time Anderson uses bamboo flutes for the first time, whose open finger holes, in contrast to the key mechanism of the Böhm flute, enable techniques such as pitch bending and glissando , in which the pitch is continuously changed. In 1999 the album J-Tull Dot Com was released , which reached number 14 in the German charts.

Conclusion (2000-2011)

After the album Dot Com from 1999, a longer period of concerts followed, but without studio albums.

At the end of 2003 the Christmas album was released, for which older pieces were re-recorded and new material was written to match the working title. It is the last studio album by Jethro Tull.

In 2005 the album Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull was released, on which David Goodier and John O'Hara as well as the guitarist Florian Opahle were also involved. In 2007 bassist Jonathan Noyce and keyboardist Andrew Giddings left the band and were replaced by Goodier and O'Hara. From 2008 to 2011 Jethro Tull went on the "40th Anniversary Tour" to the "43rd Anniversary Tour".

Inactivity (2012-2015)

In 2012 longtime guitarist Martin Barre officially left the band. Florian Opahle , the guitarist of the increasingly active alternative line-up, had already represented Barre several times. Barre and Ian Anderson toured with their own bands, with whom they also record new studio albums, with the name Jethro Tull still being used on album covers and concert announcements.

Forty years after the first part, Anderson released Thick as a Brick 2 in 2012 - as in 1972, a concept album that is interwoven both in the libretto and musically, which moves stylistically between Anderson's acoustically oriented previous solo albums and hard rock. It was recorded by Anderson with the "Ian Anderson Touring Band", which also played the following tour. With Goodier and O'Hara, it includes two former Jethro Tull members as well as Opahle, the drummer Scott Hammond and, as an additional singer, Ryan O'Donnell.

Jethro Tull at the concert in Zagreb on October 13, 2018

In 2014, the concept album Homo Erraticus (“The Wandering Man”) followed, dealing with a forecast of eight thousand years of human migration from prehistory to the future. In the liner notes , Anderson explains that he will perform under his own name in the future, especially since almost the entire work of the band comes from him. He also pointed out that "Jethro Tull" was the name of another man and that the band was called that just by chance.

New beginning (since 2015)

Since 2015 Anderson has been touring with the project Jethro Tull - The Rock Opera , the textually modified Tull repertoire and new rock songs about the band's namesake, Jethro Tull , with elaborate video productions, whereby in addition to the conceptual character also various, sometimes about Video recordings of interwoven singing roles correspond to the format of the rock opera . It is the first time a singer is there: the Icelander Unnur Birna Björnsdóttir, who also plays the violin. The 2016 tour led through Europe and the USA. 2017 followed appearances in Australia and New Zealand q ^ 1 as well as in Eastern Europe. In 2018, Jethro Tull toured Europe and North America on the occasion of her 50th anniversary.

Characteristics of the band

The history of the band is marked by often changing line-ups. Ian Anderson strives to gather competent musicians who are able to adequately implement his musical ideas - both in the studio and on stage. The live performances of Jethro Tull were accordingly characterized by great musical professionalism. The core of Jethro Tull, which existed from 1969, was formed by front man Anderson and guitarist Martin Barre.

The trademark of Jethro Tull is the virtuoso rock-oriented flute playing of the singer and composer Ian Anderson. Numerous compositions are characterized by the use of minor keys , strong dynamics , frequent time changes, as well as diverse syncopations and offbeats . However, Jethro Tull also has a number of ballad-like pieces, which, however, always have Tull-typical rock accents through inventive instrumentation and phrasing. Many of Ian Anderson's texts are original, sometimes bizarre, and deal with everyday people and events in all their subtle ways.

Ian Anderson with Jethro Tull in Butzbach, Germany, on June 6, 2007

Band members

Members of Jethro Tull from 1967 to 2006

Guest musician

  • Phil Collins played drums on two pieces on July 21, 1982
  • Florian Opahle can be heard and seen on several live recordings since 2004
  • Maddy Prior sang on the LP Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! in the background
  • Angela Allen also sang on Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! in the background
  • From 2007 Anna Phoebe accompanied some songs on the violin
  • Egill Ólafsson of the Icelandic band Þursaflokkurinn sang at the concert on June 9, 2013 in the Harpa in Reykjavík on several titles and also played guitar with One White Duck / 0 10 = Nothing at All . It was also Brúðkaupsvísur , a Þursaflokkurinn classics played, the Egill Ólafsson has composed.

Awards

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums in
chronological ascending order according to the time of the recording, not after the publication:

  • Nothing Is Easy: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970 (released 2005)
  • Bursting Out , 1978
  • Live at Madison Square Garden 1978 (released 2009)
  • Live at Hammersmith '84 (released 1990)
  • In Concert (At The Hammersmith Odeon, 8th October 1991) (released 1995)
  • A Little Light Music , 1992
  • Living With the Past , 2002
  • Live at Montreux 2003 (released 2007)
  • Aqualung Live , 2005
  • The Jethro Tull Christmas Album and Christmas at St Bride’s (2-CD-Set, second CD Live), 2008

literature

  • David Rees: Minstrels in the Gallery - The Story of Jethro Tull . Star Cluster Verlag Zimmermann, Balve, c 2001, ISBN 3-925005-60-9 .
  • Didi Zill, Hermann Büchner: Jethro Tull. The legendary band in photographs from 1969 to 1984 . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89602-462-0 .
  • Karl Schramm: Jethro Tull Songbook . Palmyra, Heidelberg 1993, ISBN 3-9802298-5-8 .
  • Wolfgang and Kevin Thomas: Jethro Tull Over Germany. Siegener Rock Museum, Siegen 2012, ISBN 978-3000372-54-4 .

Web links

Commons : Jethro Tull  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Jethro Tull's new husband: Florian Opahle. In: Guitar & Bass, No. 7 2012, p. 38
  2. Musician with Jethro Tull
  3. FAQ on the Jethro Tull website ( Memento from March 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  4. Doane Perry website , accessed April 22, 2014
  5. Musicians of the Ian Anderson Touring Band since 2012 (English), accessed on April 22, 2014
  6. Liner Notes by Homo Erraticus (English)
  7. Jethro Tull: The Rock Opera Musicians (2015 – present) (English), accessed on May 14, 2016
  8. tour dates (2015 – present) (English), accessed on December 26, 2016
  9. Jethro Tull's website , accessed June 11, 2018
  10. Anna Phoebe at jethrotull.com (English), accessed on November 28, 2015
  11. The handover is documented on the concert DVD Passion Flute - Live 2005 .
  12. http://auralmoon.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2526&Itemid=2
  13. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/leisure/music/interviews/11172853.Ian_Anderson___Prog_Rock_God/