Pentangle
| Pentangle / The Pentangle | |
|---|---|
 Pentangle 2007 |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Folk jazz |
| founding | 1967, 1984 |
| resolution | 1973 |
| Founding members | |
| Bert Jansch (until 1973, from 1984 to 1994, 2008) | |
Singing, guitar, sitar
|
John Renbourn (until 1973, 2008) |
singing |
Jacqui McShee |
| Danny Thompson (until 1973; 1984–1986; 2008) | |
Singing, drums , percussion
|
Terry Cox (until 1973; 1984–1999; 2008) |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Jacqui McShee (since 1984) |
Keyboards, piano, vocals |
Spencer Cozens (from 1995) |
saxophone |
Gary Foote (from 2004) |
bass |
Alan Thompson (from 1998) |
Drums, percussion |
Gerry Conway (from 1990) |
| former members | |
Guitar, violin
|
Mike Piggott (1984–1990) |
Guitar, mandolin
|
Rod Clements (1990) |
bass |
Nigel Portman-Smith (1986) |
Vocals, guitar |
Rod Clements (from 1989) |
guitar |
Peter Kirtley (from 1993) |
saxophone |
Jerry Underwood (from 1998 to 2002) |
Pentangle (originally The Pentangle ) was a British folk jazz band. The group, which existed as a quintet until 1973 , recorded several albums and toured several times. Some of the band members made a comeback in the 1980s and 1990s with changing line-ups (also in terms of instruments). In 2008 the original cast came together again.
history
The quintet was founded in 1967 by Bert Jansch and John Renbourn in London , who had previously enjoyed solo success as a duo. They were joined by Jacqui McShee , Danny Thompson and Terry Cox . Jansch and McShee met in Collet's Records Store in 1964, where Gill Cook, Jansch's wife, worked. While McShee was trained in classical singing, Thompson and Cox, who had previously played as studio musicians and with Alexis Korner , brought jazz influences into the band.
The musical basis of the quintet was created by the intelligently playing rhythm group Cox / Thompson, the two guitarists Jansch and Renbourn, whose filigree acoustic duo playing soon became groundbreaking as folk baroque in the British scene. The unusual combination of sitar , banjo and occasionally glockenspiel expanded the acoustic spectrum. Drums and double bass added swinging jazz and blues elements, and McShee's clear, ethereal vocals rounded off the acoustic sound. The formation gained greater fame through the collaboration with music producer Shel Talmy from May 1968, who produced the albums The Pentangle , Sweet Child (double LP) and Basket of Light . From 1970 Renbourn used an electric lead guitar sparingly.
The group was able to quickly leave the club scene and play in front of a large audience in London's Royal Albert Hall as early as June 1968 . Parts of the concert can be found on the album Sweet Child. In particular, the album Basket of Light (1969), released on the Transatlantic label, was critically acclaimed. In the same year they played at the Newport Folk Festival . In the following years they toured the UK several times . The quintet unconventionally combined American blues and jazz-oriented tracks with self-written and traditional folk songs and ballads . In particular, the albums The Pentangle and Basket of Light , partly also Cruel Sister , were also commercially successful at short notice. The regular cast disbanded after a tour in 1973.
Re-formation of the band
In 1984 Pentangle reunited with Cox, Thompson, Jansch and McShee. John Renbourn did not participate; he increasingly turned to traditional "Celtic" and medieval music and was replaced by Mike Piggott. After the release of Open the Door , Thompson left the band. For him came Nigel Portman-Smith, whose electric bass was first heard on In the Round (1986). In 1990 the line-up changed again: Piggott and Cox left the band, but Rod Clements from Lindisfarne and Gerry Conway from Jethro Tull came . The albums So Early in the Spring and Think of Tomorrow were released, which received quite good reviews. On the 1993 production One More Road , Peter Kirtley played instead of Clements. In 1994 a live album was released. Without Bert Jansch, McShee first formed a trio with keyboardist Spencer Cozens and drummer Gerry Conway for the CD About Thyme , which was initially topped up with guest musicians such as Ralph McTell , Albert Lee , John Martyn , Mike Mainieri and Tony Roberts. The trio then became a quintet with saxophonist Jerry Underwood and bassist Alan Thompson, which now appeared as Jacqui McShee's Pentangle. This quintet released the CD Passe Avante and the live album At the Little Theater .
Reunion
In February 2007, the five founding members of the band received the Lifetime Achievement Award from BBC Radio 2 . On this occasion Jansch, Renbourn, McShee, Thompson and Cox took the stage together for the first time since 1973; After a concert in the Royal Festival Hall (exactly 40 years after the concert, which is partially documented on Sweet Child ), a tour of Great Britain followed in July 2008 (during which the double CD final was recorded).
Discography
- 1968: The Pentangle
- 1968: Sweet Child (double LP, live and studio)
- 1969: Basket of Light
- 1970: Cruel Sister
- 1971: Reflection
- 1972: History Book (Sampler)
- 1972: Solomon's Seal
- 1973: Pentangling (sampler)
- 1985: Open the Door
- 1986: In the Round
- 1991 Think Of Tomorrow
- 1993: One More Road
- 1994: Live 1994
- 1998: Passe Avant
- 2001: At the Little Theater
- 2005: Feoffee's Land
- 2016: final; An Evening with Pentangle (2-CD, rec. Live 2008)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Pentangle UK Charts , The Official Charts Company. Accessed February 19, 2017
- ↑ More recently, however, he has toured several times with McShee.