Pentangle

Pentangle were one of the most authoritative groups of the folk revival in Britain, but they were also among the least faithful to tradition, and therein lay their greatness. From their beginnings in 1967 to their breakup in 1973, the Pentangle (without ever changing lineup) cultivated an eclectic approach to traditional material, gradually refining it in an increasingly “progressive” direction. The lineup was centered around the two guitar virtuosos, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn.

Bert Jansch began his musical career by releasing the albums Strolling Down The Highway (Transatlantic, 1965), also known as Bert Jansch, which contains intimate gems such as the somber Needle of Death, and It Don't Bother Me (Transatlantic, 1965). His third, Jack Orion (Transatlantic, 1966), featured the collaboration of another guitarist, John Renbourn, who that same year released his second album, John Renbourn (Transatlantic, 1966), after a first duo album with Dorris Henderson. Together they recorded Bert & John (Transatlantic, 1966). Meanwhile, Renbourn’s second album, Another Monday (Transatlantic, 1966), featured jazz singer Jacqui McShee. This trio of virtuosos then recruited bassist Danny Thompson and drummer Terry Cox and formed the Pentangle. Jansch went on to release another orchestral singer-songwriter album, Nicola (Transatlantic, 1967), and Birthday Blues (Transatlantic, 1968), while Renbourn experimented with medieval and Renaissance material on Sir Jon Alot (Transatlantic, 1968), with the long fantasy Morgana. Together, the two also released Stepping Stones (Vanguard, 1968), but soon their activity focused mainly on the Pentangle.

The first album, The Pentangle (Transatlantic, 1968), shook up a scene that until then had been polarized between minstrels and acoustic groups. Jansch leaned more toward baroque folk, while Renbourn, a virtuoso of his instrument, also cultivated American blues and country; and together the two guitarists formed a pair of experimenters, capable of fusing the open tunings of the blues with the modal structure of early music. Completing the picture was a rhythm section raised in the jazz clubs. The composite sound born of the fusion of these personalities was a folk-rock full of swing and frequent digressions into both the white and Black music of the USA. The long instrumental Pentangling was the group’s first masterpiece, and perhaps remains unsurpassed.

Like its predecessor, the double album Sweet Child (1968) actually recycled material already released by the two leaders, when it wasn’t simply reworking jazz classics. The technique is perhaps most evident in the duet In Time. In the original compositions (Market Song, In Your Mind) shone the same qualities of accomplished musicianship and intelligent arranging that ennobled the traditional pieces.

Basket Of Light (1969) was perhaps even more elegant and ingenious, both in terms of technique (Light Flight) and songwriting (Springtime Promises). Pentangle played their first electric guitars on Cruel Sister (1970), which contains the tour de force of the “grand folk suite” for dulcimer and acoustic guitar, Jack Orion, their artistic peak and summa. Reflections (1971) consisted largely of original compositions and includes another long stylistic excursus, Reflections. Solomon's Seal (1972) still boasted remarkable performances in Sally Free And Easy and Cherry Tree Carol, but the group was repeating itself to the point of exhaustion. In Your Mind (Ariola, 1978) is an anthology of their career up to that point.

Meanwhile Renbourn had recorded another album of medieval and Renaissance music, The Lady And The Unicorn (Transatlantic, 1970), and a collection of modern songs, Faro Annie (Transatlantic, 1971). Jansch had released the mediocre Rosemary Lane (Transatlantic, 1971).

With The Hermit (Transatlantic, 1976) and especially Black Balloon (Transatlantic, 1979), highlighted by Black Balloon and The Pelikan, Renbourn arrived at a classical formalism that relied on minimal instrumentation (guitar, flute, and percussion).
In the meantime the John Renbourn Group, an eclectic ensemble that attempted to fuse jazz violin, Indian percussion, and Jacqui McShee’s ringing folk vocals, produced rather challenging albums: A Maid In Bedlam (Transatlantic, 1977) and especially Enchanted Garden (Transatlantic, 1980), which features the eight-minute Middle Eastern–jazz psalm Sidi Brahim. Renbourn had also begun a fruitful collaboration with Stefan Grossman, which yielded several albums bordering on the didactic: Renbourn & Grossman (Kicking Mule, 1978), Under The Volcano (Kicking Mule, 1979), Live In Concert (Shanachie, 1984), The Three Kingdoms (Shanachie, 1987), Snap A Little Owl (Shanachie, 1989).

Jansch’s career, on the other hand, continued rather quietly, with works that were fairly anonymous compared to those of Pentangle (and terribly anachronistic in the punk-rock era): Moonshine (Transatlantic, 1973), L.A. Turnaround (Charisma, 1974 – Drag City, 2009), with a new version of his Needle of Death, Santa Barbara Honeymoon (Charisma, 1975 – Drag City, 2009), with a full back-up band, A Rare Conundrum (Charisma, 1977 – Drag City, 2009), Thirteen Down (Charisma, 1978). Jansch finally managed to express his potential in the entirely instrumental jazz-tinged suite Avocet (Charisma, 1979), a collaboration with Martin Jenkins. Heartbreak (Hannibal, 1981), a session with prominent guests, seemed to close his solo career.

Pentangle re-formed to record Open The Door (Spindrift, 1983). However, Renbourn once again left the band. Jansch and McShee instead continued under the Pentangle name, with a style more blues- and folk-oriented than jazz, and released the albums In The Round (Varrick, 1985), So Early In The Spring (Green Linnet, 1988), Think Of Tomorrow (Green Linnet, 1991), One More Road (1993). Jansch had continued to release solo albums such as Leather Laundrette (Black Crow, 1988), Sketches (Temple, 1990), The Ornament Tree (Golden Castle, 1991), and eventually threw in the towel.
Thus only McShee's Pentangle remained, responsible for About Thyme (Park, 1995) and Passe Avant (Park, 1998).

After a few years of inactivity, taking advantage of the renewed interest in his work due to the new age movement, Renbourn returned to the scene in a more angelic guise, accompanied only by flute, guitar, and vocals. The title suite of The Nine Maidens (Spindrift, 1986) and The Martinmass Wind, from the Ship Of Fools album (Spindrift, 1988), revived his reputation. Renbourn’s final releases would be Wheel Of Fortune (Flying Fish, 1993), a live album with Robin Williamson, and Traveller's Prayer (Shanachie, 1998), recorded in Ireland.

Jansch returned to the scene in the second half of the 1990s with a flood of reissues, live albums, and rarities, but above all with When The Circus Comes To Town (Cooking Vinyl, 1995) and Toy Balloon (Cooking Vinyl, 1998). Dazzling Stranger (Castle, 2000) is a double-disc anthology spanning Jansch’s entire career. Crimson Moon (Sanctuary, 2001) and Edge of a Dream (Sanctuary, 2003) celebrate the old bard with a distinguished cast of guests. The Black Swan (2006) featured Beth Orton, David Roback, Devendra Banhart, etc.

Both Jansch and Renbourn recorded solo albums that would be considered masterpieces in the repertoire of other guitarists. But neither ever managed to equal the works from their period together: the swirling acoustic duets, the Renaissance harmonies, the crystalline instrumental style, the arcane rhythmic shipwrecks, the hybrid elegance of their filigree. The “grand folk suite” invented by Pentangle remains one of the most evocative forms of that era.

As of 1999, there is no Pentangle anthology that truly contains the best of the group, in particular the three long jams.

Jansch died in october 2011 at the age of 67.

After a 13-year hiatus, Renbourn collected some originals (mainly Palermo Snow for acoustic guitar and clarinet) and a handful of demanding covers (of both jazz and classical music) on Palermo Snow (2011).

John Renbourn died in 2015 at the age of 70.