John Renbourn RIP.

This is the place to discuss music-related topics by "other artists". No Gordon Giltrap connections needed. Who have you seen? Who do you like? Who should we know about?

Moderator: GORDON

User avatar
GORDON
Site Admin
Posts: 1350
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:05 pm
Location: SUTTON COLDFIELD

John Renbourn RIP.

Postby GORDON » Thu Mar 26, 2015 10:09 pm

I shall be writing in depth my memories of my old friend John in next months NEWS.

I had known him for as long as Bert, the best part of 50 years,so it will be quite a journey down memory lane.

This news delivered this afternoon by Clive Carroll has really quite knocked me for six.


RIP old friend.

G.

User avatar
Roger USA
Posts: 177
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:50 pm
Location: Barbados

Re: John Renbourn RIP.

Postby Roger USA » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:01 am

Very sad news of the passing of another guitar legend from the golden age. His music will live on. RIP

keithmeredith
Posts: 184
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 11:48 pm
Location: Corby, Northamptonshire

Re: John Renbourn RIP.

Postby keithmeredith » Fri Mar 27, 2015 6:19 am

I really don't know what to say - this is desperately sad news. Our thoughts and prayers are for family and friends - RIP

Colin Welfare
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:18 pm
Location: Isle of Wight
Contact:

Re: John Renbourn RIP.

Postby Colin Welfare » Fri Mar 27, 2015 1:23 pm

As I have said before, you were over the moon when John got an early copy of your first LP and told you how much he liked it.

The passing of another great legend, diminishing the pool of Genius.

RIP
Colin & Jill

User avatar
AndrewD
Posts: 212
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:19 pm
Location: North Somerset
Contact:

Re: John Renbourn RIP.

Postby AndrewD » Fri Mar 27, 2015 4:48 pm

Colin Welfare wrote:The passing of another great legend, diminishing the pool of Genius.

Maybe not "diminishing" as some of today's young guitarists will become tomorrow's legends, but it certainly changes the balance.

I had a listen to The Lady and the Unicorn today, not listened to it for a while. Renbourn had a lightness of touch in his playing that just made the music dance. He brought it to life effortlessly and I will miss that touch, but we have our recordings to remember him by.

User avatar
GORDON
Site Admin
Posts: 1350
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:05 pm
Location: SUTTON COLDFIELD

Re: John Renbourn RIP.

Postby GORDON » Sat Mar 28, 2015 11:47 am

AndrewD wrote:
Colin Welfare wrote:The passing of another great legend, diminishing the pool of Genius.

Maybe not "diminishing" as some of today's young guitarists will become tomorrow's legends, but it certainly changes the balance.

I had a listen to The Lady and the Unicorn today, not listened to it for a while. Renbourn had a lightness of touch in his playing that just made the music dance. He brought it to life effortlessly and I will miss that touch, but we have our recordings to remember him by.

Hi Andrew my good friend,these are my thoughts about your today's young players becoming tomorrow's legends.

Here are some names to conjure with.Clive Carroll.Andy McKee .Eric Roche.Tristan Seume.Pierre Bensusan.Last but not least and he already has legendary status Tommy Emmanuel.

What have all the above have in common? A STRONG SENSE OF MELODY.DEPTH OF EMOTION ,COMPASSION,PROFUNDITY,as well as fine technique of course.

I'm sure others can be added to the list but I have not written these names to create a thread.

John had a great gift for melody and in my book that is THE most important thing .I don't hear many tunes or soul in the new guard of players tapping and slapping.

DON'T get me wrong it is all very clever and technical,and I guess as a young teenage player I would have been mightily impressed by all that, but when you think about it,CONFUSION, GOSPEL SONG,LUCIFER'S CAGE ,FAST APPROACHING was certainly heading in that direction in 68/69 where I was slapping the front of the guitar and playing behind the capo at the fourth fret and behind the top nut,and behind the tailpiece of my old Harmony 12 string.All this was well before I was 21.Eventually I heard Elgar and sort of saw the light so to speak.

I would be the first to applaud the new guard if there was anything that truly moved me with their playing,sadly I haven't heard anything yet.

Obviously folk will be responding to this posting telling me I should listen to so and so.

I'm still quietly grieving in my own small way for the loss of my friend,and won't be entering into anymore discussion at this point.

All the above is just my personal opinion,but what do I know?

Be well all.

G.

User avatar
Oldbones
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:16 am
Location: Cheshire

Re: John Renbourn RIP.

Postby Oldbones » Sun Mar 29, 2015 12:39 pm

Another hero has gone. Bert Weedon, Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, Billy Strange, Chet Atkins and now John Renbourn to name but a few. The only real antidote to natural sadness is the joy of listening to their recordings and maybe remembering the first time you ever heard them and what impact or long-lasting effect it has had upon you.

For me, Bert Weedon was my original hero and I still remember a trip with my parents which took us to Banbury where I spent my pocket money on the 45 of 'Twelfth Street Rag'. He inspired me to buy my first guitar - a distinctly dodgey affair traded with a pal at school for my collection of flattened cigarette packets which we used to skim up against a wall in some form of odd gambling game. I still have that 45 plus a lot of his vinyls and, I think, just about every CD ever released.

Davey came into my life because I heard his version of 'Take Five' the radio. I bought his classic 'Guitar Player' Pye Golden Guines vinyl in a shop in Stockland Green near where I lived in Birmingham. I also still have that vinyl and still listen to it regularly - but now on CD as my original is pretty worn out (like me).

Bert Jansch, despite his obvious prowess, has never truly been a massive personal hero - he's always been someone who has hovered more on the fringes of my musical preferences, I could never quite enjoy his singing which is odd because I loved early Bob Dylan's vocals and they shared that nasal quality. However, I always enjoyed watching him play and trying to figure out his style. I think I always veered towards John's playing and singing - but Bert's passing was neverytheless a shock and a shame. The book 'Dazzling Stranger' is well worth checking out.

Billy Strange was an accidental find in the form of an LP of 12 string instrumentals which I found in Rackham's record department in Birmingham. That was followed by several other LP's and to this day I regularly listen to his 12 string recordings as they continue to inspire me. I was lucky enough to communicate with him before he sadly died (ditto for Bert). Billy's playing inspired me to buy my first 12 string - a brute of a thing made by Levin. That was in the mid 60's and I'm still a total fruitcake for the 12 string guitar.

As for Chet - what can be said? A technical maestro whose fingerstyle method has beaten me all my life. I have more recording by him than pretty well anyone else, not to mention biographies and his own excellent autobiography. He may not have been the most emotional player - but he was, and still is, surely one of the all-time greats?

And finally, of course, there's John. I also bought his first LP in the shop where I bought the Davey Graham record. Subsequently I acquired pretty well all his early vinyls and finally, after YEARS of searching, I managed to find someone who had a midi file of his oft-overlooked tune 'Down on the barge'. I was able to use that to create a TablEdit file which gave me hours of challenge before the damage to my left hand called a halt to the kind of agility I needed to be able to play it. I still watch his DVD's in the 'Rare performances' and 'New dimensions' series and, as for so many heroes, I still love the music and the memories they bring.

I look forwards to Gordon's memories of a wonderful guitarist and a gentle man.

I wonder which other heroes who have passed have inspired others in the forum, and what memories their music still has the power to overwhelm?
It isn't how fast you can play that counts - it's that you only play as fast as you need to play that is important.
Silence can be as eloquent as sound.

User avatar
Oldbones
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:16 am
Location: Cheshire

Re: John Renbourn RIP.

Postby Oldbones » Sun Mar 29, 2015 12:43 pm

GORDON wrote:I don't hear many tunes or soul in the new guard of players tapping and slapping.

I think we're on the same wavelength here Gordon which is why I chose the signature for this forum which I have never felt the urge to change. At the time, I was thinking of Peter Green. Anyone who knows his early style will know exactly what I mean.

Even maestos like Tommy Emmanuel often seem to prefer to play as if they're trying to cram a thousand notes into the space better occupied by ten.
It isn't how fast you can play that counts - it's that you only play as fast as you need to play that is important.
Silence can be as eloquent as sound.


Return to “More Music”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 34 guests