Pentangle (band)
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Pentangle (band)
OR:
Pentangle (band) on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Pentangle are a British
folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...
band, formed in London in 1967. The original band was active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and a later version has been active since the early 1980s. The original line-up, which was unchanged throughout the band's first incarnation (1967–1973), was
Jacqui McShee Jacqueline 'Jacqui' McShee (born 25 December 1943) is an English singer. Since 1966 she has performed with Pentangle, a jazz-influenced folk rock band. Biography McShee was born in Catford, South London. Her musical career began as a soloist in ...
(vocals);
John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo care ...
(vocals and guitar);
Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...
(vocals and guitar);
Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Mart ...
(
double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
); and
Terry Cox Terence William Harvey 'Terry' Cox (born 13 March 1937, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) played drums in the British folk rock bands The Pentangle, Duffy's Nucleus and Humblebums. He also drummed with several other artists, most notably D ...
(drums). The name ''Pentangle'' was chosen to represent the five members of the band, and is also the device on Sir Gawain's shield in the
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
poem ''
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of f ...
'', which held a fascination for Renbourn. In 2007, the original members of the band were reunited to receive a Lifetime Achievement award at the
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British ra ...
and to record a short concert that was broadcast on
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
radio. The following June, all five original members embarked on a twelve-date UK tour.


History


Formation

The original group formed in 1967. Renbourn and Jansch, who shared a house in
St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...
, were already popular musicians on the British
folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...
scene, with several solo albums each and a duet LP, ''
Bert and John ''Bert and John'' is the fourth album by the Scotland, Scottish Folk music, folk musician Bert Jansch, released in 1966. A number of songs are performed with friend and fellow guitarist John Renbourn, who would later join him in the group Pentang ...
''. Their use of complex inter-dependent guitar parts, referred to as "
folk baroque Folk baroque or baroque guitar, is a distinctive and influential guitar fingerstyle developed in Britain in the 1960s, which combined elements of American folk, blues, jazz and ragtime with British folk music to produce a new and elaborate form o ...
", had become a distinctive characteristic of their music. Jacqui McShee had begun as an (unpaid) "floor singer" in several London
folk club A folk club is a regular event, permanent venue, or section of a venue devoted to folk music and traditional music. Folk clubs were primarily an urban phenomenon of 1960s and 1970s Great Britain and Ireland, and vital to the second British folk r ...
s, then, by 1965, ran a folk club at the Red Lion in
Sutton, Surrey Sutton is the principal town in the London Borough of Sutton in South London, England. It lies on the lower slopes of the North Downs, and is the administrative headquarters of the Outer London borough. It is south-south west of Charing Cross ...
, establishing a friendship with Jansch and Renbourn when they played there. She sang on Renbourn's '' Another Monday'' album and performed with him as a duo, debuting at Les Cousins club in August 1966. Thompson and Cox were well known as jazz musicians and had played together in
Alexis Korner Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major in ...
's band. By 1966, they were both part of
Duffy Power Duffy Power (born Raymond Leslie Howard; 9 September 1941 – 19 February 2014) was an English blues and rock and roll singer, who achieved some success in the 1960s and continued to perform and record intermittently later. Career Ray Howard w ...
's Nucleus (a band which also included
John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaug ...
on electric guitar). Thompson was well-known to Renbourn through appearances at Les Cousins and working with him on a project for television. In 1967, the Scottish entrepreneur Bruce Dunnet, who had recently organised a tour for Jansch, set up a Sunday night club for him and Renbourn at the (now defunct) Horseshoe Hotel in Tottenham Court Road. McShee began to join them as a vocalist and, by March of that year, Thompson and Cox were being billed as part of the band. Renbourn claims to be the "catalyst" that brought the band together but credits Jansch with the idea "to get the band to play in a regular place, to knock it into shape". Although nominally a 'folk' group, the members shared catholic tastes and influences. McShee had a grounding in traditional music, Cox and Thompson a love of
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
, Renbourn a growing interest in
early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...
, and Jansch a taste for
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
and contemporaries such as
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
.


Commercial success

The first public concert by Pentangle was a sell-out performance at the
Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...
, on 27 May 1967. Later that year, they undertook a short tour of Denmark — in which they were disastrously billed as a rock'n'roll band — and a short UK tour, organised by
Nathan Joseph Nathan Joseph (23 July 1939 – 30 August 2005) was a British record company founder, theatrical producer and talent agent. He was a pioneer in the development of independent record companies in the 1960s and 1970s. Born in Birmingham, England, ...
of
Transatlantic Records Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. The company was established in 1961, primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom ...
. By this stage, their association with Bruce Dunnett had ended and, early in 1968, they acquired Jo Lustig as a manager. With his influence, they graduated from clubs to concert halls and from then on, as Colin Harper puts it, "the ramshackle, happy-go-lucky progress of the Pentangle was going to be a streamlined machine of purpose and efficiency". Pentangle signed up with
Transatlantic Records Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. The company was established in 1961, primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom ...
and their eponymous debut LP was released in May 1968. This all-acoustic album was produced by
Shel Talmy Sheldon Talmy (born August 11, 1937) is an American record producer, songwriter and arranger, best known for his work in the UK in the 1960s with the Who, the Kinks and many others. Talmy arranged and produced hits such as "You Really Got Me" ...
, who has claimed to have employed an innovative approach to recording acoustic guitars to deliver a very bright "bell-like" sound. On 29 June of that year they performed at
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
's
Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...
. Recordings from that concert formed part of their second album, '' Sweet Child'' (released in November 1968), a double LP comprising live and studio recordings. ''
Basket of Light ''Basket of Light'' is a 1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes ...
'', which followed in mid-1969, was their greatest commercial success, thanks to a surprise hit single, "Light Flight" which became popular through its use as theme music for the television series ''
Take Three Girls ''Take Three Girls'' is a television drama series broadcast by BBC1 between 1969 and 1971 that follows three young women sharing a flat in "Swinging London" (located at 17 Glazbury Road, West Kensington, W14). It was BBC1's first colour drama se ...
'' (the BBC's first drama series to be broadcast in colour) for which the band also provided incidental music. The album went all the way to number five in the charts.Pentangle UK chart history
The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 March 2012. By 1970, they were at the peak of their popularity, recording a soundtrack for the film ''
Tam Lin Tam (or Tamas) Lin (also called Tamlane, Tamlin, Tambling, Tomlin, Tam Lien, Tam-a-Line, Tam Lyn, or Tam Lane) is a character in a legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. It is also associated with a reel of the same name, also ...
'', making at least 12 television appearances, and undertaking tours of the UK (including the Isle of Wight Festival) and America (including a concert at the Carnegie Hall). However, their fourth album, '' Cruel Sister'', released in October 1970, was a commercial disaster. This was an album of traditional songs that included a 18 1/2-minute-long version of "Jack Orion", a song that Jansch and Renbourn had recorded previously as a duo. It failed to go higher than number 51 in the charts.


Later years of original band

The band returned to a mix of traditional and original material on ''
Reflection Reflection or reflexion may refer to: Science and technology * Reflection (physics), a common wave phenomenon ** Specular reflection, reflection from a smooth surface *** Mirror image, a reflection in a mirror or in water ** Signal reflection, in ...
'', recorded in March 1971. This was received without enthusiasm by the music press. By this time, the strains of touring and of working together as a band were readily apparent.
Bill Leader Bill Leader (born 26 December 1929) is an English recording engineer and record producer. He is particularly associated with the British folk music revival of the 1960s and 1970s, producing records by Paddy Tunney, Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John Re ...
, who produced the album, said, "It seems to me, in retrospect, that each day a different member of the group had decided that this was it: 'Sod this for a game of soldiers, I'm leaving the group! Pentangle withdrew from Transatlantic, in a bitter dispute with Joseph regarding royalties. Transatlantic had apparently concluded that they were within their contractual rights to withhold royalty payments from the Pentangle albums. Joseph pointed out that his company had covered all the costs, such as recording costs, entailed in making the albums. Jo Lustig, their manager, who had agreed to the Transatlantic contract, made it clear that their contract with him included a clause that they could not sue him "for anything under any circumstances."Harper p.236 In order to make some money out of the work they were doing, Pentangle established their own music publishing company, Swiggeroux Music, in 1971. The final album of the original lineup was '' Solomon's Seal'', released by Warner Brothers/Reprise in 1972. Its release was accompanied by a UK tour, in which Pentangle were supported by
Wizz Jones Raymond Ronald Jones (born 25 April 1939), better-known as Wizz Jones, is an English acoustic guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was born in Thornton Heath, Surrey, England and has been performing since the late 1950s and sound recording an ...
and
Clive Palmer Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, the Palmer C ...
's band COB. The last few dates of the tour had to be cancelled owing to Thompson becoming ill. On New Year's Day, 1973, Jansch decided to leave the band. "Pentangle Split" was the front-page headline of the first issue of ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' of the year.


Subsequent incarnations

In the early 1980s, a reunion of the band was planned. By this time, Jansch and Renbourn had re-established their solo careers, McShee had a young family, Thompson was mainly doing session work, and Cox was running a restaurant in Minorca. The re-formed Pentangle debuted at the 1982
Cambridge Folk Festival The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival, established in 1965, held on the site of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is known for its eclectic mix of ...
, but without a drummer, as Cox had broken his leg in a road accident. They completed a tour of Italy, Australia and some venues in Germany, with Cox initially playing in a wheelchair. Renbourn left the band to pursue a long-term ambition of studying classical music, taking up a place at
Dartington College of Arts Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts college located at Dartington Hall in the south-west of England, offering courses at degree and postgraduate level together with an arts research programme. It existed for a period of almost 50 ...
. There then followed a series of replacement personnel. Mike Piggott replaced Renbourn in 1982, and subsequently Nigel Portman Smith replaced Thompson and
Gerry Conway Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" ("Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, screenwriter, t ...
(who had worked with
Fotheringay Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock group, formed in 1970 by singer-songwriter and musician Sandy Denny on her departure from Fairport Convention. The band drew its name from her 1968 composition " Fotheringay" about Fotheringhay ...
,
Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...
, Jethro Tull, Richard Thompson and
John Martyn Iain David McGeachy (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40-year career, he released 23 studio albums, and received frequent critical acclaim. ...
) replaced Cox (in 1986 and 1987 respectively); leaving McShee and Jansch as the only remaining members from the original line-up. In 1989,
Rod Clements Roderick Parry Clements (born 17 November 1947 in North Shields, Northumberland) is a British guitarist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He formed the folk-rock band Lindisfarne with Alan Hull in 1970, and wrote "Meet Me on the Co ...
of
Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...
fame replaced Piggott. He left and Peter Kirtley assumed the role of guitarist in the following year. The incarnation consisting of Jansch, McShee, Portman Smith, Kirtley and Conway survived almost as long as the original Pentangle and recorded three albums: ''Think of Tomorrow'', ''One More Road'' and ''Live 1994''. This line-up completed their final tour in March–April 1995, after which Jansch left to pursue his solo work, particularly his residency at the 12 Bar Club in London's
Denmark Street Denmark Street is a street on the edge of London's West End running from Charing Cross Road to St Giles High Street. It is near St Giles in the Fields Church and Tottenham Court Road station. The street was developed in the late 17th centu ...
.


Jacqui McShee's Pentangle

In 1995, McShee formed a trio with Conway on percussion and
Spencer Cozens Pentangle may refer to: *Pentagram, a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes * Pentangle (band), a British folk rock band ** ''The Pentangle'' (album), a 1968 album by Pentangle *Miss Pentangle, a character from ''The Worst Witch ' ...
on keyboards. The trio's first album, ''About Thyme'', featured guests
Ralph McTell Ralph McTell (born Ralph May, 3 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. McTell is best known for his song " Streets of London" (19 ...
,
Albert Lee Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also mai ...
, Mike Mainieri, and John Martyn. The album reached the top of
fRoots ''fRoots'' (pronounced "eff-Roots", originally ''Folk Roots'') was a specialist music magazine published in the UK between 1979 and 2019. It specialised in folk and world music, and featured regular compilation downloadable albums, with occas ...
magazine's British folk chart. The album was released on their own label – GJS (Gerry Jacqui Spencer). With the addition of saxophonist Jerry Underwood and bassist/guitarist Alan Thomson, the band was renamed (with the agreement of the original Pentangle members) Jacqui McShee's Pentangle. The new five-piece band's first album ''Passe Avant'' was released on the
Park Records Park Records is an independent British record label based in Oxford that specializes in British folk music, traditional music, and acoustic music. The company began in 1989, with singles and albums by Maddy Prior but has grown to include many ...
label in 1998. Their April 2000 concert at
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as ...
was recorded and released by Park Records under the title ''At the Little Theatre''. In August 2002, saxophonist Jerry Underwood died after an illness. His place in Jacqui McShee's Pentangle was taken by flautist/saxophonist Gary Foote in 2004. In 2005, they released '' Feoffees' Lands'', (a
feoffee Under the feudal system in England, a feoffee () is a trustee who holds a fief (or "fee"), that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner. The term is more fully stated as a feoffee to uses of the beneficial owner. The use o ...
is a medieval term for a trustee) on GJS. The 2011 album ''Live In Concert'', released on GJS Records, features several of their best performances over the years between 1997 and 2011. The "new" 2002 Jacqui McShee's Pentangle line-up continued to play regularly in Great Britain in most years from 2002 through the present, as of 2018.


Continued interest in the original band

Whilst the new Pentangle incarnations and personnel changes took the band in various musical directions, interest in the original Pentangle line-up continued, with at least nineteen compilation albums being released between 1972 and 2016, such as ''The Time Has Come 1967 – 1973'' (a 4-CD collection of rarities, outtakes and live performances) in 2007. The liner notes were by
Colin Harper Colin Harper (born 1968, in Belfast) is an Irish non-fiction author and composer. Background Harper was born in Belfast and graduated in Modern History 1989 from Queen's University, Belfast, later acquiring a postgraduate diploma in Information ...
and Pete Paphides. In 2004, the ''1968–1972 Lost Broadcasts'' album was released. Jo Lustig's influence had secured numerous radio appearances for the band — at least eleven broadcasts by the BBC in 1968, for example. The album was a 2-CD compilation of recordings from these sessions. It includes a recording of "The Name of the Game", which had been used by the BBC as a theme song for some of the Pentangle broadcasts, but had never appeared on record. The original Pentangle formally reformed in 2008. They appeared on the BBC TV music programme Later... with Jools Holland on 29 April 2008, with " Let No Man Steal Your Thyme", and on 2 May 2008, performing "Light Flight" and "I've Got a Feeling". They went on to undertake a UK tour, including a return to the Royal Festival Hall, where they had recorded the ''Sweet Child'' album forty years earlier. They went on to headline at the
Green Man Festival The Green Man Festival is an independent music, science and arts festival held annually in mid-August in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. Green Man has evolved into a 25,000 capacity week long event, showcasing predominantly live music (in particular ...
in August 2008. The live double-CD album ''Finale - An Evening with Pentangle'' contains 21 songs recorded during their 2008 tour, and was released by Topic Records in October 2016. In 2011, the original Pentangle played some limited concerts (including RFH, Glastonbury and Cambridge). There were delays in playing again due to Jansch's throat cancer. The band recorded new material in 2011. Bert Jansch died of cancer on 5 October 2011, aged 67. John Renbourn was found dead at his home on 26 March 2015 after a suspected heart attack. Film director,
Ben Wheatley Benjamin Wheatley (born 7 May 1972) is an English filmmaker and screenwriter. Beginning his career in advertising, Wheatley first gained recognition and acclaim for his commercials and short films, before transitioning into feature films and tel ...
included Pentangle's song "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" in the
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
adaptation of
Rebecca (2020 film) ''Rebecca'' is a 2020 British romantic thriller film directed by Ben Wheatley from a screenplay by Jane Goldman, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse. Based on the 1938 novel ''Rebecca'' by Daphne du Maurier, the film stars Lily James, Armie Hamm ...
.


Style

Pentangle are often characterised as a folk-rock band. Danny Thompson preferred to describe the group as a "
folk-jazz Folk jazz is a musical style that combines traditional folk music with elements of jazz, usually featuring richly texturized songs. Its origins can be traced back to the 1950s, when artists like Jimmy Giuffre and Tony Scott pursued distinct appro ...
band." John Renbourn also rejected the "folk-rock" categorisation, saying, "One of the worst things you can do to a folk song is inflict a rock beat on it. . . Most of the old songs that I have heard have their own internal rhythm. When we worked on those in the group, Terry Cox worked out his percussion patterns to match the patterns in the songs exactly. In that respect he was the opposite of a folk-rock drummer." This approach to songs led to the use of unusual
time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...
s: "Market Song" from ''Sweet Child'' moves from 7/4 to 11/4 and 4/4 time, and "Light Flight" from ''Basket of Light'' includes sections in 5/8, 7/8 and 6/4. Writing in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
,''
Henry Raynor Henry Broughton Raynor (29 January 1917 – 23 July 1989Mitchell, Donald, "Counterpoint from Manchester", The Guardian, Monday 7 Aug 1989, page 37) was a musicologist and a British author. Biography He was born at 11 Mellor Street, Moston, Manc ...
struggled to characterise their music: "It is not a pop group, not a folk group and not a jazz group, but what it attempts is music which is a synthesis of all these and other styles as well as interesting experiments in each of them individually." Even Pentangle's earliest work is characterised by that synthesis of styles. Songs such as "Bruton Town" and "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" from 1968's ''The Pentangle'' include elements of folk, jazz, blues, and early music.
Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...
described their sound as "fresh and innovative." By the release of their fourth album, '' Cruel Sister'', in 1970, Pentangle had moved closer to traditional folk music and begun using electric guitars. By this time, folk music had itself moved towards rock and the use of electrified instruments, so ''Cruel Sister'' invited comparison with such works as
Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...
's ''
Liege and Lief ''Liege & Lief'' is the fourth album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. It is the third album the group released in the UK during 1969, all of which prominently feature Sandy Denny as lead female vocalist (Denny did not appear o ...
'' and
Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...
's ''
Hark! The Village Wait ''Hark! The Village Wait'' is the debut album by the British folk rock band Steeleye Span, first released in 1970. It is the only album to feature the original lineup of the band as they broke up and reformed with an altered membership immediat ...
''. Pentangle is thus often described as one of the progenitors of
British folk rock British folk rock is a form of folk rock which developed in the United Kingdom from the mid 1960s, and was at its most significant in the 1970s. Though the merging of folk and rock music came from several sources, it is widely regarded that the ...
. In their final two albums, Pentangle returned to their folk-jazz roots, but by then the predominant musical taste had moved to British folk rock. Colin Harper commented that Pentangle's "increasingly fragile music was on borrowed time and everyone knew it."


Awards

In January 2007, the five original members of Pentangle were presented with a Lifetime Achievement award at the
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British ra ...
by Sir
David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
. Producer John Leonard said, "Pentangle were one of the most influential groups of the late 20th century and it would be wrong for the awards not to recognise what an impact they had on the music scene." Pentangle played together for the event, for the first time in over 20 years. Their performance was broadcast on
BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...
on Wednesday 7 February 2007.


Members

;Current members *
Jacqui McShee Jacqueline 'Jacqui' McShee (born 25 December 1943) is an English singer. Since 1966 she has performed with Pentangle, a jazz-influenced folk rock band. Biography McShee was born in Catford, South London. Her musical career began as a soloist in ...
- vocals (1968-1973, 1981–present) *
Gerry Conway Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" ("Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, screenwriter, t ...
- drums (1987–present) *
Spencer Cozens Pentangle may refer to: *Pentagram, a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes * Pentangle (band), a British folk rock band ** ''The Pentangle'' (album), a 1968 album by Pentangle *Miss Pentangle, a character from ''The Worst Witch ' ...
- keyboards (1995–present) * Alan Thomson - bass, guitars (1995–present) *Gary Foote - flute, saxophone (2002–present) ;Former members *
Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...
- guitar, vocals (1968-1973, 1981-1995; reunions - 2008, 2011; died 2011) *
Terry Cox Terence William Harvey 'Terry' Cox (born 13 March 1937, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) played drums in the British folk rock bands The Pentangle, Duffy's Nucleus and Humblebums. He also drummed with several other artists, most notably D ...
- drums (1968-1973, 1981-1987; reunions - 2008, 2011) *
Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Mart ...
- double bass (1968-1973, 1981-1986; reunions - 2008, 2011) *
John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo care ...
- guitar, vocals (1968-1973, 1981-1982; reunions - 2008, 2011; died 2015) *Mike Piggott - violin, guitar (1982-1989) *Nigel Portman Smith - keyboards, bass (1986-1995) *
Rod Clements Roderick Parry Clements (born 17 November 1947 in North Shields, Northumberland) is a British guitarist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He formed the folk-rock band Lindisfarne with Alan Hull in 1970, and wrote "Meet Me on the Co ...
- mandolin, guitar (1989-1990) *Peter Kirtley - guitars, vocals (1990-1995) *Jerry Underwood - saxophone (1995-2002; died 2002)


Discography


Albums


Singles

* "Travellin' Song"/"Mirage" (1968) GB S BigT B1G109 * "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme"/"Way Behind The Sun" (1968) Reprise 0784 * "Once I Had a Sweetheart"/"I Saw an Angel" (1969) Transatlantic BIG124 UK No. 46 * "Light Flight"/"Cold Mountain" (1969) Transatlantic BIG128 UK No. 43 (UK No. 45—re-entry) * "Play the Game"/"Saturday Movie" (1986) UK Making Waves SURF 107 * "Set Me Free"/"Come to Me Easy" (1986) UK Making Waves SURF 121


Compilations

* ''This is Pentangle'' (1971) * ''History Book'' (1972) * ''Pentangling'' (1973) * ''The Pentangle Collection'' (1975) * ''Anthology'' (1978) * ''At Their Best'' (1983) * ''Essential Vol 1'' (1987) * ''Essential Vol 2'' (1987) * ''Collection'' (1988) * ''A Maid That's Deep in Love'' (1989) * ''Early Classics'' (1992) * ''Anniversary'' (1992) * ''People on the Highway, 1968–1971'' (1992) * ''Light Flight'' (1997) * ''The Pentangle Family'' (2000) * ''Light Flight: The Anthology'' (2001) * ''Pentangling: The Collection'' (2004) * ''The Time Has Come'' (2007) * ''The Albums'' (2017) * ''Pentangling'' (2021) (Renaissance Records) (Vinyl Reissue) * ''Basket Of Light'' (2021) (Renaissance Records) (Vinyl Reissue)


DVDs

* ''Pentangle: Captured Live'' (2003) * ''Jacqui McShee: Pentangle in Concert'' (2007) * ''Folk Rock Legends (Steeleye Span and Pentangle)'' (2003)


References


External links


Jacqui McShee's Pentangle official websiteThe Danny Thompson Official WebsiteTerry's official websiteJacqui McShee page at Park RecordsUltimate Music DatabaseMusic That Means Something
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pentangle Musical groups established in 1968 Musical groups disestablished in 1973 Musical groups reestablished in 1981 British folk rock groups Folk jazz musicians Medieval folk rock groups Transatlantic Records artists Reprise Records artists