'The First Time Ever...' - instrumental

[RodB]

Back in the late '60s I discovered the music of John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, through listening to Pentangle, and I bought the LP 'The Bert Jansch Sampler'.

The record sleeve stated what tuning he was using so I had a clue to follow.

Over the years I have changed how I play this - so yes - not as Bert did (some may say it is now sanitised!) and even further from the original haunting melody of the song by Ewan MacColl 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face'.

Very nice Rod!

[Looburst]

Excellent sound quality and loved the performance.

[RodB]

Thanks Doug and 'Looburst' for you comments.

[Pitar]

Very colorful and towards the up-tempo work I love listening to. Thanks for sharing.

[reeve21]

Beautiful, Rod. Can you share what you guitar you are playing and how it was recorded?

Bob

[rockabilly69]

Oh that sounds GREAT. On my summer vacation in Montauk, I re-introduced Bert Jansch and John Renbourn to my uncle who is suffering from early Alzheimers. He introduced them to me!!! You should have seen his smile when the melodies brought him back

[RodB]

Originally Posted by Pitar

Very colorful and towards the up-tempo work I love listening to. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for listening and your kind comment, which I very much appreciate.

Originally Posted by reeve21

Beautiful, Rod. Can you share what you guitar you are playing and how it was recorded?

Thanks Bob for your comment and interest. The guitar is a McIlroy A25. It was my first attempt at recording, and unlike recent recordings (with 2 mics, no processing except bass cut), this was recorded with a single SE2200A mic aimed below the bridge in a room that was acoustically quite dead. I duplicated the track panning each way, then added slightly different levels of light reverb to each track.

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Oh that sounds GREAT. On my summer vacation in Montauk, I re-introduced Bert Jansch and John Renbourn to my uncle who is suffering from early Alzheimers. He introduced them to me!!! You should have seen his smile when the melodies brought him back

Yes music can reach in and trigger memories when mere words fail, I should imagine their distinctive sound helped - it must have been rewarding for you to see this reaction as well . Thanks for listening and for your comments .

[FrankHudson]

I love the playing of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn and you do seem to catch that style, so I liked this too.

In concert Renbourn would sometimes talk about making the Bert & John record and it was apparently a very casual affair recorded in a living room with a "here's the cords, now lets try it" kind of spontaneous arrangements.

I don't know if Jansch got on very well with Ewan MacColl, but he probably didn't given MacColl's temperament. I suppose that could account for Jansch not playing the melody without his own variations, so you'd be in good stead to take liberties yourself.

[RodB]

Thanks for listening and commenting Frank - glad you liked it. If anyone is familiar with the original Ewan MacColl tune but not the Bert Jansch variation I doubt they would even recognise mine - one stage further removed ... I didn't think it deserved the full title either.

[David Rock]

Yup!

Very nice and captures your intent. This could be John or Bert BUT IT IS YOU! How cool is that.

D

[RodB]

Thanks very much David, for listening and this comment. I very much believe that playing music is about putting one's own stamp on it, whether by intent, by subconscious incorporation of stuff we have in our heads, or merely because we have limitations that the original artist did not, etc.