AMSTERDAM - De laatste jaren van het leven van John Martyn, de Britse singer/songwriter die donderdag op 60-jarige leeftijd overleed, waren bepaald niet de ongelukkigste. Hij moest die jaren overigens wel doorbrengen in een rolstoel, nadat een cyste in 2003 amputatie van zijn rechteronderbeen noodzakelijk had gemaakt. Maar zijn werk, waarvan folk en jazz de hoofdbestanddelen waren, inspireerde de laatste jaren weer jonge artiesten met een hang naar folk (Iron & Wine, Devandra Banhart, Ray LaMontagne, M. Ward, Bon Iver) en zorgde zo voor een herwaardering van de artiest.

MARTYN (Wollangrange, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny) Jan. 29, 2009, John (Muscian) (formerly of Roberton, Langside, Glasgow); deeply missed by Teresa, Bari, Spencer, Wesley and Eimer, sister Jules, brother David, relatives and friends. R.I.P. Reposing at his home. Service at St. Mary's Church, Kells, Co. Kilkenny at 12.30 o'c. tomorrow (Sunday). Cremation in Newlands Cross Crematoriam at 3 o'c. on Monday. No flowers. Collection during service.

Publish Date: 31st January 2009
Published in: Irish Independent

Singer, guitarist and composer John Martyn was a folkie with a jazz soul. An accomplished and innovative guitarist, he got his start as a teenager in Britain's thriving folk scene of the 1960s. He went on to add electronics, collaborate with Phil Collins and score a hit with the British dance band Sister Bliss. Pink Floyd's David Gilmour was a fan. Beth Orton was one of many who recorded his songs.

John Martyn emerged from the British folk scene in the late 1960s to make some of the most hauntingly evocative and mesmerising music of his era.

A virtuoso guitarist with a laid-back but highly expressive voice, he made innovative records that defied categorisation and thrillingly blurred the boundaries between folk, jazz, blues and rock. At his height, every note he played or sang seemed to be imbued with a spacious elegance and sublime airiness all too rare in the hurly-burly of modern popular music.