London, Barbican, 11 Sep 2006
Solid Air is John's magnum opus, and the promise of a complete rendition meant a sell-out was assured.
Solid Air is John's magnum opus, and the promise of a complete rendition meant a sell-out was assured.
altered states
Words: Andres Lokko
Photography: Rachel Lipsitz
John Martyn
The Barbican, London
Thirty three years have elapsed since the Old Grey Whistle Test performance that conferred a measure of stardom on John Martyn.
In the 1970s, John Martyn was the master of the romantic sublime. Schooled in the 1960s folk boom, this Glaswegian went electric, made the Echoplex tape-delay device his own, and found his musical soulmate in fellow closet jazznik double-bassist Danny Thompson. Tender intimacy and booming spaciousness all of a piece, Martyn's classic albums Bless The Weather, Solid Air and One World conjured acoustic-electric moodscapes where your heart and time itself stood still.
Exactly when it was that Martyn's vocal became a slurred growl with built-in elasticity is open to debate.
A cool and charismatic John Martyn and his band played to a theatre only half filled, with a jet black drape as a backdrop.
Just returned from the John Martyn gig at Róisin Dubh in Galway.
Welcome
back, John
FOLK jazz maestro John Martyn made a triumphant return to his home town despite the effects of serious surgery.