Leader: Guitar legend’s influence will live on

FOR music fans of a certain vintage, he was quite simply a genius, an innovator, one of those very rare people whose influence in his chosen field, guitar playing, continues to be heard in the generations who have come after him.

Glasgow-born Bert Jansch, who died yesterday at the age of 67, may have been unassuming and self-effacing but echoes of the unique finger-picking improvised guitar style he developed can still be heard today in the music of celebrated performers who have followed.

Younger music fans wondering why the man who formed Pentangle – a band which, like their founder, defied conventional categorisation by fusing folk, jazz and blues influences – is so revered should just listen to a Pentangle record or CD or download collection to find out.

To Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Jansch was way ahead of his time in his technique and style. Johnny Marr of the Smiths has described him as both influential and intriguing. Paul Simon and Neil Young are among many others who pay homage.

Bert Jansch may not have had hit singles, sold millions of albums or played to packed stadiums. He was certainly not a rock star. But he achieved what few other artists have: leaving his mark on the music we listen to today.