Wizz Jones, Pete Berryman & Simeon Jones
Release Date: 26 May 2017
Label: Riverboat
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 605633010220
Genres: Folk English Folk
Description
Fellow acoustic guitar innovators and long-time friends Wizz Jones and Pete Berryman have unmistakable styles that beautifully complement each other. With textured accompaniment by Simeon Jones on saxophone, harmonica and flute this is an album of great song writing and seamless musicianship.
Over the years Wizz has worked with Ralph McTell, John Renbourn, Derroll Adams, Clive Palmer – the list goes on. Back in 1960 a be-suited reporter Alan Whicker had filmed a piece for the BBC's 'Tonight' programme reporting on the 'beatnik menace' in Newquay, Cornwall. It included two musical offerings from Wizz, one of them a song in the style of Woody Guthrie called 'Hard Times In Newquay' (if you've got long hair!). The youthful Wizz explained to Alan 'All I'm interested in is playing the guitar and travelling.' Unfortunately for the local councillors who spoke about how they were trying to expel the beatniks, the latter had already had a profound effect on the local youth in the shape of Pete Berryman; Pete's first experience of live acoustic guitar was seeing the very same Wizz Jones, barefoot and busking on the beach in Newquay.
Simeon Jones often travelled with father Wizz and Mrs Wizz (that's Sandy who played banjo on the 'Lazy Farmer' album) together with his brothers during the 1960s and 1970s to Cornwall in a variety of jalopy VW buses and Citroens as well as to numerous festivals in the UK and Europe. Avoiding the guitar (perhaps sensibly!) he developed into a superb sax, harmonica and flute player and has been playing since the 1980s a wide variety of music in sessions and on tours with countless blues bands.
And so, the music on this album results from three musicians who have nothing to prove, getting together for a few days and playing assuredly on a few songs and tunes they all love. It's rhythmic, melodic and relaxed, sometimes foot-tapping sometimes almost delicate… There are original songs from both Pete and Wizz along with Bert Jansch's 'Moonshine' and Fran Landesman's wonderful 'Ballad Of The Sad Young Men'.
And Wizz revisits the classic Alan Tunbridge song 'See How The Time Is Flying' which seems to become more poignant with every performance and the passage of time.
Wizz's song 'Alone In My Car' perhaps sums up the overall mood; driving through the night, heading for Cornwall, looking forward to playing some music with Pete and other friends. 'Playing the guitar and travelling' – still doing it after all these years. Long may it continue - come what may!
Tracklisting
Steve Tilston
Various Artists
Steve Tilston
A.G.A Trio
Ben Aylon
Don Kipper
Sangit
Sierra Maestra
Banter
Mat Green & Andy Turner
Leon Rosselson
The Albion Band
Various Artists
Various Artists
Patakas
Michael Morpurgo
