John Martyn

The Scottish singer-songwriter John Martyn (born Iain McGeachy) is one of the few vocalists who could compete with Tim Buckley in terms of vocal creativity and one of the closest to jazz techniques. His masterpieces are complex and challenging albums that blur the boundaries between folk, blues, soul, and jazz. He remained unknown to most (ignored by almost all encyclopedias published during the first twenty years of his career) until he turned to pop music.

Martyn debuted (very young) with a traditional folk album, London Conversation (Island, Feb 1968), which imitated early Bob Dylan and early Donovan (London Conversation, Run Honey Run, Back To Stay, Rolling Home, Who's Grown Up Now), but just a few months later he revealed his true personality on The Tumbler (Island, Dec 1968), an ambitious album infused with jazz that had very little in common with the singer-songwriter models of those years. Joni Mitchell would only reach that fusion of folk, blues, and jazz three years later. Martyn had in fact been inspired by Donovan, who had introduced jazz rhythms into folk the year before. Jazz flutist Harold McNair embellishes Dusty, while Martyn delivers Sing A Song Of Summer and Seven Black Roses.

In collaboration with his wife Beverly Kutner, Martyn released two albums in a more relaxed style. On Stormbringer (Island, Feb 1970) Levon Helm of The Band and keyboardist Paul Harris perform. The album contains intellectual ballads such as Go Out And Get It, Stormbringer, Woodstock, John The Baptist, and the first tracks where Martyn experiments with his guitar technique (Would You Believe Me and The Ocean). The Road To Ruin (Island, Nov 1970), in particular, opened a new phase, as it featured bassist Danny Thompson (of Davy Graham and Fairport Convention), and guitar experiments were pervasive. Parcels, Auntie Aviator, Tree Green, and Primrose Hill used jazz instrumentation in a rock-song format, as Van Morrison had done a few months earlier.

Martyn continued to emphasize the unusual characteristics of his singing, the rough guitar technique (acoustic with echoplex to highlight overtones), and jazz arrangements. Bless The Weather (Island, Nov 1971) featured the most radio-friendly track of his early years, Head And Heart, but also austere and complex compositions like Bless The Weather, Walk On The Water, Just Now, Back Down The River. His program temporarily culminated in the long instrumental jam Glistening Glyndebourne.

Solid Air (Island, Feb 1973) was his "blues" album, as it imitated the techniques of classic bluesmen, but above all made him the natural heir of Tim Buckley through a hypnotic and heartfelt Solid Air, an unusually lively Over The Hill, and especially two of his masterpieces, May You Never and The Man In The Station. The singing was perfectly integrated into the group sound, as if the voice were simply a wind instrument. Fairport Convention (Danny Thompson, Richard Thompson, Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks, Simon Nicol) provided an excellent foundation for improvisation.

Continuing that thrilling progression, Martyn reached his Starsailor, the album Inside Out (Island, Oct 1973). Alongside two other classics of the "free song," Make No Mistake and Fine Lines, and songs that combine intense passion with an almost Zen spiritualism (Ways To Cry, So Much In Love With You), the album contains the free-form jam Outside In, in which Martyn's folk-jazz is sublimated. His guitar, Danny Thompson's bass, and the accompaniment of Steve Winwood and Chris Wood of Traffic form a superbly harmonious ensemble.

Sunday's Child (Island, Jan 1975) marked a return to the folk-rock song format. Except for Call Me Crazy (seven and a half minutes), the tracks are relatively short. This album, however, may have the highest average quality of all his records. Almost every song is a classic: One Day Without You, Root Love, My Baby Girl, Sunday's Child, You Can Discover.

Live at Leeds (1975) contains a 19-minute version of Outside In with his best guitarwork.

Martyn was not, however, going through a good period. In addition to being an alcoholic and drug-dependent, his marriage was in crisis. The album One World (Island, Nov 1977) made it clear that the crisis was affecting his music as well. Under the pretext of assimilating ethnic elements, particularly Jamaican, Martyn put together a collection that was much less experimental, ranging from the acoustic serenade of Couldn't Love You More to the reggae of Big Muff. Some songs (Certain Surprise, Dancing, Dealer, One World, Smiling Stranger) are better, but the only track that truly justifies the album is the progressive jam Small Hours (almost nine minutes with Steve Winwood of Traffic, Morris Pert of Brand X, Jon Field of Jade Warrior, etc.).

Martyn disappeared from the scene for a while and was psychologically devastated by the divorce. For his comeback album, Martyn abandoned the acoustic guitar and hired drummer Phil Collins. Grace And Danger (Island, Oct 1980) thus became his musically least sincere album at a time when it was the most sincere (painfully sincere) lyrically. Martyn leaned toward pop chart music, particularly with Sweet Little Mystery, destined to remain one of his signature tracks, but redeemed himself with a series of high-class numbers: Some People Are Crazy, Grace And Danger, Lookin' On, Johnny Too Bad, Hurt In Your Heart.

Glorious Fool (WEA, Sep 1981) added, in addition to Phil Collins, another British rock chart veteran, Eric Clapton. Martyn’s vocals were subdued and the synthesizers took over. Perfect Hustler, Pascanel, and the pacifist anthem Don't You Go are the elegant and refined songs one expects from this kind of savvy veteran. It is telling that the two longest tracks, Hearts And Keys and Please Fall In Love With Me, are simply boring.

Phil Collins’ influence is still noticeable on Well Kept Secret (WEA, Sep 1982), the album that definitively abandons experimentation. The songs are all of regular length, structured in a traditional way, and arranged as best as possible. Hung Up, Could've Been Me, and Changes Her Mind are the most sincere. Back With A Vengeance puts John Martyn on the dance floor.

Robert Palmer helped him record another of his worst albums, Sapphire (Island, Nov 1984), so relaxed and electronic that it seems like a new-age music album. Mad Dog Days, Sapphire, Fisherman's Dream, and Acid Rain are the tracks that survive the arrangements.

Piece By Piece (Island, Feb 1986) is much better, mainly due to the thrilling vocal performance on John Wayne (seven minutes) and, why not, also because of the catchy Lonely Love. Nightline, Angeline, and Serendipity also deserve a place in his repertoire.

The Apprentice (Permanent, mar 1990), originariamente registrato nel 1988 e rimandato per i soliti problemi di salute, spiega un'armata di sintizzatori e samplers. Martyn si e` modernizzato, ma anche nei panni del dandy elettronico riesce a colpire nel segno: The River, The Apprentice, Income Town. Deny This Love flirta di nuovo con la disco-music.

Cooltide (Permanent, 1991) returned to the style most suited to him with Hole In The Rain, Jack The Lad, Number Nine, The Cure, Same Difference, Call Me. The tour de force of the album is Cooltide (twelve minutes), worthy of his best moments.

After a long hiatus (due to health problems), Martyn released And (GoDiscs, 1996), a mediocre album by his standards that include only one truly good number (Sunshine's Better) and a few decent ones (Suzanne, The Downward Pull Of Human Nature, Carmine).

Sweet Little Mysteries (1995) is an excellent double-disc overview from the Bless The Weather to Piece By Piece.

The Church With One Bell (Independiente, 1998 - Thirsty Ear, 1998) is a cover album.

Heaven and Earth (2011) succeeds when John Martyn shuts up and lets the music flow, a fact that has probably always been true for his lengthy jazzy meditations (here Heaven and Earth).

John Martyn died in 2009 at 60. Danny Thompson in 2025.