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Alan Tunbridge is an English artist, book dust-jacket illustrator and songwriter.
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Alan Tunbridge is an English artist, book dust-jacket illustrator and songwriter.
Normally painting in oils, Alan Tunbridge has also designed a great number of book dust-jacket illustrations, mainly in Scraperboard.
Many of his songs have been recorded by the folk and Country blues singer and guitarist Wizz Jones. With Jones, Tunbridge ran the MOJO Folk club [1] at the King's Arms pub in Putney, South London in the early 1960s. Often he wrote the words spontaneously to Wizz Jones' chord sequences. [2] His songs are also in the repertoires of Ralph McTell, John Renbourn, Maggie Holland and others. McTell was inspired by Tunbridge's lyrics of the evocative "National Seven" to tread the road which bears this name down to the south of France. [3] The title of Bert Jansch's biography Dazzling Stranger originated from the title of a Tunbridge song.
Tunbridge spent a number of years studying the teachings of the mystic G. I. Gurdjieff (the Fourth Way) with John G. Bennett at Coombe Springs, [4] and later spent time with the Sufi teacher Idries Shah. In 1997 Tunbridge contributed illustrations to Shah's collection of folktales, World Tales, illustrating the story of Mushkil Gusha.
He lived in Sydney, Australia, for many years. He no longer writes songs. From 1999 to 2009 he focused on using his writing and design skills to help develop the Schizophrenia Research Institute in Australia, of which he was a founding Director. This commitment was undertaken because his eldest son became affected by the illness. [5] He retired from this role in 2009 to pursue his painting activities and to write his autobiography, Noose of Light, which was published in 2015. [6] He now lives in Ubud, Bali.
Alan Tunbridge's recorded songs include:
† jointly with Wizz Jones
Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. His slide guitar technique earned him the nickname "King of the Slide Guitar".
Herbert Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter. He recorded more than 28 albums and toured extensively from the 1960s to the 21st century.
John Renbourn was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band's existence (1967–1973). He worked later in a duo with Stefan Grossman.
David Michael Gordon "Davey" Graham was a British guitarist and one of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk revival. He inspired many famous practitioners of the fingerstyle acoustic guitar such as Bert Jansch, Wizz Jones, John Renbourn, Martin Carthy, John Martyn, Paul Simon and Jimmy Page, who based his solo "White Summer" on Graham's "She Moved Through the Fair". Graham is probably best known for his acoustic instrumental "Anji" and for popularizing DADGAD tuning, later widely adopted by acoustic guitarists.
Bill Leader is an English recording engineer and record producer. He is particularly associated with the British folk music revival of the 1960s and 1970s, producing records by Paddy Tunney, Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Frank Harte and many others.
Raymond Ronald Jones, better-known as Wizz Jones, is an English acoustic guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was born in Thornton Heath, Surrey, England and has been performing since the late 1950s and recording from 1965 to the present. He has worked with many of the notable guitarists of the British folk revival, such as John Renbourn and Bert Jansch.
Colin Harper is an Irish non-fiction author and composer.
Alex Campbell was a Scottish folk singer. He was influential in the British folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s and was one of the first folk singers to tour the UK and Europe. His nickname was "Big Daddy," and he was known for his charisma, story-telling, and singing. He was described by Colin Harper as a "melancholic, hard-travelling Glaswegian."
Right Now is the 1972 album by the pioneer British folk musician Wizz Jones. The album was produced by John Renbourn, who also played sitar and harmonica on the album.
Soloflight is the 1978 double album by the pioneer British folk musician Wizz Jones. The album contains covers and traditional folk tunes recorded from 1970 to 1974. The standout tracks are "National Seven", "Pastures of Plenty", "Sally Free and Easy" and "Can't Keep from Crying".
The Legendary Me is the 1970 album by the pioneer British folk musician Wizz Jones. The album contains eight cover tunes written by songwriter and Jones' friend Alan Tunbridge. Sunbeam Records has reissued this album on vinyl and on CD.
When I Leave Berlin is the 1973 album by the pioneer British folk musician Wizz Jones. Wizz was accompanied on some of the songs by his future group "Lazy Farmer", and Bert Jansch played guitar on "Freudian Slip". The album was remastered and released on CD by Sunbeam Records in 2007, also included as bonus tracks were the six songs from his 1973 EP Winter Song.
Magical Flight is the 1977 album by the pioneer British folk musician Wizz Jones. In addition to composing some of the songs, Alan Tunbridge produced the U.K. cover artwork.
Winter Song is the 1973 EP by the pioneer British folk musician Wizz Jones. The songs were recorded on a tape recorder at concert promoter Willy Schwenken's house in Nottuln, Germany circa 1972. The recordings also came as a bonus EP with the Double Album Soloflight, and in 2007 were included as bonus tracks on the remastered CD release of When I Leave Berlin.
Wizz Jones is the 1969 album by the pioneer British folk musician Wizz Jones. This was Jones' debut solo album, despite having been a performer since 1959.
Roderick Parry Clements is a British guitarist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He formed the folk-rock band Lindisfarne with Alan Hull in 1970, and wrote "Meet Me on the Corner", a UK Top 5 hit in March 1972, which won Clements an Ivor Novello Award. Lindisfarne broke up in 1973 and Clements became a founding member of Jack the Lad, also working with Ralph McTell and Bert Jansch. Lindisfarne reformed in 1977 and Clements continued to be part of the line-up until 2003. Rod rejoined Lindisfarne in 2015 and is currently touring and performing with the band.
The Village Thing was an independent record label in the United Kingdom which published folk rock, blues and acoustic music between 1970 and 1973, under the tag of "The Alternative Folk Label".
Late Nights and Long Days is a 1993-CD album by the noted British folk musician Wizz Jones and his son, Simeon Jones. The album was recorded at Airwave Studios, London in 1989 and Metcalfe Studios, London in 1992. The CD was reissued circa 2008 on Jones' private Wizzydisc label, with 2 "bonus" tracks, as More Late Nights and Long Days
The Grapes of Life is the 1987 studio album by the noted and influential British folk guitarist, singer and songwriter Wizz Jones.
Sixteen Tons of Bluegrass is an album by Pete Stanley and Wizz Jones produced by Chas McDevitt, and originally released in the UK1966 on Columbia Records. Wizz & Pete were probably the first British musicians to successfully interpret America's favourite traditional music for UK audiences. The album was also released on the Joker label in Italy as Way Out West, with a different cover design. Wizz Jones is quoted, describing the cover, "I've only seen this once, as I recall the alternative sleeve design is hilarious. A mini-skirted girl is perched on a gate being serenaded by a smart young man in blue jeans!"
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