Pentangle

A London folk, jazz and baroque quintet of Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox, whose Basket of Light reached number five in 1969 and gave them "Light Flight".

Origin: London, England
Years active: 1967-1973, 1982-present
Genres: folk rock, baroque rock, folk jazz
Labels: Transatlantic, Reprise
Also known as: The Pentangle

Les Cousins to the Festival Hall

Pentangle formed in London in 1967. John Renbourn and Bert Jansch shared a house in St John's Wood and had made the duet LP Bert and John. Jacqui McShee ran a folk club in Sutton, Surrey, and debuted as Renbourn's duo partner at Les Cousins in August 1966. Bruce Dunnett set up a Sunday club for Jansch and Renbourn at the Horseshoe Hotel on Tottenham Court Road, McShee joined, and by March 1967 the double bassist Danny Thompson and the drummer Terry Cox, both jazz players who had worked with Alexis Korner, were billed as members. The name refers to the five members and to the device on Sir Gawain's shield, in the poem that fascinated Renbourn. Jo Lustig took over as manager in early 1968 and the band signed to Nathan Joseph's Transatlantic Records.

Their sell-out debut concert was at the Royal Festival Hall on May 27, 1967. Renbourn rejected the label folk rock and Thompson called them a folk-jazz band.

The Transatlantic albums

The Pentangle (May 17, 1968), produced by Shel Talmy, was recorded in February and March 1968 at IBC Studios and Olympic Sound Studio and reached number 21. Sweet Child (November 1, 1968) is a double LP, with the first disc live at the Royal Festival Hall on June 29, 1968 and the second recorded at IBC in August; AllMusic's Matthew Greenwald gave it four and a half stars and called it probably their finest hour. Basket of Light (October 1969), also produced by Talmy at IBC Studios, reached number five, their biggest commercial success, and is in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die; its liner notes say all the instruments played on it are acoustic. Cruel Sister (late 1970) was traditional songs, with "Jack Orion" running 18:38, and reached 51.

In 1971 they left Transatlantic in a royalties dispute and formed a publishing company, Swiggeroux Music. Reflection came in October 1971 and Solomon's Seal on Reprise in 1972, the last album of the original line-up. Jansch left on New Year's Day 1973 and the band split. They also made the soundtrack for the film Tam Lin in 1970.

Reunions and legacy

A new Pentangle formed in 1982 without Renbourn, with Mike Piggott on guitar, and made Open the Door (1985), In the Round (1986), So Early in the Spring (1989), Think of Tomorrow (1991) and One More Road (1993), until Jansch left in 1995. McShee, Gerry Conway and Spencer Cozens formed a trio, About Thyme (1995), which became Jacqui McShee's Pentangle with the original members' agreement. The original five reunited in 2007 for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards lifetime achievement award, presented by David Attenborough, toured the UK in 2008, beginning at the Royal Festival Hall on June 29, played Later... with Jools Holland and headlined Green Man, and in 2011 played the Royal Festival Hall, Glastonbury on June 25 and Cambridge on July 30.

Bert Jansch died on October 5, 2011, John Renbourn on March 26, 2015, Danny Thompson on September 23, 2025 and Terry Cox on March 19, 2026; McShee is the only surviving original member. Pete Townshend called their sound fresh and innovative, Jimmy Page called Jansch the innovator of the time, and AllMusic's Richie Unterberger wrote that the genre resists classification. Setlist.fm logs about 174 setlists for The Pentangle, from 1967 to 2019.

Members

Jacqui McShee vocals (1967-present)
John Renbourn guitar, vocals (1967-1973)
Bert Jansch guitar, vocals (1967-1973)
Danny Thompson double bass (1967-1973)
Terry Cox drums, glockenspiel (1967-1973)

Records

The Pentangle 1968 · Transatlantic
The debut, with sleeve notes by John Peel.
Basket of Light 1969 · Transatlantic
Their biggest album, with "Light Flight" as the opener and the theme to a BBC drama.

Songs

Light Flight Basket of Light · 1969
The opener of Basket of Light, sung by Jacqui McShee, and the theme of BBC1's Take Three Girls.
Travelling Song The Pentangle · 1968
A 1968 single that was not on the first album, in several versions.

John Renbourn