Dan Raza chats with legendary guitarist and singer-songwriter, Wizz Jones, for his latest Sound Cafe Podcast, they chat about Wizz's amazing journey in music.
You can listen to the entire interview and music HERE
Dan Raza is an acclaimed singer-songwriter based in London UK, he also produces a monthly radio show called Spirit and Roots where he does in depth interviews with leading songwriters.
Inspired by hearing Big Bill Broonzy and Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Wizz Jones learned his guitar licks from the likes of Davy Graham and Long John Baldry, whilst playing in the coffee bars of London's Soho in the late 1950's.
He then followed the time-honoured buskers trail from the streets of Paris to the markets of Marrakech during the early 1960's, and returned to Britain with a unique acoustic guitar style, an eclectic repertoire and a right hand worthy of Broonzy.
When in the mid-1990s he appeared on the Bert Jansch television documentary, Acoustic Routes, there was renewed interest in his work. In 2001, he led John Renbourn and other members of Pentangle on the album Lucky The Man. In 2007, The Legendary Me and When I Leave Berlin were reissued on CD by the Sunbeam record label.
John Renbourn, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards have all named him as an important early influence and in May 2012 Bruce Springsteen opened his Berlin show with Wizz's song 'When I Leave Berlin'. In October 2019 Wizz was presented with a life-time achievement award at the BBC Radio Two Folk Awards held at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.
In 2015, Jones toured with John Renbourn, playing a mixture of solo and duo material, before Renbourn died in March that year. An album by the pair, titled Joint Control, was released in 2016
After more more than 60 years on the road Wizz is now officially retired, but, most probably can still be persuaded to play a local gig, sometimes with his son Simeon on Sax, Flute and Harmonica.
You can listen to the entire interview and music HERE
Wizz Jones With Ralph McTell
Website: www.wizzjones.com
Watch Wizz Jones' Full Set at 2Seas Sessions