The opening of the folk concert season next week will give London an opportunity of hearing two of today's most interesting and rewarding singers and song-writers - both in fact, in the same programme.
Jackson C. Frank, who will appear in the "Festival of Contemporary Song" at the Festival Hall next Saturday evening, is an American singer-songwriter whose return has been long awaited by discerning audiences.
Modest and self-effacing, concerned only with the validity of the song-poems he writes, he made a profound impact in the clubs some years ago and his songs are heard usually in the repertoire of the most sensitive of today's singers.
His influence on today's leading songwriters has been vaulable: it was, in fact, Paul Simon who first drew my attention to him and his quiet achievement is likely to outlive many of today's big reputations.
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Joni Mitchell, in the same programme, is a young Canadian girl whose songs, such as "Both Sides Now" and "Michael from Mountains," have already been made known here by Judy Collins, Julie Felix and others. She, too, has the gift of poetic songs - "Chelsea Morning" is superb - and a very lovely, perfectly controlled voice. For this, her first big concert-hall appearance in London, she has brought some new, entrancing songs.
The "Festival of Contemporary Song" will also feature Al Stewart, the Fairport Convention, and the Johnstons. On Tuesday, incidentally, Liverpool's "Spinners" will mark their tenth anniversary with a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. M. R.
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