Bert Sommer
The Road To Travel

Once upon a time, there was a long-haired, flower child who made his debut at none other than Woodstock. Yes, you heard right. Among people like Joe Cocker, Santana, Richie Havens, Hendrix, Incredible String Band, Who, and I think there's no need to continue. As if that weren't enough, this soft-spoken, thick-haired boy also participated in the musical "Hair" in the role of Woof and even appeared on the cover. Who am I talking about? Bert Sommer, of course. It's a shame that no one knows who on earth he is, not even myself, until a few years ago, when, surfing the web, I stumbled upon the audio sample of "Jennifer," an extremely delicate acoustic sketch, played in open tuning (it should be a D by ear), which spoke of the relationship with a girl co-star of the musical, taken right from the afternoon day of Woodstock. There was no video available of the event and, after strenuous research, I understood why: one of the organizers, a certain Art Kornfeld, had to remove Sommer's performance from the final video output at the last minute due to an alleged "conflict of interest." Bert had just released, for Capitol, of which Kornfeld was vice-president (he then resigned before sponsoring the festival), his debut album "The Road to Travel." Meanwhile, Kornfeld and associates had sold the reproduction rights of the event to Warner Bros., Capitol's main competitor. Thus, Sommer's touching and vibrant performance and his band's, culminating in a version even superior to the original of "America" by Simon & Garfunkel, which led to a standing ovation that Bert with his subtle irony called memorable and which he heard while going to the bathroom, as well as a set packed with songs, at least a dozen, never saw the light. Fortunately, in 2019 a 10-CD box set curated by D.A. Pennebacker called "The Woodstock Diaries" was released, featuring four tracks from Sommer's performance, including the aforementioned "Jennifer." But let's come to the album, released in the annus mirabilis of 1968. There would already be reason to shout for a miracle with just "And When it's over," which opens it; a twelve-string, strings, and brass that paint a watercolor in the sky and that voice, powerful and vibrant, between Donovan and Tim Buckley speaking about the end of a relationship and the despair that follows, then "Jennifer," for guitar and voice alone, worthy of the best Tim Hardin. But there’s so much more in the album, like, for example, the sepia-toned Beach Boys of "Things are Goin' My Way," or an "All Things Must Pass" by a certain Harrison, at least a couple of years earlier (the concluding "A Note That Read"), important excursions à la Dylan (The title track), or à la Donovan ("She's Gone), as well as admirable divertissments à la Tin Pan Alley ("She's Just a Girl), just to name a few, but we are facing a true jewel of writing, arrangement, and execution, both vocal and instrumental. Unfortunately, after Woodstock, Sommer's name fell into oblivion and not even another three albums - "Inside Bert Sommer," just a year later, and the two eponymous ones, from 1970 and 1977 respectively - were enough to revive him. He performed in his native Albany, New York state, for a few concerts, but was soon forgotten. He fell ill with a rare form of bronchitis and died in 1990, returning to the star he came from, solitary and soft-spoken. However, his cult continues, aided by a wonderful site dedicated to him, from which I gathered much of the information about him: https://www.bertsommer.com, which I recommend you visit. The album in question was reissued years ago by Rev-Ola, precisely in 2006, a couple of years after its discovery by yours truly, a nice gift I cherish dearly. The others can be found, with a bit of luck, on E-Bay. Treat yourself, you won't regret it. Bert is alive and fights with us. Salùt.