Murray Lerner
Jethro Tull : nothing is easy (Live at the Isle of Wight 1970)

Sooner or later, due recognition ought to be given to those filmmakers who, for a number of incidental reasons, have been somewhat underestimated. Take the case of a documentary filmmaker like Murray Lerner: a debutant in the '50s with documentaries set in marine environments, in the following decade he attended various editions of the Newport Folk Festival, only to find himself at the Isle of Wight festival in 1970, filming all the performances of the groups and singers present during the five days of the historic event. A significant achievement to list in his professional curriculum, but in the immediate, it couldn't be so simply because the festival's organizing committee had declared bankruptcy, and all the filmed material was blocked. Without losing heart, the good Lerner took legal action in British courts to regain possession of all the material, and only after four years did he succeed. It was a good thing because DVDs of live performances by big names present at that great event (Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Who, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, just to name a few) were later marketed.

Among the various, I had the opportunity to watch again "Jethro Tull: nothing is easy (Live at the Isle of Wight 1970)" which allowed me to appreciate once again the skill and energy of the aforementioned group, still active today and centered around a great frontman like Ian Anderson, known to everyone as the unmatched flautist of the rock scene. The footage of that Jethro Tull performance is interspersed with excerpts from an interview given by Ian Anderson in 2004, where he recalls curious anecdotes from the concert. Aware of being in a very particular historical moment, in front of a crowd of at least 600,000 young people immersed in the hippie culture of "peace, love, and music," but also prone to ignite in the face of unexpected adversity, Anderson comments on certain phases where managing such a large crowd was not exactly simple. Like when someone from the stage politely asked a good part of the audience to clear out because Jethro Tull had to conduct a preliminary sound check before their actual performance. As is clearly visible, not all the spectators calmly accepted the invitation, and a volley of whistles arose. But in the end (and otherwise the English group would not have performed), everything went smoothly, and the evening performance of Jethro was excellent. Sure, the group at that time had not yet recorded landmarks like "Aqualung" and "Thick as a brick," but they already had three albums of robust rock with folk and blues touches. In addition to this, there was a great qualitative performance in concerts, where Ian Anderson stood out in the center of the scene, historically known for the habit of singing and playing the flute standing on one leg (almost echoing the pose of some Hindu deity).

This is well documented in Lerner's documentary, and yet the other members of Jethro Tull are not inferior, very skilled technically in handling the various instruments. Without taking anything away from the remarkable John Evan (keyboards), Martin Lancelot Barre (guitar), Glenn Cornick (bass guitar), my personal preference goes to drummer Clive Bunker, who produces a 10-minute solo in the track "Dharma for one." A genuine exploit that places him among the best rock drummers (he is still alive, unlike many other great colleagues who have unfortunately left us, such as Keith Moon, John Bonham, Ginger Baker, Charlie Watts). But all the filmed tracks reveal a group in a state of grace, and tracks like "My Sunday feeling," "My God," "A song for Jeffrey," "Nothing is easy" always maintain a charm and beauty pristine.

Ian Anderson, interviewed after many years, can admit to putting a certain emphasis on his performances, but it's still true that a musician worthy of the name cannot hold back once on stage. And anyway, considering that the 1970 Wight festival was the watershed between the raw and genuine rock era of that time and the subsequent commercialization of youth music, watching Ian Anderson and his compatriots in action in that distant September 1970 is always a visual and acoustic pleasure. To have more groups like that today...