For more than 60 years Danny Thompson was the go-to guy for anyone in need of a double bass player.

From the blues revivalism of Alexis Korner to the neo-folk of Pentangle, he was there at the start. And, until a heart attack in June, almost the end.

In those early days he was almost everywhere: playing with Nick Drake, Davy Graham and, perhaps most notably and memorably, with John Martyn.

They shared a love of jazz, folk and the booze that almost derailed his career; but not quite. He was too good for that.

The great and the good kept calling on his talents – from June Tabor and the Incredible String Band, through Rod Stewart and T.Rex, to Kate Bush and Talk Talk, ABC and Everything But The Girl.

He even played on Cliff Richard’s chart-topping Eurovision song Congratulations

I was lucky enough to see him perform at a couple of Transatlantic Sessions, and also at the BBC Radio 3 Folk Awards, where you could tell from the reverence with which he was regarded that he was in a class of his own, a legend in his field.

Here he is with Pentangle, the group he co-founded in 1968, performing with Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Terry Cox and Jacqui McShee.