Musings on the byways of popular culture
No, not by me – by the legendary John Kelman at All About Jazz. It’s wonderfully detailed and perceptive. If you have a spare hour, put on one of Jan’s albums and read all 20 pages of John’s analysis…
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-complete-jan-akkerman-focusing-on-a-lifes-work-jan-akkerman-by-john-kelman.php?pg=1&width=1024
This 20-minute prog epic from 1972 might get you halfway:
Theres a fellow in the Netherlands, Vincent Lyons, who has a great ability to take film clips of performers that are well-constructed and help their music come alive. I daresay he has something better than a mobile telephone. Here’s his latest clip, which is a rare chance to see and hear Jan Akkerman jamming, three days ago, on a Southern rock groove – not dissimilar to the three chords of George Michael’s ‘Freedom’ – with the band of one Ralph de Jongh. Jan solos from 2:05 – and Vincent’s camera skills allow us to see how he spontaneously constructs a solo brimming with singular dialect of Akkerman despite the music/groove being a language he doesn’t normally speak. Brilliant…
My pal Johnny C (no, not that one) has created a video montage for one of the pieces on my Titanium Flag remaster inspired by Fridtjof Nansen – the one featuring a stunning performance by Jan Akkerman replicating the sound of a man fighting a blizzard in the high latitudes with only an electric guitar and a Marshall stack for shelter. Here it is.
by 2 Comments
As Colin has pointed out, Jan Akkerman is celebrating his 70th birthday, today. So, that gives me the perfect excuse to post the track that contains THE GREATEST GUITAR SOLO EVER RECORDED, as voted by this august site*. Well done, everyone.
*If you missed the thread, or forgot to vote, tough shit.
The great man is 70 on Saturday. A glass is raised…
@Johnny-Concheroo might ‘enjoy’ this: Jan Akkerman, on some kind of curious Dutch road-trip TV show (conveniently subtitled by the YouTube uploader) discussing the history of the Les Paul in rock music, and puncturing the hype about one notable 60s exponent.
Other opinions are, of course, available, but this is a new recording that Jan has streaming on his website and I see he’s been playing it live recently too, with sax man Benjamin Herman (jammin’ with Herman…). Bliss!
The great Jan Akkerman, best-known for his time in Focus 1970-75, was previously in Dutch prog/blues band Brainboxy for a year or so.
Recently, he’s toured Holland occasionaly with a bespoke band in homage to that time/band, under the banner of ‘My Brainbox’ – to differentiate it, presumably, from the reformed (Mk2) ‘Brianbox’ (featuring his 1970 replacement Rudy De Queljoe).
Jan’s band features a singer whose sound is remarkably close to that of original singer Kaz Lux. Here they are a week or two back playing one of the original Brainbox songs, with period effects on the guitar, and variations on the blues scale that no one in Chicago would understand. Enjoy!
by 6 Comments
It is the accepted wisdom on this site (and the previous one) that this is the greatest guitar solo ever committed to vinyl (it just is, we’ve had the debate, get over it.) However, Pierre van der Linden had a pretty shit- hot day on the drums, too.
