Some interesting gigs at Pacific Road

Hallo Geoff,

Jan Akkerman one of my favoutites since the first time I saw him in 1968!
he played in The Hunters, had a huge hit called -The Russian Spy and I-, the solo he plays in that song is legendary and still brilliant. After the Hunters he started the band Brainbox, very succesful too in Europe and then Focus together with Thijs van leer, one of the best bands ever, extraordinary musicianship!

He was voted best guitarplayer of the world by Music maker and readers before Clapton, Page and Beck, in 1977 , he was asked to play with the Stones and the Who but not intereste: I want to do my own thing!I think
For his musical succes he has one problem; not commercial enough, he does only the things he wants to do, make the music he wants to make. No recordcompanies tell him what to do, I appreciate that very much.

In his longtime career he played blues, jazz, middle agemusic on lute, acoustics, jazzrock, rock, symphonic rock, even dance (CD C.U.).He is a master of all and creates his own style. He invited the guitarsynthesizer, always looking for new things.

Since a few years he returned to smaller clubs too, plays often at jazzfestivals.

I saw him at least 50 times live, have all of his LP's and Cd's.
But like all genius men: when he is not in the mood, show is average, when he is: One of the best you'll ever see.
I put a radioshow on cassette about 20 years ago, put it on CD and it still is one of he best shows I've ever heard.
He is nice too his fans too, like Joe talks to people before and after the show, stayed normal.

He had a nasty car accident a few years ago but recorvered well.
See him if he comes around, it will be special.

Andre Wittebroek.