Jan Akkerman

England's reader polls once placed former Focus guitarist Jan Akkerman ahead of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck as the planet's foremost rock guitarist, underscoring his exceptional command. Versed across numerous guitar idioms, Akkerman performs on several instruments with equal facility in rock, jazz, funk, blues, and classical realms. Embracing fresh technology, he shares stages with dance music DJs well into the present century. The bulk of his recordings beyond Focus stay comparatively little known because their stylistic breadth resists easy categorization.

Following Focus's global breakthrough with the hit single "Hocus Pocus," Akkerman released the solo album Profile, which highlighted jazz fusion alongside his virtuoso lute work; the next year's Tabernakel, largely a solo effort, explored lute pieces by composers John Dowland, Thomas Morley, and Francis Pilkington. For the short track "House Of The King," he recruited Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice as the rhythm section. Across the ensuing twenty years Akkerman issued numerous stylistically varied solo sets, remained with Focus until its dissolution, and collaborated with jazz artists including Joachim Kuhn and Tony Scott. Later releases such as 1986's The Complete Guitarist, 1994's Puccini's Cafe, and 2011's Minor Details demonstrated his fluid synthesis of genres, producing an unmatched catalog of musical diversity. The 2019 album Close Beauty signaled a return to jazzy prog, earning favorable notices for both its stylistic blend and its frequently ambient, brooding atmospheres.

Born in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1946 into a musical household, Akkerman grew up with a father who played clarinet and trumpet; family accounts state that he began piano-accordion at age three before moving to formal lessons. He attended the Amsterdam Conservatory through his early teens, after which the family relocated to Vienna, Austria, by which point guitar had become his principal instrument. His influences spanned Julian Bream's classical approach to Elvin Jones's blues drumming, while his tastes encompassed pop, rock, classical, blues, Latin, and additional sources. At age eleven in 1958 he joined his first band, Johnny & the Cellar Rockers, alongside childhood friend Pierre van der Linden on drums. The pair later played in the Hunters, an instrumental ensemble modeled on the Shadows. During a mid-1960s visit to England, Akkerman developed a lasting interest in the lute after witnessing Julian Bream; this fascination, which extended to medieval England and its landscapes, later appeared in pieces such as "Elspeth of Nottingham" from Focus III.

In the late 1960s Akkerman, van der Linden, bassist Bert Ruiter, and singer Kaz Lux formed Brainbox, securing a Parlophone Records contract. He participated in an early version of Focus founded by conservatory-trained flutist Thijs van Leer, departing after their unsuccessful debut album, then rejoined the shifting lineup that rebuilt the band in its successful configuration. He brought van der Linden from Brainbox and added van Leer and bassist Cyril Havermans (later replaced by Ruiter) from the original Focus, establishing the new group. Akkerman's virtuoso guitar and arrangements, paired with van Leer's classical sensibilities and yodeling on the breakthrough hit "Hocus Pocus," attracted a broad international audience from 1972 onward and elevated Akkerman to superstar status.

His solo career began in 1968, although the intended debut-later issued as Guitar for Sale, featuring his versions of "What'd I Say," "Ode to Billy Joe," and "Green Onions"-was judged too rudimentary for release until Akkerman topped reader polls in the mid-1970s. Profile, issued in 1972 after his reputation had grown, originated in 1969 during his Brainbox period. Tabernakel, his first solo album that truly captured his contemporary musical outlook, appeared in 1974; recorded that summer at Atlantic Recording Studios in New York after he acquired his own medieval lute and taught himself to play it, the set comprises more than half authentic medieval pieces and originals in a medieval style. The record notably featured Tim Bogert on bass, Carmine Appice on drums, and soul drummer Ray Lucas.

After departing Focus in 1976, Akkerman launched a series of solo albums, beginning with the concept work Eli, which received the Dutch Edison Award for best album that year. Several subsequent projects were co-billed with singer Kaz Lux. These recordings regularly incorporated classical, jazz, and blues elements, and Akkerman began fronting his own ensembles. Much of his 1980s output received no official release outside Holland, and certain titles, notably 1986's The Complete Guitarist, approached the scale of home recordings, yet his technical mastery remained evident and sustained his audience. In 1990 he issued The Noise of Art in the United States on Miles Copeland's I.R.S. label. The 1990s brought renewed activity, with more releases than in the previous decade. Albums such as 1993's Puccini's Cafe and 1994's Blues Hearts explored distinct facets of jazz-fusion; 1996's Focus In Time presented contemporary jazz-funk rock; 1998's Blues Root paired him with former Jimi Hendrix collaborator singer Curtis Knight on a blues-rock date; and 1999's Passion interwove classical, jazz, funk, and blues compositions.

These projects, together with occasional recordings alongside van Leer and attempts to revive Focus with its two principal figures, maintained his visibility in international circles.

Akkerman's first two albums of the new century, Jazzah! (2000) and I'm In The Mood (2002), earned acclaim as self-released works. 2003's C.U. on Coast To Coast blended contemporary jazz and instrumental R&B to strong critical response and reached the Dutch charts. In 2008 Akkerman and keyboardist Damir Imeri appeared as featured guests on the Vlatko Stefanovski Trio's Thunder From The Blue Sky. Both Unplugged and Live In Tokyo appeared in 2009. He returned to the studio for the contemporary jazz set Minor Details in 2011, writing and producing all fourteen tracks with a band of longtime associates. Two years later he released North Sea Jazz Legendary Concerts, which included guest appearances by van Leer, Benjamin Herman, and Eric Vloeimans plus an unexpected cover of Paul Weller's "You Do Something To Me." In 2018 Red Bullet issued the 26-disc box set The Complete Jan Akkerman to positive international notice, prompting renewed global attention. After a six-year recording hiatus he returned with the quartet album Close Beauty on the Mascot Label Group; his bandmates were live sidemen keyboardist Coen Molenaar, bassist David De Marez Oyens, and drummer Marijn van den Berg. Reviews were uniformly favorable and led to tours across Europe and Asia.

Although recognition has diminished from the peak when "Hocus Pocus" climbed the American charts and national television viewers witnessed his fretboard explorations, Akkerman endures as a revered name among guitar enthusiasts. The principal challenge he presents lies in the dazzling eclecticism of his catalog, which defies straightforward classification-an outcome he accepts without concern.