I go with Gary. Allan did an excellent job with this song. I don’t think for one second he was trying to impress an Irishman or a Leprechaun even. He was just expressing himself through a song that happened to be Danny Boy. And I’ll tell you something…….it ain’t easy to improvise on this tune. When you’re adding all those extra notes, you have to remember not to stray too far from that haunting melody. I thought he kept himself within the parameters of the melody but still managed to breathe some extra life into it at the same time.
I particularly like the string arrangement moving behind the lead and how it flows right in there when you’re least expecting it….. the short piano riffs, the “trumpet” and “harmonica” playing, and the drums just laying there in the background until the arrangement calls for them to “speak“…..rhythm variations coming in just enough to keep the song fresh (many don’t even bother to work the drum track…..they just leave it running, don’t they?).
Allan….the only thing I wasn’t crazy about was your use of the “two notes” mode before or after the melody note that one is expecting to hear….examples at 01:10 …….01:32 …….03:44. It broke up the continuity of the melody line for me, because you’re playing is so smooth and palatable otherwise. …….and I would have liked to hear more “pitch bend” to really spice up the instrument simulation.
I really liked how you played the “trumpet” on the section from 03:47 to 04:31.…and how you started building up intensity at that point. The whole arrangement was good, but I really started feeling the emotion you wanted to project around there…and probably right to the end.
I used to think how hard it is to play fast. One day I realized it’s exactly the opposite……how difficult it is to take a slow song (and it doesn’t get much slower than Danny Boy) and dress that up knowing the listener is going to take in every “single” note……not “groups” of notes that can get lost in a flurry of activity!
Mark
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