I recall that in the Mike Read biography of The Shadows Hank speaks of his frustration at not being able to develop as a guitarist due to the heavy workload of touring, recording, films, etc. (back in the sixties, of course) and the lack of freedom to improvise whereas guitarists from the next generation - i.e. the Clapton, Beck, Green era built their reputations on their ability to improvise. I think Hank made some comment along the lines that audiences would not forgive them (The Shads) if they tried to improvise on Apache or revise the arrangement!
As reported in another thread Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo play an excellent arrangement of Apache with definite influences of gypsy jazz. Hank has been to see Frank play and, of course, has now dedicated himself to playing gypsy jazz almost exclusively. Wouldn't it be ironic if Hank decided to do a "Frank and Vinny" and incorporate their arrangement of Apache into his current repertoire! Would his audiences accept it?
Brian
