Derek Sherinian - Sons of Anu

     I feel that today's song requires a bit of a walk to get to -- you should, after all, make the same journey I did -- but don't worry, it'll be worth it.

     So one of the many bands I follow on Facebook is Texas-based studio prog band Haji's Kitchen (who, by the way, are rad should be checked out) and the other day a video post from the band came up in my news feed. More specifically, it was a video post from one Derek Blakley, the band's supremely talented bass player.

     I've previously posted a video from Derek, namely a playthrough vid of his badass bass solo from the Haji's Kitchen song "Sidhartha", but this video the other day was Derek's attempt at playing an Al Di Meola solo from a song called "Sons of Anu" off a 2003 album called Black Utopia by keyboardist Derek Sherinian. Got all that?

     Your song this evening, after all that, is "Sons of Anu" by Derek Sherinian. The first round of guitar soloing is handled by none other than Yngwie Malmsteen, but for our purposes the more important bit of lead work belongs to Al Di Meola and starts around the 4:15 mark of this epic, seven-minute, three-movement track.  

     That, my soon-to-be-impressed friends, is the solo in question undertaken by Mr. Derek Blakley on bass. Let that sink in for a minute - Al's blazing acoustic solo, shredded out on a bass -- then have a listen to both Dereks, and then proceed to pick your jaws up off the floor. Happy Friday everybody.