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Allan Holdsworth Wiki Information
Allan Holdsworth
(born August 6, 1946) is a British guitarist and composer. He has released ten studio albums and played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but is best known for his work in jazz fusion.
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ALLAN HOLDSWORTH TICKETS
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Recording career
Holdsworth first recorded with the band 'Igginbottom on their lone release, Igginbottom's Wrench
(later reissued under the group name of "Allan Holdsworth & Friends"), in 1969. In the early 1970s he joined the British progressive rock band Tempest, and performed on their self-titled debut studio album in 1973. His playing can also be heard on a live BBC Radio concert from the same year, which was released in 2005 as part of a Tempest compilation album entitled Anthology: Under the Blossom
.
Following his short tenure with Tempest, Holdsworth worked with various popular jazz fusion groups and artists, including Gong, Soft Machine, The New Tony Williams Lifetime, Jean-Luc Ponty and, in the late 1970s, another British progressive rock band named UK.
In 1976, CTI Records released a recording of a rehearsal session, passing it off as an official recording, under the title of Velvet Darkness
. This angered Holdsworth, who says he still loathes the album intensely. [1]
During the late 1970s and early 1980s he collaborated with pianist Gordon Beck, releasing two jazz-orientated albums entitled Sunbird
(1979) and The Things You See
(1980). He recorded a third album with Beck, With a Heart in My Song
, in 1988. Beck accompanied Holdsworth again in 1996, on the latter's solo album, None Too Soon
, which featured fusion-based interpretations of popular jazz standards.
He released his first official solo album, I.O.U.
, in 1982, and began a solo career that spanned five albums and one EP in the 1980s. Following ''I.O.U. s release, Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen brought Holdsworth to the attention of Warner Bros. Records executive Mo Ostin. This led to the 1983 vinyl-only release of the
Road Games EP, which saw an official CD reissue in 2001 (having been bootlegged for many years prior). Van Halen had said earlier of Holdsworth, in
Guitar Player'' magazine, "That guy is bad! He’s fantastic; I love him", and that he was "The best, in my book." [2]
With the release of Metal Fatigue
(1985), Holdsworth began working with drummer Chad Wackerman and bassist Jimmy Johnson, who would go on to become regular members of both his studio and touring bands. Both musicians still work with Holdsworth to this day. In the late 1980s, he set up his own recording studio—The Brewery—in San Diego, California, which subsequently became the recording location of each of his studio albums from Secrets
(1989) up until The Sixteen Men of Tain
(1999). In 2005, however, he said that he no longer owned it after his divorce in 1999. [
]
In 1990, Holdsworth played briefly with pop band Level 42 after guitarist Alan Murphy died of pneumonia brought on by AIDS. As a result, Level 42 had Holdsworth perform on their 1991 album, Guaranteed
. In 1996 he collaborated with brothers Anders and Jens Johansson on the release of the experimental, fusion-laden Heavy Machinery
. Together with this, he would record altogether four studio albums throughout the decade.
For the 2000s, Holdsworth abruptly slowed down his solo output due to events within his personal life. [3] Two live albums—All Night Wrong
and Then!
—were released in 2002 and 2004, respectively, along with a double album, The Best of Allan Holdsworth: Against the Clock
, in 2005 (the latter being a greatest hits compilation). His tenth studio album, Flat Tire: Music for a Non-Existent Movie
(2001), remains his most recent effort as of 2009.
Throughout the latter half of the decade he has been touring both North America and Europe extensively, and has played as a guest on albums by other artists: most notably with former Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian on Mythology
(2004) and Quantum
(2007); the latter with Sherinian's progressive metal band Planet X. A new studio album entitled Snakes and Ladders
was slated for a 2008 release on guitarist Steve Vai's Favored Nations label, but so far this has not come about. Further new material featuring Chad Wackerman and Jimmy Johnson was also said to be in the works.[
]
Compositions and style
Holdsworth's solo compositions are primarily instrumental, but vocals were prominent on all his 1980s albums except Sand
(1987), and on the 1992 album Wardenclyffe Tower
. Two of his most recurring singers were Paul Williams (featured on three albums) and Rowanne Mark (two albums). Additionally, he himself sang on Igginbottom's Wrench
and The Things You See
.
He has a unique playing style that involves a strong scalar sense, combining elements of jazz and progressive rock. His phrasing almost always features striking yet subtle shifts between notes that are both consonant and dissonant, with wide and unpredictable intervallic leaps. Whilst soloing, he predominantly uses various legato techniques such as slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs (including a specialised variation of the latter, which works more akin to a 'reversed' hammer-on [4]), all of which result in an extremely fluid lead tone.
One of his most identifiable traits is his use of densely layered, fingerpicked chords, which are often awash with delay, chorus and other complex effects, and articulated using volume swells to create sounds reminiscent of the horn and saxophone. He has said that he once preferred those instruments to the guitar, having been influenced greatly by such saxophonists as John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. [5] [6] At the same time, some of his favourite guitarists were Django Reinhardt, Joe Pass, Charlie Christian and Hank Marvin. [7]
On his 1986 release, Atavachron
, Holdsworth first recorded with the SynthAxe; a fretted, guitar-like MIDI controller with a tube that dynamically alters note volume and tone via breathing (similar to a talk box). Although he has used the SynthAxe on all his solo releases since Atavachron
, and still enjoys using it in the studio, he says he no longer wishes to make it such an integral part of his playing (especially live), mainly because of it being so rare and difficult to maintain and repair.[ [8]
]
Discography
Solo albums
- 1976: Velvet Darkness
- 1982: I.O.U.
- 1983: Road Games
(EP)
- 1985: Metal Fatigue
- 1986: Atavachron
- 1987: Sand
- 1989: ''Secrets
- 1992: Wardenclyffe Tower
- 1993: Hard Hat Area
- 1996: None Too Soon
- 1999: The Sixteen Men of Tain
- 2001: Flat Tire: Music for a Non-Existent Movie
- 2003: All Night Wrong
(live)
- 2004: Then!
(live)
- 2005: The Best of Allan Holdsworth: Against the Clock
(compilation)
Collaboration albums
- 1979: Sunbird
(with Gordon Beck)
- 1980: The Things You See
(with Gordon Beck)
- 1988: With a Heart in My Song
(with Gordon Beck)
- 1996: Heavy Machinery
(with Jens Johansson and Anders Johansson)
Other album appearances
- 1969: Igginbottom's Wrench
– 'Igginbottom
- 1971: Re-Touch & Quartet
– John Stevens
- 1972: Belladona
– Nucleus
- 1973: Tempest
– Tempest
- 1975: Bundles
– Soft Machine
- 1975: Believe It
– The New Tony Williams Lifetime
- 1976: Million Dollar Legs
– The New Tony Williams Lifetime
- 1976: ''Gazeuse! – Gong
- 1976: Capricorn Princess
– Esther Phillips
- 1977: Enigmatic Ocean
– Jean-Luc Ponty
- 1978: Expresso II
– Gong
- 1978: Feels Good to Me
– Bruford
- 1978: U.K.
– U.K.
- 1978: Live In Boston
– U.K.
- 1978: Touching On
– John Stevens
- 1979: One of a Kind
– Bruford
- 1979: Time is the Key
– Pierre Moerlen's Gong
- 1980: Conversation Piece
– John Stevens
- 1981: Land of Cockayne
– Soft Machine
- 1983: Individual Choice
– Jean-Luc Ponty
- 1983: Retouch
– John Stevens
- 1984: Transatlantic
– Jon St. James
- 1986: Soma
– Soma
- 1986: Change of Address
– Krokus
- 1986: Fast Impressions
– Jon St. James
- 1988: Radio Free Albemuth
– Stuart Hamm
- 1988: If This Bass Could Only Talk
– Stanley Clarke
- 1988: No Borders
– Carl Verheyen
- 1988: The Distance Between
– Strange Advance
- 1989: Attack of the Neon Shark
– Alex Masi
- 1989: A Question of Time
– Jack Bruce
- 1989: Guitar's Practicing Musicians
– various artists
- 1990: Truth in Shredding
– The Mark Varney Project
- 1990: Silent Will
– Andrea Marcelli
- 1990: Blue Tav
– Steve Tavaglione
- 1991: Forty Reasons
– Chad Wackerman
- 1991: Guaranteed
– Level 42
- 1992: Lone Ranger
– Jeff Watson
- 1993: The View
– Chad Wackerman
- 1993: Come Together: Guitar Tribute to the Beatles
– various artists
- 1995: Suffer
– Gongzilla
- 1995: Oneness
– Andrea Marcelli
- 1995: Worlds Away & Back
– Strange Advance
- 1996: Stare
– Gorky Park
- 1997: From Your Heart and Your Soul
– Steve Hunt
- 2002: Pray for Rain
– Atlantis
- 2003: BBC Radio 1971-1974
– Soft Machine
- 2003: Abracadabra
– Soft Works
- 2004: Sonic Undertow
– Riptyde
- 2004: Mythology
– Derek Sherinian
- 2004: Book of the Dead
– K2
- 2005: Nebula
– David Hines
- 2005: Anthology: Under the Blossom
– Tempest
- 2006: Deconstruction of a Postmodern Musician
– Corrado Rustici
- 2006: Floating World Live
– Soft machine
- 2007: Prowlin
– Dan Carlin & Friends
- 2007: Quantum
– Planet X
- 2007: The Acatama Experience
– Jean-Luc Ponty
- 2007: Rock Goes to College
– Bruford
- 2008: Progasaurus
– Chris Buck
- 2008: Everyone Knows My Drinking, No One Knows My Thirst
– Eric Keyes
- 2009: Highway Star
– Snew
- 2009: The Early Years
– Paul Korda
- 2009: Propensity
– with Danny Thompson and John Stevens (originally recorded in 1978)
VHS video releases
- 1992: REH Instructional: Allan Holdsworth
(guitar instructional, reissued on DVD format in 2007)
- 1997: Drums & Improvisation
– Gary Husband (Holdsworth is interviewed and contributes to three songs)
DVD video releases
- 2002: Live at the Galaxy Theater
- 2005: Carvin: 60 Years in the Making
(features an extended interview with Holdsworth, amongst others)
- 2006: Rock Goes to College
– Bruford
- 2007: Allan Holdsworth and Alan Pasqua featuring Chad Wackerman and Jimmy Haslip: Live at Yoshi's
(live tribute performance to Tony Williams)
Books
- 1987: Reaching for the Uncommon Chord
(transcriptions and sheet music)
- 1994: Just for the Curious
(transcriptions, sheet music and accompanying CD)
Personal life
He has lived in California permanently since the early 1980s, and often mentions cycling as one of his favourite pastimes. He is also a keen aficionado of beer (having brewed his own during the late 1990s), with a particular fondness for Northern English ales.[ [9]
]
References in pop culture
Holdsworth was mentioned in the British comedy show, The Mighty Boosh
, during the episode, "Jungle".
References
- Prasad, Anil (1993-01-15). "Creating imaginary backdrops". ''Innerviews''. Retrieved on 2008-11-3.
- Obrecht, Jas (April 1980). "Young Wizard of Power Rock". ''Guitar Player''. Retrieved on 2007-11-30.
- Prasad, Anil (2008). "Harnessing momentum". ''Innerviews''. Retrieved on 2009-08-06.
- Mulhern, Tom (December 1982). "A Style Apart". ''Guitar Player''. Retrieved on 2009-08-07.
- Morrison, Mike (2006-02-09). "Allan Holdsworth Interview". therealallanholdsworth.com. Retrieved on 2008-11-03.
- Hallebeek, Richard (2003). "Allan Holdsworth interview". richardhallebeek.com. Retrieved on 2009-08-06.
- Adelson, Steve (2000-09-01). "Interview with Allan Holdsworth". ''Twentieth Century Guitar''. Retrieved on 2009-08-07.
- Hallebeek, Richard (1996-05-11). "Allan Holdsworth interview". richardhallebeek.com. Retrieved on 2009-08-06.
- Ablx Staff (2004-08-19). "Allan Holdsworth Interview (#15)". Abstract Logix. Retrieved on 2009-08-06.
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