ALLAN HOLDSWORTH

Allan Holdsworth, born August 6, 1946 is a British guitarist and composer. He has played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but is now best known for his work within the jazz fusion genre.

Recording career

Holdsworth's first recording was with the band Igginbottom on their lone release, Igginbottom's Wrench, in 1969 (which was later reissued under the group name of "Allan Holdsworth & Friends"). In the early 1970s, he joined Tempest, upon which the albums Tempest (1973) and Living in Fear (1974) were released during his brief time spent with the band.

Following this, Holdsworth worked with various popular jazz fusion groups and artists, including Gong, Soft Machine, The New Tony Williams Lifetime, Jean-Luc Ponty and, later in the decade, the progressive rock band UK.

It was also during this time that Velvet Darkness—a rehearsal session passed off as an official recording—was released without authorisation in 1976, much to the anger of Holdsworth, who to this day claims to loathe the album intensely.

At the end of the decade and into the 1980s, he collaborated with pianist Gordon Beck, releasing two jazz-orientated albums entitled Sunbird (1979) and The Things You See (1980). A third album with Beck, With a Heart in My Song, was released in 1988 (both musicians would later collaborate once again in 1996 for the Holdsworth solo album None Too Soon, which featured fusion-based interpretations of popular jazz standards).

His first official solo album came in the form of I.O.U. in 1982, after which he embarked on a solo career that was to span five albums during the 1980s (continuing with another four in the 1990s). After the release of I.O.U., Holdsworth was brought to the attention of Warner Bros. Records executive Mo Ostin by Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen. This led to the 1983 vinyl-only release of the Road Games EP (which was later reissued for CD format in 2001). Van Halen later stated in Guitar Player magazine that Holdsworth was a major influence on his playing, and that he was “the best in my book”.

In 1990, a short-lived tenure with pop band Level 42 arose when guitarist Alan Murphy died of pneumonia brought on by AIDS. As a result, Holdsworth was brought in to perform on their 1991 album, Guaranteed. Later in the decade, a collaboration with brothers Anders and Jens Johansson saw the release of the experimental, fusion-laden Heavy Machinery in 1996.

For the 2000s, Holdsworth began to noticeably slow down his solo output, with Flat Tire: Music for a Non-Existent Movie (2001) remaining his most recent studio album as of 2009. Besides this, he has featured as a guest musician on albums by other artists, most notably with keyboardist Derek Sherinian on Mythology (2004) and Quantum (2007); the latter with Sherinian's progressive metal band Planet X.

Compositions and style

Despite Holdsworth's solo compositions being primarily instrumental, he did at one point incorporate vocals on all but one of his albums during the 1980s, with the exception of Sand (1987), and during the 1990s for Wardenclyffe Tower (1992). Additionally, he once provided vocals himself on The Things You See.

Throughout the years, Holdsworth has developed and perfected a highly unique playing style that involves the prominent use of both arpeggiated and full chords (often awash with delay, chorus and other complex effects), various legato techniques (including a specialised variation of the pull-off, which works more akin to a 'reversed' hammer-on) and a delicate use of volume swells to create sounds reminiscent to that of a horn or saxophone.

In his 1986 release, Atavachron, he began to utilise the SynthAxe; a guitar-like MIDI instrument with frets and a breath controller device to alter the volume of notes being played. Although the use of the SynthAxe has been displayed on each one of Holdsworth's solo releases since Atavachron, he has stated that he no longer wishes to make it such an integral part of his playing, mainly due to it being so rare and difficult to maintain and repair. Furthermore, he has gone on to state that he once preferred the saxophone to the guitar, having been influenced greatly by such players as John Coltrane and Charlie Parker.

Discography

Solo albums

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 album)
2004: Then! (live album)
2005: The Best of Allan Holdsworth: Against the Clock (compilation album)

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
1972: Belladona – Nucleus
1973: Tempest – Tempest
1974: Living in Fear – 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.
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
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
1991: Love in Peace – Paz
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
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
2006: Deconstruction of a Postmodern Musician – Corrado Rustici
2007: Prowlin' – Dan Carlin & Friends
2007: Quantum – Planet X
2008: Progasaurus – Chris Buck

References in pop culture

Holdsworth has been referred to in the British comedy show, The Mighty Boosh, during the episode, "Jungle". On their official website, Julian Barratt (who plays Howard Moon) claims that Allan Holdsworth is the “only thing that [he's] interested in”.[citation needed]

References

a b Interview with Anil Prasad at Innerviews, dated January 15, 1993 Retrieved on November 3, 2008.
"Young Wizard of Power Rock": interview with Jas Obrecht at Guitar Player Magazine, dated April 1980 Retrieved on November 30, 2007.
"A Style Apart": interview with Guitar Player Online, dated December 1982 Retrieved on November 3, 2008.
a b Interview with Mike Morrison, dated February 9, 2006 Retrieved on November 3, 2008.

---------------

Biography by Greg Prato

Guitarist Allan Holdsworth is widely considered to be one of the finest instrumentalists in all of jazz fusion, yet has never truly received the recognition that he so rightfully deserves. Born on August 6, 1946, in Bradford, Yorkshire, Holdsworth was originally taught music by his father, who was a pianist. First a saxophone player, Holdsworth didn't pick up the guitar until he was 17 years old, but learned the instrument quickly. After playing in local outfits (in addition to learning the violin), Holdsworth relocated to London, where he was taken under the wing of saxophonist Ray Warleigh. By 1972, Holdsworth had joined progressive rockers Tempest, appearing on the group's self-titled debut a year later before joining Soft Machine in December 1973 -- and radically changing the latter outfit's sound to guitar-based fusion in the process. U.S. drummer Tony Williams discovered Holdsworth around this time, which led to an invite for the up-and-coming guitarist to replace John McLaughlin in Williams' Lifetime project -- Holdsworth abruptly left Soft Machine in March of 1975, subsequently appearing on the Williams recordings Believe It and Million Dollar Legs. But Holdsworth's union with Williams was a brief one, as the guitarist joined up with French-English prog rockers Gong for such albums as 1976's Gazeuse! (released as Expresso in the U.S.) and 1978's Expresso II, in addition to guesting on recordings by Jean-Luc Ponty, Bill Bruford, Gordon Beck, Jack Bruce, and UK. 

Also in the late '70s, Holdsworth launched a solo career, which over the years has seen the release of nearly 20 albums (a few standouts include 1983's Road Games, 1985's Metal Fatigue, 1994's Hard Hat Area, and 2000's The Sixteen Men of Tain), as the guitarist has been joined by such acclaimed musicians as Paul Williams (a former bandmate of Holdsworth's in Tempest), Gary Husband, Chad Wackerman, Gary Husband, Jimmy Johnson, Steve Hunt, and Alan Pasqua, among others. In the mid-'80s, Holdsworth was one of the first musicians to use a Synthaxe, a guitar that contained a breath controller that proved to be a cross between a synthesizer, guitar, and saxophone (Holdsworth was awarded Best Guitar Synthesist from 1989 through 1994 in the readers' poll of Guitar Player magazine). In the '90s, Holdsworth also created his own signature guitar model with the Carvin company. In the mid-'90s, Holdsworth briefly shifted away from his fusion originals and recorded an album with longtime musical partner Gordon Beck that dipped into jazz standards. The Sixteen Men of Tain (2000) marked another shift, in that it was the first Holdsworth release to feature an all-acoustic rhythm section. This was followed in 2002 by All Night Wrong, his first official live release. Then! Live in Tokyo was next, featuring Holdsworth's 1990 live band, which was followed by Against the Clock, a career retrospective, in 2005.