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Allan Holdsworth

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Allan Holdsworth (born August 6, 1946 in Bradford, West Yorkshire) is a British jazz guitarist and composer. He has been described by a reviewer in Guitar Player Magazine as a "giant".

Holdsworth has recorded many different styles of music over the years, including a brief flirtation with pop, in the form of a collaboration with British funk fusion pop band Level 42.

Recording career

His first recording was with Igginbottom ('Wrench') in 1969. In the early Seventies, Holdsworth joined Jon Hiseman's Tempest, overlapping briefly with the legendary Ollie Halsall. Subsequently Holdsworth worked with jazz rock groups Gong, Soft Machine, The New Tony Williams Lifetime, Jean-Luc Ponty and later in the decade he was a member of the all-star progressive rock quartet UK with John Wetton, Bill Bruford and Eddie Jobson. Some of his notable instrumental work in the 70's can be heard on Lifetime's 'Believe It' album, and the first two (Bill) Bruford Band albums ('Feels Good To Me' and 'One Of A Kind'). At the end of the 70's, becoming increasingly frustrated by the music scene, Allan Holdsworth worked and recorded with long term collaborator Gordon Beck and one of the UK's leading jazz improvisers and drummer John Stevens.

Compositions and styles

He is also recognized for his own compositions, which vary in style from progressive fusion jazz (for example, his work with Soft Machine on their album 'Bundles'), to romantic, chordal and 'spacey' guitar/synthesizer works. He utilises an instrument called the SynthAxe, examples of which can be heard on the albums 'Atavachron'; 'Sand';the SynthAxe-dominated 'Flat Tire'; and the second CD of 'Against The Clock'. Readers of 'Guitar Player' magazine voted Holdsworth 'Best Synth Guitarist' for several years[fact]. Although he is not the first guitarist to record with a synthesizer, he elevated the technique of synthesizer guitar to be on par with electric and acoustic guitar techniques. Holdsworth remarked in his instructional video that he 'doesn't really like the guitar', and prefers the sound of a saxophone.

Holdsworth was brought to the attention of Warner Bros. executive Mo Ostin by Eddie Van Halen, resulting in the 1983 Warner Bros. release of Holdsworth's album 'Road Games'. Van Halen stated in 'Guitar Player' magazine that Holdsworth was a major influence on his playing and that Holdsworth was 'the best in my book'. This influence can be heard in Van Halen's 'Push Comes To Shove' solo from the album 'Fair Warning'. Guitarists from diverse traditions including Joe Satriani acknowledged Holdsworth as a major influence. Although Holdsworth downplays his impact on other musicians in published interviews, he has been acknowledged by many musicians as a source of inspiration.

Holdsworth's discography includes over fourteen titles as a band leader, yet he has recorded with many other notable musicians. A partial list of artists with whom he has recorded, other than those listed above, are Gary Husband, Jimmy Johnson, Stanley Clarke, Gordon Beck, Carl Verheyen, Chad Wackerman, Gary Willis, David Hines, K2, Riptyde, Derek Sherinian, Planet X, Kei Akagi and Gongzilla.

Discography

Albums

|- align=center |align=left|Velvet Darkness||1976 ||align=left|Never properly completed, this album is released by the label against Allan's wishes.|| |- align=center |align=left|The Things You See||1979 ||align=left|With Gordon Beck|| |- align=center |align=left|Sunbird||1980 ||align=left|With Gordon Beck.|| |- align=center |align=left|I.O.U.||1982||align=left|-|| |- align=center |align=left|Road Games||1983||align=left|Never fully considered completed by Allan until the 2001 CD release. Features Jeff Berlin and Jack Bruce.|| |- align=center |align=left|Metal Fatigue||1985||align=left|There was a PC game released in 2000 with the same name, it has nothing to do with Allan Holdsworth.|| |- align=center |align=left|Atavachron||1986||align=left|Inspired by the Star Trek: The Original Series episode, "All Our Yesterdays", for which a track is named. The title itself comes from the episode as well.|| |- align=center |align=left|Sand||1987||align=left|-|| |- align=center |align=left|Secrets||1989||align=left|-|| |- align=center |align=left|Wardenclyffe Tower||1992||align=left|Named for Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower|| |- align=center |align=left|Hard Hat Area||1994||align=left|The track "Tullio" is named after the great cyclist Tullio Campagnolo, a sport which Allan is interested in || |- align=center |align=left|None Too Soon||1996||align=left| |- align=center |align=left|Heavy Machinery||1996||align=left|Released as a collaboration with Anders and Jens Johansson|| |- align=center |align=left|Sixteen Men of Tain||1999||align=left|The title appears to be named for the Glenmorangie Scotch|| |- align=center |align=left|Flat Tire||2001||align=left|-|| |- align=center |align=left|All Night Wrong||2002||align=left|A live album recorded in Japan on a recent tour.|| |- align=center |align=left|Then!||2003||align=left|A live album recorded in Japan in 1990|| |- align=center |align=left|Against The Clock||2005||align=left|The Best of Allan Holdsworth, a 2-CD set. The first features the guitar; the second highlights his work with the Synthaxe.|| |}

Other album appearances

|- align=center |align=left|Igginbottom's Wrench||1969||align=left|Igginbottom|| |- align=center |align=left|Belladona||1972||align=left|Ian Carr's Nucleus|| |- align=center |align=left|Tempest||1972||align=left|Tempest|| |- align=center |align=left|Bundles||1975||align=left|Soft Machine|| |- align=center |align=left|Believe it||1975||align=left|Tony Williams Lifetime|| |- align=center |align=left|Million Dollar Legs||1976||align=left|Tony Williams Lifetime|| |- align=center |align=left|Gazeuse!||1976||align=left|Gong|| |- align=center |align=left|Capricorn Princess||1976||align=left|Esther Phillips|| |- align=center |align=left|Enigmatic Ocean||1977||align=left|Jean-Luc Ponty|| |- align=center |align=left|Touching On||1977||align=left|John Stevens|| |- align=center |align=left|Expresso II||1978||align=left|Gong|| |- align=center |align=left|Feels Good To Me||1978||align=left|Bill Bruford|| |- align=center |align=left|UK||1978||align=left|U.K.|| |- align=center |align=left|One of a Kind||1979||align=left|Bill Bruford|| |- align=center |align=left|The Things You See/ Sunbird||1979||align=left|Gordon Beck|| |- align=center |align=left|Time Is The Key||1979||align=left|Pierre Moerlen's Gong|| |- align=center |align=left|Conversation Piece||1980||align=left|John Stevens|| |- align=center |align=left|Land Of Cockayne||1981||align=left|Soft Machine|| |- align=center |align=left|Individual Choice||1983||align=left|Jean-Luc Ponty|| |- align=center |align=left|Retouch||1983||align=left|John Stevens|| |- align=center |align=left|Trasatlantic||1984||align=left|Jon St. James|| |- align=center |align=left|Stand Up!||1985||align=left|Steve Morse|| |- align=center |align=left|Soma||1986||align=left|Soma|| |- align=center |align=left|Change of Address||1986||align=left|Krokus|| |- align=center |align=left|Fast Impressions||1986||align=left|Jon St. James|| |- align=center |align=left|With A Heart In My Song||1988||align=left|Gordon Beck|| |- align=center |align=left|Radio Free Albemuth||1988||align=left|Stuart Hamm|| |- align=center |align=left|If This Bass Could Only Talk||1988||align=left|Stanley Clarke|| |- align=center |align=left|No Borders||1988||align=left|Carl Verheyen Group|| |- align=center |align=left|The Distance In Between||1988||align=left|Strange Advance|| |- align=center |align=left|Attack Of The Neon Shark||1989||align=left|Alex Masi|| |- align=center |align=left|Guitar For The Practicing Mucisian||1989||align=left|Various Artists|| |- align=center |align=left|Truth In Shredding||1990||align=left|Frank Gambale|| |- align=center |align=left|A Question Of Time||1990||align=left|Jack Bruce|| |- align=center |align=left|Silent Will||1990||align=left|Andrea Marcelli|| |- align=center |align=left|Blue Tav||1990||align=left|Steve Tavaglione|| |- align=center |align=left|Forty Reasons||1991||align=left|Chad Wackerman|| |- align=center |align=left|Guaranteed||1991||align=left|Level 42|| |- align=center |align=left|Love In Peace||1991||align=left|Paz|| |- align=center |align=left|Lone Ranger||1992||align=left|Jeff Watson|| |- align=center |align=left|The View||1993||align=left|Chad Wackerman|| |- align=center |align=left|Come Together: Guitar Tribute To The Beatles||1993||align=left|Various Artists|| |- align=center |align=left|Suffer||1995||align=left|Gongzilla|| |- align=center |align=left|Oneness||1995||align=left|Andrea Marcelli|| |- align=center |align=left|Stare||1996||align=left|Gorky Park|| |- align=center |align=left|Heavy Machinery||1997||align=left|Johansson & Johansson|| |- align=center |align=left|From Your Heart & Your Soul||1997||align=left|Steve Hunt|| |- align=center |align=left|Worlds Away & Back||1995||align=left|Strange Advance|| |- align=center |align=left|BBC Radio 1971-1974||2003||align=left|Soft Machine|| |- align=center |align=left|Abracadabra||2003||align=left|Softworks|| |- align=center |align=left|Sonic Undertow||2004||align=left|Riptyde, A. Holdsworth|| |- align=center |align=left|Book of the Dead||2004||align=left|K2, A. Holdsworth|| |- align=center |align=left|Mythology||2004||align=left|Derek Sherinian|| |- align=center |align=left|Nebula||2005||align=left|David Hines|| |- align=center |align=left|Deconstruction of a Postmodern Musician||2006||align=left|Corrado Rustici|| |- align=center |align=left|Quantum||2007||align=left|Planet X|| |}

Trivia

References

Multimedia

External links



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