Allan Holdsworth (born 6 August 1946) is an English guitarist and composer. He has released twelve studio albums as a solo artist and played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but is best known for his work in jazz fusion.
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 1971, Holdsworth joined Sunship, an improvising band also featuring Alan Gowen, Laurie Baker and future King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir. The band played live but never recorded any records.
In the early 1970s Holdsworth 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.
At around the same time Holdsworth began working with drummer Gary Husband (later to join Level 42) and bassist Paul Carmichael. This became "the IOU band" - Holdsworth's first as a leader - which was the band which recorded Holdsworth's first official solo album, I.O.U., in 1982, starting a 1980s solo career that would span 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. (Van Halen had previously enthused about Holdsworth in Guitar Player magazine, saying "that guy is bad! He’s fantastic; I love him", and that Holdsworth was "the best, in my book.") This led to Warners releasing the Grammy-nominated 1983 vinyl-only EP Road Games, produced by longtime Van Halen producer Ted Templeman, and featuring a new IOU lineup (with Husband and Carmichael replaced by Chad Wackerman and Holdsworth's former Bruford bandmate Jeff Berlin) plus vocal cameos from ex-Cream singer Jack Bruce (himself a long-term Holdsworth collaborator). This EP was officially reissued on CD in 2001, having been bootlegged for many years previously.
Having relocated permanently to California (and parted company with Warners over creative control), Holdsworth signed to the Enigma label and began working with bassist Jimmy Johnson (leader of Flim and the BBs). Johnson and Wackerman would remain regular members of both Holdsworth's studio and touring bands, and still work with Holdsworth to this day. The first release by the trio was 1985's Metal Fatigue, followed by 1986's Atavachron, which was the first to feature him working with a new instrument - the Synthaxe MIDI guitar controller; indeed Holdsworth soon became the public face of the Synthaxe. In 1987, Holdsworth released the Sand album. During the same year Holdsworth renewed his musical collaboration with Gordon Beck, recording the duo's third album With a Heart in My Song after an eight-year gap.
In 1992, Holdsworth set up his own recording studio — The Brewery — in San Diego, California. This would become the recording location of all of his studio albums for the next decade from 1993's Hard Hat Area up until 1999's The Sixteen Men of Tain. In 2005, however, Holdsworth stated in an interview that he no longer owned the studio following his divorce in 1999.[1]
At this point, Holdsworth gained a new regular band collaborator in keyboard player Steve Hunt.
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 distinctive playing style that involves a strong scalar sense, combining elements of jazz and progressive rock. The harmonic structure of his pieces is highly advanced, with frequently shifting tonal centres and unique combinations of keys and modes. His phrasing almost always features striking yet subtle transitions 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); all of which result in an extremely fluid lead tone.
One of his most identifiable traits is his use of dense, fingerpicked chords (which are often awash with delay, chorus and other complex effects), 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. At the same time, some of his favourite guitarists were Django Reinhardt, Joe Pass, Charlie Christian and Hank Marvin.
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. (from Wikipedia)
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