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Allan Holdsworth was for me the definition of guitar virtuoso
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04-16-2017 06:17 PM
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Wow....shocking.
Well he sure accomplished a lot so we should celebrate some of his Music.
I liked that Video with some beautiful Melodic Soloing from him.Last edited by Robertkoa; 04-16-2017 at 07:06 PM.
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The magnitude of his influence and loss in my life is only equal to Wes, and I didn't start listening to him until he'd been gone for a few years. It's hard to reckon with. On the one hand, there is so much gratitude and awe at what he was able to bring to this reality and share with the rest of us. But the ending of this particular life and voice, regardless of however and whenever he shows up elsewhere in creation, is such an abrupt and sad experience.
When beauty of this magnitude is as rare as it is, it's loss is felt so much the greater. What voice is even close to being equal, but different? I will grieve this man like very few others in my life. Thank you, Allan, for all you have given, and for the hint of even greater beauty to be discovered by someone, somehow, somewhere.
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Still shocked. Allan Holdsworth has certainly been my biggest guitar influence. Almost cry, and still don't believe it at all. R.I.P. :_(
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Really sucks.
Such a good player and seems like he was a good guy. I have heard that he was dealing with alcoholism, depression and anxiety (don't want to go into details) so this is a particularly sad loss for yet another musician to go down that way.
Anyone remember him playing the SynthAxe? If you haven't seen the demo video you should probably watch it to experience the whole thing but Alan is also later on in the video too.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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Damn.
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RIP, my goodness is 2016/17 deadly...ouch
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Stood in line to take a picture and talk with him at NAMM. What a huge loss. He looked fatigued at NAMM.
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Apparently, at the last few gigs he played, Allan had absolutely no money and couldn't even afford to stay anywhere, so the fans attending the show wound up putting him up for the night at their house. Two people wound up using their vehicles to transport equipment, because they couldn't afford of even a van to transport it.
Basically he was broke, and his family is dirt poor.
This is the world we live in. So much opulence and greed everywhere for the very few.
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r.i.p. allan. so hard to believe that a force of nature like allan can be taken from us
he was definitely one of a kind and there won't ever be another quite like him
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Anyone who wants to believe music is somehow a meritocracy need look no further. He was the greatest most original guitarist of his generation. Allan was a real artist, from NOWHERE.
No wonder Tal Farlow painted signs. Wise man.
I was sad but now I'm angry. For Allan, and our thoughts and best wishes to his family.Last edited by christianm77; 04-17-2017 at 12:06 AM.
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'I don't really like guitar very much'
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Sorry, so sorry, to hear that Allan had fallen on such hard times. We can support building bombs to kill people and walls to trap them, but not artists to uplift them. So sad for our society as well as the artists we don't support. But it's not news, is it? Been going on forever.
There is a gofundme for Allan's family to help with funeral expenses:
https://www.gofundme.com/allanholdsworthmemorial
And there are a couple of recent compilation albums out, Eidolon and The Mane Who Changed Guitar Forever or something like that, the latter being a remastered collection of most or all of his albums as a leader. For someone who hated listening to his own playing, remastering and maybe remixing 99 tunes had to have been agony. Buying some of his music will hopefully help the estate and his family.
And a bit more information from the San Diego paper:
Allan Holdsworth, internationally celebrated guitar innovator, dead at 70 - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Here he is less than 2 weeks ago....wtf happened!?! I am speechless.
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wow..how did i miss this?!!..one of the true guitar idols of my youth...collected every record he was on back then..so many great performances
tony williams lifetime- believe it....gong gazuese...soft machine bundles
and one of my fave solo's..he takes the song in a completely different direction
the fire that was allan begins at 3 min mark
goodbye king
rip ah
cheers
ps- suddenly i want one
as per cosmic g's posted vid^... he's still rippin it, less than 2 weeks agoLast edited by neatomic; 04-17-2017 at 01:06 AM. Reason: ps-
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An immeasurable loss.
He recently gave an interview to Downbeat, in which he talked, among other things, about his compilation discs and new band:
DownBeat NewsLast edited by jbernstein91; 04-17-2017 at 08:15 AM.
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Holdsworth was a huge influence on my playing in the 80's - so inspiring to watch his hands. RIP Allan. Thank you
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Allan and his music meant more to me than I can really put into words. I must have seen Allan in concert 30 times through the years and have heard every recording he has ever made, starting from Igginbottom's Wrench from the very beginning onward and of course every live recording I could get my hands on.
You could pick and mine just about any aspect of Allan for a long time and many musicians did. Whether it was his approach to sound both for lead and clean sounds, volume swells, vibrato, whammy bar, smooth gain before anyone really knew how to do that, legato technique, his harmonic vocabulary for chords, his lines which are instantly identifiable as his own vocabulary or his compositions with their bittersweet harmonies and idiosyncratic moves.
The man was such a giant and I have a couple of anecdotes which illustrate the regard in which he was held by some master musicians with whom the subject of Allan came up.
Many years ago, when studying with Joe Diorio, who is a man who knows his way around advanced harmony, someone brought in a live recording of Allan for Joe to hear (which was significant in and of itself because this was the only time I ever saw Joe listen to anything). Joe listened to the piece which was an outrageously gorgeous piece and solo from Allan which went on as Allan seemed to be trying out every possibility he could think of to address his composition. It was so intense and Joe sat there staring into the sky as he listened. When it was over, he sat there in silence for what seemed like an eternity.
He lifted his head up and slowly said the following: Allan...is like an enormous jewel that you have found and you try to pick it up but it is just too heavy for you. So you leave the jewel in the room where you found it and return from time to time to gaze at its intense beauty.
The second anecdote involves the incredible saxophonist Dave Liebman who has literally written the book on advanced harmony. I had been speaking to his guitarist Vic Juris (a fantastic player as well) and the subject of Allan came up. Dave was within earshot and heard Allan's name and excitedly came over and told us a story.
Dave and Michael Brecker, who is for many the greatest saxophonist of his generation (along with Dave) and a player whom Allan adored, were at a festival in Israel and Allan was playing so Dave and Mike went to the show together to check it out. I couldn't have been more curious to hear someone's thoughts on a show than I was at that moment given Dave and Brecker's own harmonic and improvisational genius. Liebman for years has been the go to guy in advanced jazz in such matters, as was Brecker when he was alive in many respects.
Dave told me they sat in silence for the entire set until Dave turned to Mike and asked, do you have any idea what you just heard or how he is doing what he is doing? Mike said no, do you?
Dave said no and they sat there together awestruck in silence again trying to collect themselves and piece it together and then spoke to Allan afterwards and told him what Dave had just related to me.
Cheers to you Allan Holdsworth for illuminating our world in the time you passed among us.
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How sad. I had no idea.
Always thought him phenomenal and unique, and never understood how he did it.
RIP, indeed...
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My favorite of his, from the same album:
Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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It seems like his family is facing some money issues, all contributions are welcome
GoFundMe
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"R.I.P. Allan Holdsworth (August 6, 1946 - April 16, 2017).
With enormous sadness I write to express my condolences to Allan's family on the loss of a much-loved father and grandfather, my friend and colleague. For several years in the 1970s, through my own band and 'UK', I listened to him nightly, launching sheets of sound on an unsuspecting audience, changing perceptions about what guitars and guitarists should or could be doing, thrilling me half to death.I would have paid to be at my own gig.
Allan wasn't easy, but if it was easy it wouldn't have been Allan. Like all creative musicians he was restless and relentless in pursuit of 'the perfect sound', the one that he couldn't get out of his head, the one that would never leave him alone. Now he will be at peace. Still, my guitar gently weeps. "
Bill Bruford
"I am deeply saddened to hear the news about my friend and musical guitar genius Allan Holdsworth’s death.
I loved him. I’ll never forget the first time I heard him was on Jean-luc Ponty’s Enigmatic Ocean. His solos and tone on the first tune and that album are what stands in my mind as some of the most beautiful brilliant guitar playing ever recorded. From there I went on to discover more and more amazing guitar playing with Tony Williams Lifetime and his solo albums were mind-bending. I was about 17 at this time. A kid from Canberra, Australia and by this time had been playing guitar since I was 5 or 6 yet I had absolutely no idea what he was doing and I had absolutely no idea how to even begin playing like that. He quickly became a genius I classified as inimitable.
I loved what he stood for. I loved his uncompromising musicality and innovation on the guitar. He carved a path where no one had gone before. To lead is MUCH harder than to follow. He led. He led multitudes of guitar players and indeed players of all instruments into wildly new possibilities. He bent our ears. His music was deeply complex, like an Einstein equation on a blackboard that often times left most listeners bewildered, confused, uncomfortable, disoriented….but for those of us who had spent many years playing and studying music, revering those unique humans that go far beyond what we think is possible, we got it!
I wrote Allan a letter many years ago praising him as highly and as eloquently as I could because, I got it. I wanted him to know that I got it and I told him, because I wanted him to know, that what he had achieved was brilliant, genius, art in its highest and purest innovative form and that I loved him for it. I told him also that, whether or not the world, that often celebrates talentless, insipid, pointless and over-hyped pseudo music genius’, understood or valued his greatness, I most certainly did. We had a deep understanding and mutual respect for one another.
He was a gentle, self-deprecating fellow who was full of the British quirky wit. My first encounter with him was on my first Elektric Band tour. I was new (1986). Allan Holdsworth Trio was opening for us every night of the tour. So I had to go on after his genius guitar playing every night. It was an incredible trial by fire for me. I was a huge fan even back then and was in awe of him really. Alan was so funny and me, being Australian, we had an instant rapport, the ice was quickly broken and it led to decades of paths crossing.
None was more special than the “Truth In Shredding” album. The title was named by Mark Varney, the label owner, who was a huge fan of both Allan and myself. His dream was to put us together on an album. We both hated the title…shredding indeed! Anyway, the album deal stipulated that Alan and I must play a solo of at least 3 minutes in length on every track. I had to time the solo chord sequences and count choruses to add up to over 3 minutes…anyway, it was a great experience working with him and mixing and watching his process. He was the most meticulous person with tone. He had no problem tweaking for hours on a solo tone. A true perfectionist and master of audio as well as the guitar and music.
I remember being inches away from his hands on the guitar and thinking to myself, what on Earth are you playing? I couldn’t even understand it even from that kind of proximity. It was as if an alien had landed from another planet. He would often say the same thing about me and every time he did I would throw it right back at him. This would pretty much be our banter and how we greeted each other every time we saw each other. A back-and-forth of praise. “Allan you’re a genius!
He’d say: “No you!
Me: “No, no…YOU!
Alan “No YOU”…etcetera, and then laughter and hugs.
He could play through ANY chords, even 10 chords a bar like a hot knife through butter.
All those genius chords, chord-melody, heads to his compositions were truly like modern Classical music and then he would proceed to solo over them in a truly other-wordly way. His linear playing was as spectacular as his chords. No one plays like him, many have tried imitating him, but no one really came close. He was way ahead. Way ahead. Still is. Maybe in 50 years from now, when the world catches up, people will appreciate him more. I hope so. He was sadly under-compensated throughout his time on this planet.
Sadly, like many under-appreciated geniuses in this world, he died penniless. It hurts my heart to know this. So sad that the world couldn’t support such a great artist while he was alive! There is a crowd -funding link below to support the family for the memorial services.
Please give generously, I will be.
Allan, you will be missed. NAMM 2017 was the last time I gave you a BIG hug and told you how great you are. Sadly I won’t have more opportunities to do that.
Your legacy will live on through your music and the influence you have had on the music community. My deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.
Rest in peace my brother in arms. "
Frank Gambale
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Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
Beautiful , RIP maestro Alan
Who's playing bass here ?
Excuse my ignorance
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I think it's this kid named Evan Marien, a fairly recent Berklee grad.
Here's his 13/8 version of Jaco's "Teen Town":
Last edited by jbernstein91; 04-17-2017 at 10:46 AM.
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What a unique musician. I would have LOVED to see him and Robert Fripp play together!
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