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GREATEST JAZZ-FUSION QUARTET OF ALL TIME?
Feb 3, 2006

GREATEST JAZZ-FUSION QUARTET OF ALL TIME?

[PHOTO- CARIBOU RANCH STUDIOS, NEDERLAND, COLORADO- SUMMER, 1976- I HAVE MET 2 OF THESE GUYS AND TALKED TO A 3RD- OH I JUST EMAILED THE 4TH LAST NGHT! COVERED!]


Essential Holdsworth album, November 6, 2002
Reviewer:A. Kydonieus (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Yeah, I know it's technically a Tony Williams album (and his drumming IS excellent), but Holdsworth is all over these records. As noted by another fan, this is really two albums. The first, "Believe It!" is a classic. Intensely funky jazz fusion, great tunes, and the way-ahead-of-its-time, incendiary guitar of Holdsworth. The second, "Million Dollar Legs" is another story. Put yourself in the shoes of the owner of the record company that put this out. You've just released one of the greatest instrumental fusion records EVER. What do you do? Easy--with the same personnel, add vocals to some of the tracks, water the music down into vapid R&B and tell Holdsworth to tone down his guitar playing--WAY DOWN. One of the great cultural crimes of the 70s. Despite this, I'm STILL giving five stars to this cd. Yes, "Believe It!" is that great.
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Posted: Friday February 3, 2006, 9:39 pm
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Past Member (0) 		Friday February 3, 2006, 10:09 pm
Allan Holdsworth


Bio:
Allan Holdsworth is widely regarded by fans and contemporary musicians as one of the 20th century's most prominent guitarists. He is one of a handful of musicians who has consistently proven himself as an innovator in between and within the worlds of rock and jazz music. Many of music's best-known instrumental masters cite Holdsworth as that rare and shining voice-a legendary player who continues to push the outer limits of instrumental technique and the electric guitar's range of tonal and textural possibilities. Particularly during the 90s,

Holdsworth has enjoyed the recognition so many musicians strongly feel he deserves, given that he has developed his career outside the big label mainstream and has consistently produced his own recordings with complete creative control since the mid-80s. Despite the uncompromising nature of Holdsworth's predominantly genre-defying solo projects, he's no stranger to all-star jazz festival line-ups or large venue rock audiences.

Musician Magazine placed Holdsworth near the top of their "100 greatest guitarists of all time." There's never been a shortage of media attention or acclaim for Holdsworth's accomplishments and originality. An inductee of Guitar Player Magazine's Hall of Fame, Holdsworth is a five-time winner in their readers' poll.
Beyond his ability in improvising mercurial solos and sculpting the guitar's voice into an ever-expanding range of textures and colors, Holdsworth has dedicated his energies to develop many different aspects of guitar technology. This has included new "baritone" variations of the instrument, his own custom 6-string designs (one most recently manufactured by Carvin), the invention of electronic components for the recording studio, and exploring the possibilities of guitar-based synthesizer controllers. Holdworth's ability to improvise over complex and challenging chord voicings always reveals a deep emotional base and a strong, imaginative personality that is as instantly identifiable as any among Holdsworth's generation of guitar and jazz masters. The sounds of Django Reinhardt, Jimmy Rainey, Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, Eric Clapton, and John Coltrane were among this English musician's early inspirations when he began to work professionally as a musician in his early twenties. Born in the city of Bradford, England, Holdsworth had been extensively tutored in aspects of musical theory and jazz appreciation by his father, an accomplished amateur musician. Holdsworth paid his musician's dues early on working the dance-club circuit, where he began to meet fellow musicians who hailed from the south. One of England's best jazz tenor saxophonists, Ray Warleigh, heard amazing potential in Holdsworth's playing and brought him along to participate in jazz sets at the onset of the 70s, including sessions with Ray at Ronnie Scotts in London. Holdsworth's career brought him to international audiences suddenly in the early 1970s, when he joined drummer John Hiseman's short-lived but much acclaimed "progressive" rock band, Tempest. A decade later, Tempest vocalist Paul Williams would team up with Holdsworth again to form Holdsworth's IOU band and create their independently-released debut recording, which prompted Holdsworth to move his home from London to Southern California.
Holdsworth's career throughout the 70s saw a series of feast-or-famine periods all too familiar to many of the most talented musicians. By 1975 Holdsworth had developed a reputation as one of England's best, underrated guitarists in what was then the avant-garde of English instrumental music ensembles, thelegendary group, Soft Machine. Holdsworth's trademark sound is evident with a technique that routinely soars with supersonic intensity, and one of its earliest available samplings can be heard on the 1974 Soft Machine studio release, Bundles. While his reputation in Soft Machine attracted international audiences, he also gained the attention of one of jazz's greatest drummers, the late Tony Williams, known for his pivotal role in bringing Miles Davis to explore rock-based riffs and motifs in an improvisational context. Holdsworth recorded on one of the most celebrated fusion albums from the mid-70s, Believe It, (Epic), as a member of the Tony Williams' New Lifetime. This marked the beginning of Holdsworth's career as a legendary journeyman, but one rarely performing before U.S. audiences.
Between 1976 and 1978 Holdsworth's guitar sounds and solos emerged as a mesmerizing tour de force and he participated in many of that era's landmark jazz-fusion and instrumental rock recordings by Jean Luc Ponty (Enigmatic Ocean), Gong (Gazeuse!), and Bill Bruford (Feels Good To Me, One of A Kind). Late in the 70s, the once dominant genre of classic British "prog rock" stumbled on unsure footing as the punk and new wave bands rose in commercial prominence. Drummer Bill Bruford, a founding member of Yes who later joined King Crimson, suggested Holdsworth participate in a new project featuring the formidable rhythm section of King Crimson and a brilliant young violinist/keyboardist Eddie Jobson, who had worked with both Frank Zappa and Roxy Music. The resulting debut album, U.K., became what was later considered the last and greatest milestones of 70s progressive rock. The band's sound was at the time both technically and artistically at the cutting edge of rock music, given the coupling of Jobson's innovative use of synthesizers and electric violins, coupled with Holdsworth's unconventional chord voicings, searing solos, and passionate melodic phrases. The U.K. "supergroup" setting was as brilliant as it was short-lived, and egos and questions of creative direction led to a split between Bruford and Holdsworth on one side, and Jobson and bassist John Wetton on the other. In 1996 Guitar World cited Holdsworth's contribution to U.K. as the factor in naming it one of the top 10 rock guitar albums "of all time."
In 1978, Holdsworth decided he wanted to pursue a different, more live-based direction as opposed to his recent participation in lush, studio-crafted masterpieces. He sought out a more immediate, less intricately arranged band context than what had been established with Bruford, in order to explore a rock-oriented musical context that also explored extended instrumental ensemble improvisations. Holdsworth wanted to rediscover some of the energy and dynamics that had been so memorable in his live performances working with Tony Williams, and reluctantly parted company with Bruford's band. Holdsworth began to develop his own trio with two other Northern English musicians, drummer Gary Husband, and bassist Paul Carmichael, which begun Holdsworth's first touring band as a leader, the now-celebrated IOU band. Their first recording IOU sold exceptionally well for an independent release, and Holdsworth's friend and admirer, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, proved instrumental in securing IOU a recording contract with Warner Bros. Executive Producer Ted Templeman wanted to experiment with a "mini-album" concept, which resulted in the 1984 Grammy-nominated release, Road Games, which featured vocal cameos from long-time Holdsworth collaborator, the legendary Jack Bruce. It also featured a new American line-up, with Jeff Berlin and Chad Wackerman comprising the rhythm section. However tensions with the label over creative control led to a split between Holdsworth and Warner Bros.

Being disillusioned with big label policies and constraints, Holdsworth opted to start a long and successful career recording for the independent Enigma label, which later became Restless Records. A string of finely crafted studio albums, defying easy categorizations began with 1985's Metal Fatigue, and was followed by Atavachron, Sand, Secrets, Wardenclyffe Tower, Hard Hat Area, None Too Soon, and The 16 Men of Tain all extremely successful projects gravitating between high powered electric jazz and rock, and featuring sidemen as diverse as jazz great Tony Williams, Alan Pasqua (Santana, Bob Dylan), Billy Childs, Jimmy Johnson (James Taylor), Gary Husband (Level 42, Billy Cobham), Chad Wackerman (Frank Zappa), and other luminaries. In addition to releasing the highly acclaimed live albums, All Night Wrong (Sony Japan 2002/Favored Nations) and Then! (Alternity, 2003),

Holdsworth joined a special project featuring former Soft Machine members, Softworks, which included legendary experimental English jazz/rock musicians Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, and John Marshall, also released in 2003. As a guest contributor, Holdsworth has ventured into many musical forms, including the progressive hip-hop of Riptyde (Alternity 2004), and is currently working on a best-of retrospective of his studio work titled Against The Clock, scheduled for release in early 2005, and his forthcoming new guitar trio project for release in 2005, Snakes and Ladders. Holdsworth took his guitar trio for a first-ever performance in Moscow in October, 2004, and he will be touring North and South America, and Europe into 2005. He is available for radio interviews and on air appearances for shows interested in featuring the acclaimed work of a true "musician's musician.
--Christopher Hoard past contributor, Jazziz, Music Technology, LA Weekly,
Daily Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Jazz Review and others.
"Holdsworth is the best in my book. He's fantastic. I love him...What I can do on two hands, he can do with one."
--Eddie Van Halen
"Allan is one of the greatest guitarists ever - his work on the mid-70's Tony Williams records was revolutionary and changed everything for guitarists everywhere. It is a real mystery to me why he is not a household name." Pat Metheny
"I've known Allan Holdsworth and his music for 30 years now, and after all this time, he's still amazes me. His concept is still advancing with his playing, and his technical prowess which is phenomenal, is in complete harmony with his musical direction. And this is a very advanced direction." John McLaughlin

Past Member (0) 		Saturday February 4, 2006, 10:22 pm
Believe It
The New Tony Williams Lifetime | Columbia Records

By John Kelman print email


By the time drummer Tony Williams left Miles Davis in ?69, he had moved even farther away from the acoustic tradition than his former employer. His first recordings with his new band, Lifetime, were characterized by the sleeve instructions: ?Play it Loud!? While the energy level was high and the music was infused with a rock and roll philosophy, it was nevertheless uncompromising and continued to push the boundaries; intense, daring and sometimes a little terrifying, the early incarnation of Lifetime was a literal barrage on the senses.


By ?75, Williams had signed with a new label, pieced together a New Tony Williams Lifetime, and moved in a little more conventional jazz-rock direction. But unlike so many fusion records of the time, Believe It managed to be powerful without the bombastic pyrotechnics of bands like Return to Forever. Originally available on a CD that combined it with the far less successful follow-up, Million Dollar Legs , this long out-of-print title has finally been reissued by Columbia, remastered and with two bonus tracks.

Believe It features former Motown bassist Tony Newton, keyboard player Alan Pasqua and, most notably, British guitarist Allan Holdsworth, who, while already somewhat of an underground legend in his own country, had yet to make an impression in North America. Believe It changed all that, demonstrating that not only was Holdsworth a fresh new voice on his instrument, but a fine writer as well. ?Fred,? later re-titled ?Kinder? by Holdsworth, and a staple in his repertoire for some years to come, introduces Holdsworth?s unique harmonic language, with a lyrical bent that manages to be completely distinctive. And his playing style is quite simply like no other; influenced heavily by Coltrane, Holdsworth, even at this early stage in his career, is capable of sheets of sound that, punctuated by held notes and legato runs, are visceral in their impact.

No less visceral, of course, is Williams himself. While peers including Billy Cobham and Lenny White gravitated towards more overblown displays of virtuosity, Williams overpowers both with his stronger sense of groove and sheer muscularity. And while he is every bit as capable of extravagant displays of technique, he always sounds more musical. Even on intense burners like the Holdsworth-penned bonus track ?Letsby,? he is less concerned with how many beats he can throw into a fill; and his solo over Holdsworth?s power chord ostinato is the epitome of construction.

For someone who moved the concept of rhythmic freedom so far forward as part of Miles? second quintet, Williams may have been the most overtly rock and roll-informed drummer of the mid-?70s fusion era. With an inherent sense of groove and honest energy that comes from compositions that are less contrived and more direct vehicles for improvisational flight, Believe It is one of the most compelling arguments for the validity of jazz-rock fusion, before the term became such a dirty word.


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Feb
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MAJOR SUPPORTER OF CHARITY FOR AFRICAN CHILDREN IGIVEUP www.igiveup.org - VIA GATES PROJECT ARTIST- please visit these websites- ADRIANA DE CASTRO www.adrianadecastro.com - a featured artist here and at collectors association DALI LAND - www.daliland....
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9
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GO THIS THIS LINK FOR A TASTE !!! http://www.therealallanho ldsworth.com/ EACH PAGE LAUNCHES A DIFFERENT GUITAR SOLOROCK ON BACK TO THE GROUP HERE W. COMMENTS
Feb
6
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EMAIL to group host just in - from jazz fusion legendary BOB DYLAN and SANTANA and LIFETIME keyboardist !!! you heard it first here- HOT off the PRESS --- 1/2 of legendary Holdsworth band re-assembled for new tours this year!!!  -----Orig...
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EMAIL to group host just in - from jazz fusion legendary BOB DYLAN and SANTANA and LIFETIME keyboardist !!! you heard it first here- HOT off the PRESS --- 1/2 of legendary Holdsworth band re-assembled for new tours this year!!!  -----Original Mes...


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