Sunday, 16 April 2017

Allan Holdsworth Dead At 70

quote [ Groundbreaking guitarist who played with U.K. Soft Machine, Gong, Jean-Luc Ponty passes away unexpectedly.

As a guitarist he was cited by the likes of Eddie Van Hlaen, Joe Satriani, Alex Lifeson and John Petrucci as a major influence, while Mahavishnu Orchestra guitarist John McLaughlin once said of him: "I'd steal everything Allan was doing, if only I could figure out what the heck it was that he was doing." ]

One of the true giants of the guitar world.
[SFW] [obituaries] [+5 Informative]
[by knumbknutz@7:37pmGMT]

Comments

yogi said @ 11:51pm GMT on 17th Apr [Score:1 Underrated]
I saw Holdsworth play with Terry Bozzio, Pat Mastelotto, and Tony Levin about 8 years ago or so. That was an incredible concert, at Yoshi's, in Oakland.

They all got up onstage and started playing--Mastellotto on drums, too, along with Bozzio's super super drum set; Levin on bass, and Holdsworth. They didn't move much, like rock music players, but the music had force and flowed very well.

After 45 minutes they stopped. Bozzio addressed the crowd and told us they had nothing prepared--that they got up there and just played music. That means they needed to be very responsive and responsible, and they had to listen to each other, and in that moment had to decide whether to go with or go away. And indeed, at the end of the next piece, you could see Bozzio sitting there quietly, eyes closed, listening hard, as the piece ended.

To the uneducated eye, it looked like they had written the music and were playing it so well they didn't even need to look at each other. With Bozzio's info, you watched for clues.

Holdsworth played guitar like a saxophone. He could shred but he also said something while shredding. I was a fan from then on.

What a loss.
Bob Denver said @ 8:15pm GMT on 16th Apr
The Soft Machine was the very first record I ever owned...and I first heard it under the influence of blue cheer. RIP
dolemite said @ 9:57pm GMT on 16th Apr
Damn sad news.

Also, the article byline is missing an important comma. Allan Holdsworth didn't play with U.K. Soft Machine, Gong, etc.. He played with U.K., Soft Machine, Gong, etc..

The article does later clarify by context that U.K. and Soft machine were different bands, but for the tl:dr crowd it's worth pointing out that U.K. and Soft Machine were each influential bands in their own right.

I hope being a Rock Grammar Nazi is at least slightly cooler than being a standard Grammar Nazi.

I expect later articles written in recognition of Holdsworth's death will recognize his prolific session work as well. If you've ever been listening to a "pretty good" eighties or 90's band and a guitar solo which seems conspicuously above that band's usual talent level comes into the middle of a song and just rips up the place, there's a fair chance that was Allan Holdsworth.
HoZay said @ 11:43pm GMT on 16th Apr
There are some instructional videos on youtube which Holdsworth made some years ago. May make you feel like you shouldn't even have a guitar.
slaytanik said @ 6:57am GMT on 17th Apr
Jesus, the most unique player that most people have never heard of
dolemite said @ 9:53pm GMT on 17th Apr
I'd say most people have heard of Jesus, though I'm not sure how many would characterize him as a "player".
HoZay said @ 10:10pm GMT on 17th Apr [Score:1 Informative]

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