# Allan Holdsworth 1946-2017



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Dear Friends in Music

Today is a very sad day for me.

R.I.P. Allan Holdsworth (August 6, 1946 - April 16, 2017).

There is no greater measure of a life well lived than the amount of people he had impacted, and by that measure the artist Allan Holdsworth lived a very good life. This man took a plank of wood, a few strings, and some wires and transformed people's lives in a way that few others have. The ultimate genius of the rarest kind. One of THE greatest musicians ever lived. So much history with Allan between 2001-2016.

You will be missed forever, Allan - Yo Ol' Geezer, i love You.
Rest In Peace.

​​​​​​​My deepest condolences go to his daughters Emily and Louise, his son Sam, and his granddaughter Rori, and everybody else who loved this truly unique man.

Nardini

All right then, then....
Can I Get You Another One While We Are Waiting?

Leonardo Pavkovic
MoonJune Music, New York


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

Sorry to hear that, Holdsworth was a great guitarist. "Bundles" by Soft Machine is a particular favourite of mine featuring him. RIP Allan.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Very sad for me too.

He was a master guitarist, and a master innovator. Almost every guitarist post late 1970's considers him a major influence.

A very good friend of mine (a top LA session musician and Berklee grad) had this to say about him several years ago:


"his innovative, unique approach to improv is unmatched. The greatest jazz soloists (Coltrane, McCoy, Brecker, Freddie, etc.), all had predecessors on their respective instruments that they copped licks from and modified with their own voice. There clearly is no guitar lineage leading up to Allan's approach. This freak landed ship with a completely new vocabulary not based on anything that was already established. No blues, pentatonics, bop, post-bop...NOTHING."


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

AH recorded a lot of great solos, but this is one of his most soulful and beautiful efforts, imo.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

I'm in the same place when Keith Emerson died. I found Allan when I was about 15 when one of my best friends and I would sit after school and listen to fusion and prog albums. Instantly I could see that Allan found his own language. I was saddened to find out last year that he suffered so greatly from alcoholism. He pushed it until age 70, but then there are some who brought up that after 2000 it was clear the disease was taking a toll. The transition from drinking genius to sober genius is much too hard for many to manage. You can see that people aren't able to talk about this in the forums. Many are probably affected themselves with the disease in one form or another. I feel like sharing my feelings in the prog forums is probably a bad idea. The truth sometimes can't be spoken. Allan invented things but I think it's up to others to take them to new places.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

I loved the fluidity, rhythmic flexibility, and imagination of his improvisation. His work with Soft Machine and UK was my introduction and I still prefer his contributions to the works of other composers more than most of what he composed himself. Sorry to hear about the alcoholism — wish I hadn't heard that.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

EdwardBast said:


> I loved the fluidity, rhythmic flexibility, and imagination of his improvisation. His work with Soft Machine and UK was my introduction and I still prefer his contributions to the works of other composers more than most of what he composed himself. Sorry to hear about the alcoholism - wish I hadn't heard that.


to me it's the opposite. While I like his work as a collaborator, I think that it's his work where he was able to develop the most interesting part of his work and his harmonic sensibility. That's why I think he's still very underrated as a composer.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

I think it's truly after some people die that more people appreciate them. While he was alive, his solo work was a touch too "jazz fusion" for me in my later years and I always hoped he would take the language and make it more like "serious" music or at least more like structured works a la symphonic prog greats. But now I can appreciate it for what it is and enjoy it more.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

norman bates said:


> to me it's the opposite. While I like his work as a collaborator, I think that it's his work where he was able to develop the most interesting part of his work and his harmonic sensibility. That's why I think he's still very underrated as a composer.


Yeah, I can see that. My brother feels the same way. Just a matter of taste in composers.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

regenmusic said:


> I'm in the same place when Keith Emerson died. I found Allan when I was about 15 when one of my best friends and I would sit after school and listen to fusion and prog albums. Instantly I could see that Allan found his own language. I was saddened to find out last year that he suffered so greatly from alcoholism. He pushed it until age 70, but then there are some who brought up that after 2000 it was clear the disease was taking a toll. The transition from drinking genius to sober genius is much too hard for many to manage. You can see that people aren't able to talk about this in the forums. Many are probably affected themselves with the disease in one form or another. I feel like sharing my feelings in the prog forums is probably a bad idea. The truth sometimes can't be spoken. Allan invented things but I think it's up to others to take them to new places.


Wise post. And good that you touch this area. Drugs and other kinds of behavior are socially (superficially) unwanted but nevertheless almost everybody engages in them in some way or another (especially when you consider cafeine, nicotine and alcohol drugs as I do). Varying from mild use to problematic addiction. In the forums we are probably all hypocrites to some extent and wisely so because you never know if your (current or future) employer or family is reading what your posting. Lucky me, I don't have an employer! I'm self-employed. It would be much better of course if the truth could be spoken just as you say.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

regenmusic said:


> I think it's truly after some people die that more people appreciate them. While he was alive, his solo work was a touch too "jazz fusion" for me in my later years and I always hoped he would take the language and make it more like "serious" music or at least more like structured works a la symphonic prog greats. But now I can appreciate it for what it is and enjoy it more.


I believe Holdsworth had ambitions to take things even further, writing for a full fledged orchestra, but these projects need major sponsorship and label support. He certainly had the musical intelligence and imagination to do it. It's a tragedy that nobody in the music industry would get behind Allan and support this brilliant artist in his musical ambitions. And some of this may have to do with Allan's resistance and mistrust of business types. He was signed to Warner Brothers for his 1983 album Road Games, and these difficulties arose during the recording process, which is why the album was never finished. It was released as an EP.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Very revealing thread on here how he was dirt poor:

http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/players/59749-allan-holdsworth-rip.html


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Allan Holdsworth-Norwegian Wood


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Oh, man, I just found this out today! Thanks star thrower, and I followed Holdsworth all the way from Soft Machine "Bundles" to Gong Expresso, Bruford, and beyond. I loved the guy, i loved watching him talk on video, his 'grumpy old man' persona, and his sense of humor. The guy was something very special! I really mourn his passing!


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I like early-period Holdsworth, with Soft Machine and Gong. He got a more traditional 'Les Paul SG through a Marshall' sound. He did more bending and whammy bar stuff that he dropped later on. For more from this period, get Soft Machine: Breeda Reactor.


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