Allan Holdsworth
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Tired of beeing a sideman/session player Alan formed his own band I.O.U in the beginning of the 80's. The name I.O.U is short for "I Owe You", which was a joke among the members - since they all liked beer, and got lousy wages, they might as well ending up beeing paying the club owner instead of getting paid. The first setup of I.O.U included drummer Gary Husband and bassist Paul Carmichael. His first release as a leader was in 1982 with an album just entitled "I.O.U". | Tired of beeing a sideman/session player Alan formed his own band I.O.U in the beginning of the 80's. The name I.O.U is short for "I Owe You", which was a joke among the members - since they all liked beer, and got lousy wages, they might as well ending up beeing paying the club owner instead of getting paid. The first setup of I.O.U included drummer Gary Husband and bassist Paul Carmichael. His first release as a leader was in 1982 with an album just entitled "I.O.U". | ||
| - | In an interview in [[Guitar Player]] in 1983 Eddie Van Halen stated: "that guy is bad! He’s fantastic, I love him" and "he's the best, in my book." Van Halen persuaded Warner Bros. Records executive Mo Ostin to sign Alan | + | In an interview in [[Guitar Player]] in 1983 Eddie Van Halen stated: "that guy is bad! He’s fantastic, I love him" and "he's the best, in my book." Van Halen persuaded Warner Bros. Records executive Mo Ostin to sign Alan and he relocated to L.A by the same time his first album on Warner "Road Games" was recorded. Since Gary Husband left Alan's band to join [[Level 42]], Chad Wackerman (ex. Zappa) and [[Jeff Berlin]] (from the Bruford band) joined Alan for the recordings. Along was also Jack Bruce, a long-time friend and collaborator of Alan's, who done some vocals on Road Games. The albums first track "Devil's take the Hindmost" was featured as a little plastic sleeve in Guitar Player, and the album was eventually grammy nominated the same year. |
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Revision as of 18:51, 19 October 2009
Contents |
Introduction
Alan Holdsworth is known to be a guitarists guitar player, and many of today's great guitar players mentions him as a source of inspiration. His innovative legato technique in combination with wide stretches and "impossible" chords, makes his style and approach to music unique. He was also one of the first players to adopt the guitar synthesizer and played a major role in the 70' fusion movement.
Early career & influences
Alan Holdsworth, born August 6, 1946 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, is son of a skilled amateur musician, that in early ages was taught music theory and began to play the guitar. He states Django Rheinhardt and Wes Montgomery as his first role models, but the biggest impact on him was actually horn players like John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley. He staded in an interview that when John Coltrane died, he locked himself into the bathroom and cried for hours. Influences also included Charlie Christian, Joe Pass and Eric Clapton.
In the beginning of his career he paid his dues by playing on local dance establishments and clubs, playing whatever what was asked for. His first recording was made in 1969 with Igginbottom ("Wrench"). On occasion he met Ray Warleigh, one of the best tenor-sax players around at that time, and he brought him to London to perform at the legendary Ronnie Scotts with his band in the early 70's.
In 1971 he was a member of Sunship, a band that played mostly improvised music, and contained future-member of King Crimson, percussionist Jamie Muir. He was then "discovered" by Jon Hiseman, who had his "progressive"-rock band "Tempest" by that time, and was eventually touring internationally. He is featured on the cult-recording by Tempest from 1973 with the same name, as well as a recording made by BBC by the same time. His fame grew among musicians in the U.K, when beeing a member of avant-garde instrumental music ensemble, Soft Machine. In 1974 they released the album "Bundles", which led to an international reputation as a skilled guitar player.
Shredding the Jazzrock scene in the mid/late 70's
Drummer Tony Williams (ex. Miles Davis) heard Alan around 1975 and asked him to join his band "The New Lifetime", which was one of the leaders in the jazzrock-movement back then. Alan was then participating in many different constellations in the genre, adding colour with his personal sound/approach. He was playing with Pierre Moerlen's band "Gong", as well as participated on Bill Brufords (ex. Yes, King Crimson) first two solo albums and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty's solo albums. In 1976 CTI records released a solo album with Alan, known as "Velvet Darkness", against Alan's will. The album was made from some old tapes when he was rehearsing in a studio, and he still doesn't want to hear about it.
In 1977 he joined Bill Bruford, John Wetton and Eddie Jobson (ex-Roxy Music/Frank Zappa) to form one of the most succesful progressive-rock bands to be known as just "UK". Due to different thoughts about the music, Alan was eventually fired by John Wetton, but appeared on Bill Brufords album "One Of A Kind" from 1979. He also begun a short-lived collaboration with pianist Gordon Beck, even though they played together later in his career resulting in two more jazz-oriented albums. (Sunbird 1979 and The Things You See 1980)
Going solo
Tired of beeing a sideman/session player Alan formed his own band I.O.U in the beginning of the 80's. The name I.O.U is short for "I Owe You", which was a joke among the members - since they all liked beer, and got lousy wages, they might as well ending up beeing paying the club owner instead of getting paid. The first setup of I.O.U included drummer Gary Husband and bassist Paul Carmichael. His first release as a leader was in 1982 with an album just entitled "I.O.U".
In an interview in Guitar Player in 1983 Eddie Van Halen stated: "that guy is bad! He’s fantastic, I love him" and "he's the best, in my book." Van Halen persuaded Warner Bros. Records executive Mo Ostin to sign Alan and he relocated to L.A by the same time his first album on Warner "Road Games" was recorded. Since Gary Husband left Alan's band to join Level 42, Chad Wackerman (ex. Zappa) and Jeff Berlin (from the Bruford band) joined Alan for the recordings. Along was also Jack Bruce, a long-time friend and collaborator of Alan's, who done some vocals on Road Games. The albums first track "Devil's take the Hindmost" was featured as a little plastic sleeve in Guitar Player, and the album was eventually grammy nominated the same year.
Another headline
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Related GMC Lessons
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See also
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