Allen Holdsworth singing???????

[Barkless Dog]

Yes its true

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA5uC...eature=related

I read that was his favorite guitar, that got stolen and ripped his heart out.

[Toronto Bassist]

I seem to recall that he sings on some of the tunes on I.O.U. as well.

[KJung]

Saw Allan Monday night at a very small club in Detroit (the Jazz Cafe downtown). Man, was it killing.

Chad Wackerman on drums and a wonderful 6 string bassist named Ernest Tibbs. I hadn't heard of Ernest before. He's a wonderful player who can really groove, but then can easily slip into upper register solo's that remind me a bit of John Patitucci's playing (he was even playing one of those Patitucci Yamaha 6 strings).

That music is just so complex, it kind of boggles the mind. The sound was wonderful. The club was so small (seats 100 at max) that there was no front of house support, so you really got to hear what the band actually sounds like, not an interpretation of a front of house sound person. Ernest was playing a classic old school rig (original Goliath powered by what looked like an Eden WT800, I assumed bridged). The tone was wonderful...fat, but with a lot of definition all around the room.

The most impressive thing about Holdsworth to me is his comping. When Tibbs was soloing, Holdsworth comped behind him as well as I've ever heard. He reminded me a bit of Chick Corea in his approach, and his comping made each of Tibbs wonderful solo's better IMO.

Interestingly, I heard Cobham's band with Victor Bailey in the same room a few months ago, and Bailey's bass sounded like complete dog.. mushy, dull, lot's of honk. I thought it was the room. It was not!

If you get a chance to hear this trio live, I would highly recommend it. I have a hard time listening to this old school type fusion on CD's, etc. at this point in time, but seeing it live is really something.


And... finally.... the club manager announced that the next season of the Jazz Cafe (starting in September) will open with Mike Stern, Dennis Chambers, and...... Anthony Jackson

[Barkless Dog]

Alan Holdsworth is like an alien. He is in his own world. So fluid and such a unique tone. He has spider fingers that he makes impossible stretches with his left hand effortlessly.

He's not just fast but has a soaring style in his solos.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Barkless Dog

Alan Holdsworth is like an alien. He is in his own world. So fluid and such a unique tone. He has spider fingers that he makes impossible stretches with his left hand effortlessly.

He's not just fast but has a soaring style in his solos.

+1 Also, just for the heck of it, I purchased the recently remastered CD 'Secrets' at the concert. That was always my favorite Holdsworth disc, and the remastering is WONDERFUL!!!!

[Tumeni Notes]

I like Allan's chord voicings. You can hear one of his chords and know exactly that it is him playing.

One of my most memorable concerts was in Dallas on Lower Greenview. We were having bad weather due to a huge hurricane south of us (I think it was Hurricane Andrew).

The lineup was Allan Holdsworth with Jeff Berlin on bass. The backup band was the Steve Morse band.

Now, I meantioned the storm because it disrupted the show scheduling. Originally, there were two show scheduled but the weather had delayed Allan, Jeff and the other band members. The club called their local house band to hurry up and get set up and play. Steve Morse had driven to the show instead of flying, like the others in the bands. Thus, he showed up on time. When the house band started playing, Steve was a guest member for the 6-8 song set. I noticed that the bass player was extremely nervous because everytime Steve would look at him playing (I guess to get the progressions), he kept turning away from him. I don't blame him, if I played on stage with Steve and would have probably run off screaming.

Anyway, eventually all the band members showed up and they decided to have one big show.

Separatley, I apologize going off on this slight tangent, but I highly recommend you check out Bill Conners. He sounds like Allan Holdsworth, only a little simplier.

P.S. I remember Jeff Berlin soloing and he messed up and then stopped and said something like, "You would mess up too if all you had today were 2 bean burritoes at the airport and have been up for 20 hours!"

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Tumeni Notes

I like Allan's chord voicings. You can hear one of his chords and know exactly that it is him playing.

One of my most memorable concerts was in Dallas on Lower Greenview. We were having bad weather due to a huge hurricane south of us (I think it was Hurricane Andrew).

The lineup was Allan Holdsworth with Jeff Berlin on bass. The backup band was the Steve Morse band.

Now, I meantioned the storm because it disrupted the show scheduling. Originally, there were two show scheduled but the weather had delayed Allan, Jeff and the other band members. The club called their local house band to hurry up and get set up and play. Steve Morse had driven to the show instead of flying, like the others in the bands. Thus, he showed up on time. When the house band started playing, Steve was a guest member for the 6-8 song set. I noticed that the bass player was extremely nervous because everytime Steve would look at him playing (I guess to get the progressions), he kept turning away from him. I don't blame him, if I played on stage with Steve and would have probably run off screaming.

Anyway, eventually all the band members showed up and they decided to have one big show.

Separatley, I apologize going off on this slight tangent, but I highly recommend you check out Bill Conners. He sounds like Allan Holdsworth, only a little simplier.

P.S. I remember Jeff Berlin soloing and he messed up and then stopped and said something like, "You would mess up too if all you had today were 2 bean burritoes at the airport and have been up for 20 hours!"

Cool story!

+1 on Bill Conners also. While some of the old stuff with Weckl and Tommy Kennedy sounds painfully dated at this point, Bill has a somewhat recent CD called 'Return' that is just amazing, with the great Lincoln Goines on bass. It's a bit more 'post bop' than shredding fusion, but it's wonderful and IMO and unique recording.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Toronto Bassist

I seem to recall that he sings on some of the tunes on I.O.U. as well.

That's Paul...uh...Paul something-or-other. Williams I think, Paul Williams is the singer on IOU.

I saw that band (Holdsworth, Williams, Jeff Berlin, & Chad Wackerman) at a tiny club in Cambridge MA. Cool show, but Paul's vox were the absolute worst part of the entire night.

[Barkless Dog]

I have seen him in his best years in my opinion, guesting with other artist.

Tony William's LifeTime Believe it tour- possibly the best concert I have ever seen musically speaking

With Jean Luc Ponty

With UK- not his best, but he made the band great

with Bill Bruford & Jeff Berlin

[jerry]

Originally Posted by Hoover

That's Paul...uh...Paul something-or-other. Williams I think, Paul Williams is the singer on IOU.

I saw that band (Holdsworth, Williams, Jeff Berlin, & Chad Wackerman) at a tiny club in Cambridge MA. Cool show, but Paul's vox were the absolute worst part of the entire night.

Paul Williams was a holdover from Allan's early 70s' band with John Hiseman, Tempest. It must have been a friendship thing, I remember when we used to pick up Holdsworth albums and pray Williams wasn't on it. Poor guy, not a bad singer, just didn't fit the music. I still dig the album Holdsworth hated, his first one with Alphonso Johnson.

[MixBass]

It's interesting seeing the different lineups w/AH. Absolutely my favorite bassman w/Allan is Flim and favorite section is the Secrets team of Flim and Vinnie.I did see an interesting lineup w/ Billy Childs on keys and Gary Husband and Flim and it seemed like Allan was having a blast that night.IMO he's one of the very few who has created his own vocabulary in the last few decades.
Wow, tough gig to sing for though. Not much love from the fuzos for a singer. I happen to dig the stuff Paul Williams did on Road Games and Metal Fatigue. I did some gigs w/Paul and he sings his butt off.
For anyone interested there's a great tune by Steve Vai, Under it all, that is very reminiscent of the AH w/Vox vibe. Very dense chords and heavy lyrics as well.
Anyhow, I remember the last time I saw him I was thinking how lucky we were seeing such a unique musician. These guys don't come along often.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by MixBass

It's interesting seeing the different lineups w/AH. Absolutely my favorite bassman w/Allan is Flim and favorite section is the Secrets team of Flim and Vinnie.I did see an interesting lineup w/ Billy Childs on keys and Gary Husband and Flim and it seemed like Allan was having a blast that night.IMO he's one of the very few who has created his own vocabulary in the last few decades.
Wow, tough gig to sing for though. Not much love from the fuzos for a singer. I happen to dig the stuff Paul Williams did on Road Games and Metal Fatigue. I did some gigs w/Paul and he sings his butt off.
For anyone interested there's a great tune by Steve Vai, Under it all, that is very reminiscent of the AH w/Vox vibe. Very dense chords and heavy lyrics as well.
Anyhow, I remember the last time I saw him I was thinking how lucky we were seeing such a unique musician. These guys don't come along often.

+1 To me, Secrets with Jimmy Johnson and Vinnie is probably the best thing Allan has done IMO!

Jimmy Johnson is one of my biggest influences, not so much regarding exact playing (since he's so beyond my skill level), but rather attitude and professionalism. The idea that he can play with Holdsworth and burn and then play with James Taylor and sound like the best Nashville or LA studio bassist is really to me what it's all about... play the gig! And, the Flim and the BB's stuff was pretty much my first introduction into that style of music (pop jazz or whatever you want to call it) that became a big part of my playing 'career' through the 80's and early 90's.

Great stuff!

[chadds]

Originally Posted by KJung

Cool story!

+1 on Bill Conners also. While some of the old stuff with Weckl and Tommy Kennedy sounds painfully dated at this point, Bill has a somewhat recent CD called 'Return' that is just amazing, with the great Lincoln Goines on bass. It's a bit more 'post bop' than shredding fusion, but it's wonderful and IMO and unique recording.

The Bill Conners who was on the first Return to Forever tour and "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy" RTF album?

[KJung]

Originally Posted by chadds

The Bill Conners who was on the first Return to Forever tour and "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy" RTF album?

Correct. That 'Return' CD is just magnificent, and Lincoln Goines playing and tone is just beautiful IMO! It's a very different direction for him. I really dig it... more 'clean jazz guitar' approach.

[bhagiti]

Allan actually did some singing early on. He sings on Iggenbottom's Wrench - the record he made with one of his first groups in the late 60's and he sings on a record he made with Gordon Beck in the 70's - on a tune he would later re-record with I.O.U.

[zombywoof5050]

Originally Posted by Tumeni Notes

One of my most memorable concerts was in Dallas on Lower Greenview. We were having bad weather due to a huge hurricane south of us (I think it was Hurricane Andrew).

The lineup was Allan Holdsworth with Jeff Berlin on bass. The backup band was the Steve Morse band.

That was hurricane Alicia in August 1983. I was at the show the very night the storm hit in Houston at Fitzgerald's nightclub. Great show, got to meet Jeff Berlin.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by jerry

I still dig the album Holdsworth hated, his first one with Alphonso Johnson.

Velvet Darkness on CTI or whatever Creed Taylor's label is called, yeah, I freakin' love that album! Narada is one of my all-time favorite drummers, and when he goes garbanzo-ape with those monster over-the-barline tom fills I nearly hyperventilate. And 'Zo's crazy effects stuff...awesome album. What's really scarey is that those are mostly first takes.

Originally Posted by KJung

Jimmy Johnson is one of my biggest influences, not so much regarding exact playing (since he's so beyond my skill level), but rather attitude and professionalism. The idea that he can play with Holdsworth and burn and then play with James Taylor and sound like the best Nashville or LA studio bassist is really to me what it's all about... play the gig!

+1.
Heck, +10,000,000
That's been my creed for decades, and the older I get the more I find myself attracted to other bassists with that sort of work ethic: Jimmy Johnson, Tony Levin, Nathan East, Will Lee, Leland Sklar...guys with gut-busting chops that they parse out very judiciously in tiny doses, rather than spraying all over the walls like a male cat in rut.

[Barkless Dog]

Velvet Darkness on CTI or whatever Creed Taylor's label is called, yeah, I freakin' love that album! Narada is one of my all-time favorite drummers, and when he goes garbanzo-ape with those monster over-the-barline tom fills I nearly hyperventilate. And 'Zo's crazy effects stuff...awesome album. What's really scary is that those are mostly first takes.

I read about how he hated it. I loved it as well. He said he was under contract when he recorded the roughs and they just put it out without his blessing, what ever they had at the time. Good thing


I also read where is was so terribly bored playing with UK, that he would day dream about drinking a pint while playing. He could not stand that band (not the players).

[HalfDayClosing]

Originally Posted by KJung

Saw Allan Monday night at a very small club in Detroit (the Jazz Cafe downtown). Man, was it killing.

Chad Wackerman on drums and a wonderful 6 string bassist named Ernest Tibbs. I hadn't heard of Ernest before. He's a wonderful player who can really groove, but then can easily slip into upper register solo's that remind me a bit of John Patitucci's playing (he was even playing one of those Patitucci Yamaha 6 strings).

That music is just so complex, it kind of boggles the mind. The sound was wonderful. The club was so small (seats 100 at max) that there was no front of house support, so you really got to hear what the band actually sounds like, not an interpretation of a front of house sound person. Ernest was playing a classic old school rig (original Goliath powered by what looked like an Eden WT800, I assumed bridged). The tone was wonderful...fat, but with a lot of definition all around the room.

The most impressive thing about Holdsworth to me is his comping. When Tibbs was soloing, Holdsworth comped behind him as well as I've ever heard. He reminded me a bit of Chick Corea in his approach, and his comping made each of Tibbs wonderful solo's better IMO.

Interestingly, I heard Cobham's band with Victor Bailey in the same room a few months ago, and Bailey's bass sounded like complete dog.. mushy, dull, lot's of honk. I thought it was the room. It was not!

If you get a chance to hear this trio live, I would highly recommend it. I have a hard time listening to this old school type fusion on CD's, etc. at this point in time, but seeing it live is really something.


And... finally.... the club manager announced that the next season of the Jazz Cafe (starting in September) will open with Mike Stern, Dennis Chambers, and...... Anthony Jackson

MAN I live in mid-town and I'm so upset to hear that I missed Allan and Chad. The bassplayer sounds good aswell. AH!

[jerry]

Originally Posted by Barkless Dog

I also read where is was so terribly bored playing with UK, that he would day dream about drinking a pint while playing. He could not stand that band (not the players).

Bruford covers that in his book, Wetton and Holdsworth weren't exactly friends at the end.