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

With enormous sadness I write to express my condolences to Allan's family on the loss of a much-loved father and grandfather, my friend and colleague. For several years in the 1970s, through my own band and 'UK', I listened to him nightly, launching sheets of sound on an unsuspecting audience, changing perceptions about what guitars and guitarists should or could be doing, thrilling me half to death.I would have paid to be at my own gig.

Allan wasn't easy, but if it was easy it wouldn't have been Allan. Like all creative musicians he was restless and relentless in pursuit of 'the perfect sound', the one that he couldn't get out of his head, the one that would never leave him alone. Now he will be at peace. Still, my guitar gently weeps.

Bill Bruford

Goeie reis, gitaarkunstenaar/ meestercomponist!
Mijn spel is nog zo geïnspireerd door dit magistrale album Secrets! Wat een rijkdom aan melodieën, harmonieën en ritmiek! ( Beste drumwerk op Fusion gebied tot nu toe..)
Meesterwerk en waarlijk mijn drumtechnische Bijbel ( Tis Pasen..)
 

just received very sad news, one of my guitar hero's , the great Allan Holdsworth passed away suddenly......I happened to check his music out yesterday after a long time (used to check him out live when I was younger) . One of the most influential artist who helped define modern guitar playing. He was known for this phenomenal technique, fluidity and exotic chord changes. A truly unique musician.

Left with an empty feeling.....till next lifetime, Allan!

Yesterday I received the most devastating news of the passing of my spiritual and musical brother Allan Holdsworth. And along with that news came the realisation I had now witnessed the conclusion of the last chapter of probably what will always be known by me as the most significant musical relationship of my life. The journey that began in the later 1970s in a studio in London - a first time ever trial playing situation for us - where time and space seemed to evaporate and give vent to suddenly this otherworldly, uncannily effortless, intense communication and empathy of the nature and height I could have only dreamt possible. I remember wondering afterwards, as we were packing our gear, if we'd ever reach that again or even get to play together once more.
And we did.
And those heights occurred for us again and again. Very regularly. And though the albums IOU, Metal Fatigue, Atavachron, Sand, Wardencliffe Tower, Then, Hard Hat Area etc) serve to document the handful of decades we were able to develop together within Allan's writing, I have such vivid memories, still, of that continuing improvisational rapport, flowing, evolving & taking shape in front of audiences all over the world on live shows. It would be a new manifestation, totally unexpected and wildly different every time. And it's clear to me in this moment that this was undoubtedly some kind of connection I will not experience the like of again.

With Allan I had the invitation to literally invent. I knew it was totally unique music. Yet strangely it was music I felt instantly - almost as naturally as if it had come through me. The unique harmony, the unique signature pushes & pulls in tempo, the pauses and the inherent rubato, up alongside all the straighter grooves that all felt so completely logical and organic to me I was genuinely mystified at so much of the confused reaction the music provoked in people. I had no idea why it was regarded convoluted, complex or unusual.

So not only was this the most comfortable playing situation for me I also was afforded the luxury to approach and form all drum approaches to the pieces from my own imagination and intuition. Occasionally I'd come up with something, and I'd quickly know if it wasn't an instant success. But mostly it was. And little was said, virtually nothing ever rehearsed, and it just all fell into place, got recorded that way and continually expanded upon live.
IOU was to essentially document as strongly as possible version of pieces we had been performing for a good while - even from the very beginning, where Allan himself sang the vocal melodies on gigs. But from Unmerry-Go-Round - the wonderful piece where I worked alongside Allan to form the rhythmic structure - it was about an approach to drum composition I had not broached before in myself - how the drums could serve to counterpoint & punctuate the music meaningfully and work conceptually - as a springboard for all our "playing" side of things. This started to particularly blossom and expand for me particularly on the albums Atavachron and Sand.
I would love to elaborate on all these periods one day. Perhaps in the form of a book sometime.

Jumping to the more recent years, from 2000 on, a lot was starting to deteriorate and crumble in Allan's life. Happily we'd been massively enjoying a beautiful reconvening with Jimmy Johnson in trio format at this point, and had also recorded another album in Los Angeles together. But Allan's demons by this point were getting their feet very comfortable under his table, and started to manifest in the form of a growing acceleration in alcohol consumption. And this would be influencing everything from this point onwards.
I was party to a lot I cannot and will not divulge in a Facebook post. All of us were - all who worked together with Allan. And from that point, we were starting to become very concerned.
What would also start to materialise with Allan at this time was a deterioration of creativity - which was bad enough.
Then Allan's marriage collapsed catastrophically, and this brought about yet more severe excesses. Nevertheless, his playing was always central and his continually inspired beautiful fluidity and lucidity was always still apparent. But from this point he was no longer in any way anything bordering on sober on gigs.

The details of our years with him since - the self-medicating, his ever-increasing, spiralling and perpetually heightening suffering and turmoil are, as I clarified, not for these pages. All I can say is that as I always promised him and assured him, I was always at the other end of a phone. Always there.
This would never be enough. And it became inevitable to me that Allan was fast-tracking towards more and more even greater emotional destitution.

Fast forwarding to the most recent and last time I would get to perform with Allan, in 2014 along with Jimmy Haslip I was aware - for the first time ever - things were definitely no longer well with him also as a musician. The self-medication had accumulated significantly, and I was mortified to discover this had now, finally, become quite apparent in his playing.
From this point, and through many unpleasant extra-musical episodes and manifestations later it has been tragically apparent and somewhat inevitable that drastic measures would have to be sought. But, as ever, the closer we were, to Allan, ultimately the more ineffective we proved to be.

And so, now the moment I/we all feared, dreaded yet anticipated has arrived. In all it's dreadful sadness, the story has come to a close, and the cold, stark reality that I will see that man no more is so unbearably painful for me, I cannot describe it.
I have a feeling I will never again recognise musical endeavour in quite the same way without my brother Allan Holdsworth in this world. I will just have to hang on to it, keep it close - keep in constant touch with my little part in the legacy of his trajectory, our shared one, the seed of that creation and keep the essence of it well in tact, together with all of us that've been through so many years in music with this genius. Carrying it on through and into all our future endeavours. I guess I'm speaking for all Allan's players - from way back, to my times starting with him, through the decades and even into these last few tragic years.

I pray with all my heart, my brother, that your suffering is eased and healed. I pray that your passage, into eternity, will be now smooth and complete.
You'll always be such a huge part of me, dear Allan. You are already so incredibly and indescribably missing. I have always loved you, I love you now and will always.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx✨🎈❤️✨🎈❤️✨🎈❤️