Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Allan Holdsworth Returns to Yoshi's


My all-time favorite guitarist is none other than the legendary Allan Holdsworth. I first saw him back in the late '70s, in one of the latter incarnations of the Tony Williams Lifetime; next with the British group U.K., featuring Bill Bruford, John Wetton and Eddie Jobson; and later, after seeing subsequent tours with his own incredible trio of bassist Jimmie Johnson and drummer Chad Wackerman, I knew I was witnessing pure guitar genius.

There is no one who sounds like the self-taught guitar wizard, though many have tried. His unique way of phrasing and beautifully crafted chords, is an extremely rare gift. Holdsworth is indeed, one of a handful of musicians who has consistently proven himself as an innovator within the worlds of rock and jazz music.

Many of music's best-known instrumental masters cite Holdsworth as that rare and shining voice—a legendary player who continues to push the outer limits of instrumental technique and the electric guitar's range of tonal and textural possibilities. Despite the uncompromising nature of Holdsworth's predominantly genre-defying solo projects, he's no stranger to all-star jazz festival line-ups or large venue rock audiences. His last performance at Yoshi’s was with Tony Williams alum Alan Pasqua, and recorded live on DVD. Holdsworth returns to Yoshi's for three more unforgettable nights with his long-standing trio featuring Wackerman and Johnson.

Allan Holdsworth is widely regarded by fans and contemporary musicians as one of the 20th century's most prominent guitarists. He is one of a handful of musicians who has consistently proven himself as an innovator in between and within the worlds of rock and jazz music. Many of music's best-known instrumental masters cite Holdsworth as that rare and shining voice—a legendary player who continues to push the outer limits of instrumental technique and the electric guitar's range of tonal and textural possibilities. Particularly during the 90s, Holdsworth has enjoyed the recognition so many musicians strongly feel he deserves, given that he has developed his career outside the big label mainstream and has consistently produced his own recordings with complete creative control since the mid-80s. Despite the uncompromising nature of Holdsworth's predominantly genre-defying solo projects, he's no stranger to all-star jazz festival line-ups or large venue rock audiences. Musician Magazine placed Holdsworth near the top of their “100 greatest guitarists of all time.” There's never been a shortage of media attention or acclaim for Holdsworth's accomplishments and originality. An inductee of Guitar Player Magazine's Hall of Fame, Holdsworth is a five-time winner in their readers' poll.

Beyond his ability in improvising mercurial solos and sculpting the guitar's voice into an ever-expanding range of textures and colors, Holdsworth has dedicated his energies to develop many different aspects of guitar technology. This has included new “baritone” variations of the instrument, his own custom 6-string designs (one most recently manufactured by Carvin), the invention of electronic components for the recording studio, and exploring the possibilities of guitar-based synthesizer controllers. Holdworth's ability to improvise over complex and challenging chord voicing's always reveals a deep emotional base and a strong, imaginative personality that is as instantly identifiable as any among Holdsworth's generation of guitar and jazz masters.

The sounds of Django Reinhardt, Jimmy Rainey, Charlie Christian, Joe Pass , Eric Clapton, and John Coltrane were among this English musician's early inspirations when he began to work professionally as a musician in his early twenties. Born in the city of Bradford , England , Holdsworth had been extensively tutored in aspects of musical theory and jazz appreciation by his father, an accomplished amateur musician. Holdsworth paid his musician's dues early on working the dance-club circuit, where he began to meet fellow musicians who hailed from the south. One of England 's best jazz tenor saxophonists, Ray Warleigh, heard amazing potential in Holdsworth's playing and brought him along to participate in jazz sets at the onset of the 70s, including sessions with Ray at Ronnie Scotts in London .

Holdsworth's career brought him to international audiences suddenly in the early 1970s, when he joined drummer John Hiseman's short-lived but much acclaimed “progressive” rock band, Tempest. A decade later, Tempest vocalist Paul Williams would team up with Holdsworth again to form Holdsworth's IOU band and create their independently-released debut recording, which prompted Holdsworth to move his home from London to Southern California.

Holdsworth's career throughout the 70s saw a series of feast-or-famine periods all too familiar to many of the most talented musicians. By 1975 Holdsworth had developed a reputation as one of England 's best, underrated guitarists in what was then the avant-garde of English instrumental music ensembles, the legendary group, Soft Machine. Holdsworth's trademark sound is evident with a technique that routinely soars with supersonic intensity, and one of its earliest available samplings can be heard on the 1974 Soft Machine studio release, Bundles . While his reputation in Soft Machine attracted international audiences, he also gained the attention of one of jazz's greatest drummers, the late Tony Williams, known for his pivotal role in bringing Miles Davis to explore rock-based riffs and motifs in an improvisational context. Holdsworth recorded on one of the most celebrated fusion albums from the mid-70s, Believe It , (Epic), as a member of the Tony Williams' New Lifetime. This marked the beginning of Holdsworth's career as a legendary journeyman, but one rarely performing before U.S. audiences.

Between 1976 and 1978 Holdsworth's guitar sounds and solos emerged as a mesmerizing tour de force and he participated in many of that era's landmark jazz-fusion and instrumental rock recordings by Jean Luc Ponty ( Enigmatic Ocean ), Gong ( Gazeuse! ), and Bill Bruford ( Feels Good To Me , One of A Kind ). Late in the 70s, the once dominant genre of classic British “prog rock” stumbled on unsure footing as the punk and new wave bands rose in commercial prominence. Drummer Bill Bruford, a founding member of Yes who later joined King Crimson, suggested Holdsworth participate in a new project featuring the formidable rhythm section of King Crimson and a brilliant young violinist/keyboardist Eddie Jobson, who had worked with both Frank Zappa and Roxy Music.

The resulting debut album, U.K . , became what was later considered the last and greatest milestones of 70s progressive rock. The band's sound was at the time both technically and artistically at the cutting edge of rock music, given the coupling of Jobson's innovative use of synthesizers and electric violins, coupled with Holdsworth's unconventional chord voicings, searing solos, and passionate melodic phrases. The U.K. “supergroup” setting was as brilliant as it was short-lived, and egos and questions of creative direction led to a split between Bruford and Holdsworth on one side, and Jobson and bassist John Wetton on the other. In 1996 Guitar World cited Holdsworth's contribution to U.K . as the factor in naming it one of the top 10 rock guitar albums “of all time.”

In 1978, Holdsworth decided he wanted to pursue a different, more live-based direction as opposed to his recent participation in lush, studio-crafted masterpieces. He sought out a more immediate, less intricately arranged band context than what had been established with Bruford, in order to explore a rock-oriented musical context that also explored extended instrumental ensemble improvisations. Holdsworth wanted to rediscover some of the energy and dynamics that had been so memorable in his live performances working with Tony Williams, and reluctantly parted company with Bruford's band. Holdsworth began to develop his own trio with two other Northern English musicians, drummer Gary Husband, and bassist Paul Carmichael, which begun Holdsworth's first touring band as a leader, the now-celebrated IOU band. Their first recording IOU sold exceptionally well for an independent release, and Holdsworth's friend and admirer, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, proved instrumental in securing IOU a recording contract with Warner Bros. Executive Producer Ted Templeman wanted to experiment with a “mini-album” concept, which resulted in the 1984 Grammy-nominated release, Road Games , which featured vocal cameos from long-time Holdsworth collaborator, the legendary Jack Bruce. It also featured a new American line-up, with Jeff Berlin and Chad Wackerman comprising the rhythm section. However tensions with the label over creative control led to a split between Holdsworth and Warner Bros. In 1985 Holdsworth signed with the Enigma label, enjoying creative control, and Jimmy Johnson joined the group after Jeff Berlin's departure to pursue his solo career. Holdsworth then recruited one of the most respected L.A. session bassists, Jimmy Johnson, leader of Flim and the BBs. The last version of the IOU band went back in the studio and with some notable guest appearances (among them bassist Gary Willis and original IOU drummer Gary Husband) contributed to tracks for the highly successful release, Metal Fatigue (1985).

In 1986 the release of Atavachron demonstrated Holdsworth's focus on instrumental music, continuing his core band with Johnson and Wackerman. Atavachron also featured stellar guest appearances by two of Southern California 's most sought after jazz keyboardists, Alan Pasqua and Billy Childs. Like other Holdsworth recordings to follow, it proved to be a summit for great drummers, with guest contributions from Tony Williams and Gary Husband. Husband's increasingly successful career eventually led to Holdsworth's appearance as a studio musician and band member with Level 42 for their 1993 release, Guaranteed . The follow-up to Atavachron , Sand (1988), marked a new period with Holdsworth concentrating on his exploration of the Synthaxe, a revolutionary guitar-like synth-controller.

Holdsworth received the winning award in Guitar Player Magazine's poll as “best guitar synthesist,” for many consecutive years afterward. With Secrets (1990) Holdsworth returned to his association with Enigma records, (which became the Restless label) featuring an album recorded mostly with the great session drummer Vinnie Collaiuta, who later joined Sting's band and had previously worked with Frank Zappa and Jeff Berlin. Secrets further revealed Holdsworth's rich harmonic vision and unleashed more distinctively “Holdsworthian” music, an enigmatic style that continues to invert, push, and transform the boundaries of more conventional rock, fusion, and jazz forms.

During this period the keyboardist from Stanley Clarke's touring band, Steve Hunt, joined Holdsworth's band. In the early 90s, Holdsworth also appeared in a jazz “supergroup” and at festivals with other great jazz and fusion legends, including Stanley Clarke, Billy Cobham, and Michael and Randy Brecker among others. 1992's Wardenclyffe Tower furthered an exploration of Holdsworth's own designs for baritone electric guitars (built by luthier Bill DeLap) and broadened the use of his chordal orchestrations and solo phrasings via the SynthAxe. In 1994, Hard Hat Area was released on Restless with the latest version of Holdsworth's band, including Icelandic bassist Skull Sverrisson, Gary Husband, and Steve Hunt, providing one of his most satisfying projects from the quality of group interplay and capturing the band closer to its live performance context. The release of Holdsworth's next album project, None Too Soon (1996) marked a departure in style from this impressive string of previous group projects. It provided Holdsworth the opportunity to showcase his interpretation of some classic jazz standards and several originals by one of England 's best-known jazz pianists, Gordon Beck.

Holdsworth recorded some of his favorite, lesser-known jazz standards, along with several Gordon Beck originals, in a “straight-ahead” jazz vein, drawing upon Beck's talents as an arranger. The rhythm section teamed for the project included bass prodigy Gary Willis and drummer Kirk Covington, both members of the West Coast based fusion powerhouse, Tribal Tech. None Too Soon built upon the same chemistry established in a brief recording session of the same musicians featured on a Beatles guitar tribute titled “Come Together,” (1994, NYC Records) in which this same group covered Beck's arrangement of the Beatles' “Michelle.” In None Too Soon , Holdsworth produced a refreshing jazz recording that realized a different perspective on his playing, while demonstrating his appreciation of standards as penned by John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Django Reinhardt and Joe Henderson. None Too Soon offers listeners a compelling and swinging musical journey, including a riveting, updated interpretation of Irving Berlin's “How Deep Is The Ocean” and a blistering twist on the Lennon/McCartney classic, “Norwegian Wood.”

Building on the supreme sonic craftsmanship Holdsworth realizes in his home studio in Southern California , The Brewery, Holdsworth's latest solo recording is certain to be singled out as one of his greatest musical masterpieces. The Sixteen Men Of Tain marks a further exploration of traditional jazz motifs, and, as a first on his solo projects, an acoustic rhythm section. Holdsworth's tenth solo album marked the debut of a new band formed with bassist Dave Carpenter and drummer Gary Novak, both West Coast session men. First released in 2000, a special edition with two additional tracks was released via Eddie Jobson's label, Globe Music, in summer of 2003. Tain marked a new direction in a forward-looking jazz vein and blended together a new vision explored to a degree in the more traditional jazz arrangements found in None Too Soon.

One frequent topic of discussion among Holdsworth devotees was the fact that after well over a decade of touring with stellar players, Holdsworth had never approved the release of any live recordings by his bands, or any of those with him as a guest performer for that matter. In Fall 2002, Sony Japan released Holdsworth's first ever live recording, featuring Jimmy Johnson and Chad Wakerman in which Sony featured the trio's performance show as a showpiece for their next generation of state-of-the-art five-channel sound technology. In late 2003, Alternity Records will release a second landmark Holdsworth live recording, Then! featuring a quartet performance from 1990 with keyboardist Steve Hunt, along with original IOU drummer Gary Husband, and Jimmy Johnson. Recorded originally in digital 24-track, Then! covers material from a broad swath of Holdsworth's recording career, from his days with Tony Williams' Lifetime up through Hard Hat Area and includes three never-released group improvisation tracks, not to mention some of Holdsworth's most powerful and ferocious solo flights ever captured on tape. Holdsworth spent time later in 2002 completing production duties for the recently released Softworks album Abracadabra , which featured alumnus from different eras of the legendary English experimental band, Soft Machine. Holdsworth toured with the band in Japan in the summer of 2003, which included saxophonist Elton Dean, bassist Hugh Hopper, and drummer John Marshall.

In the past decade Holdsworth has varied his music career, engineering and inventing electronic sound-processing tools, including The Harness. He has several unique electric guitar designs now produced by Carvin, and has worked with luthier DeLap in conceiving custom baritone and piccolo guitars. In fact one of the larger and longer baritones is featured on all three improvised pieces in the new live album, Then! In his expanded and improved home studio, Holdsworth is already writing material for a new album of original pieces, and is planning to participate as a guest musician in several other projects as an engineer/producer. Whether he is playing instruments with the latest electric guitar innovations, piccolo, baritone guitars, or the Synthaxe, Holdsworth remains never quite satisfied in his eternal “quest for the perfect tone."

With the Bay Bridge closing for Labor Day Friday night, San Franciscans may yet have their chance to catch Holdsworth via BART; for those lucky few already in the East Bay, spend some time with one of the greatest electric guitarists of all time.

Allan Holdsworth, with Jimmy Johnson & Chad Wackerman at Yoshi's, Jack London Square
Fri 8pm $24 & 10pm $16
Sat 8pm & 10pm $24 Sun 7pm $24 & 9pm $16
Day of Show: additional $3 per ticket

Friday, August 13, 2010

Lenny White's "Anomaly" Comes to Yoshi's

Alongside the late Tony Williams and Billy Cobham, Lenny White is part of my personal trinity of the greatest drummers of all time. I have seen all three, many, many times over their storied careers. There are none better. Williams, Cobham and White redefined jazz drumming in the '70s, giving birth to the jazz-rock era and paving the way for all who came behind them. According to Abstract Logix, his label's website, "Following his triumphant worldwide reunion tour with Return To Forever in 2008 and separate trio tours in 2009 with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke and pianist Hiromi with Clarke, White was primed to put out his own recording, his first as a leader in ten years. With "Anomaly", the pioneering jazz-rock drummer returns to his roots, blending powerhouse backbeats and improvisational abandon in a bold, unapologetically aggressive manner that characterized the early 70s fusion movement. On that RTF tour he told sold-out crowds every night: “This is not a boy band, this is a man band. And we need to take back the music as musicians”. White rolls into Yoshi's in Oakland August 24th-25th with his "Anomaly" band.

“And I really meant that,” says White. “We need to restart a revolution so that we can take back the music and stop the fluff. And I’m hoping that this new album is a representation of that.” Accompanied by a crew of unsung guitar killers in Nick Moroch (a former member of White’s Astral Pirates), David Gilmore, Tom Guarna and David Bendeth, keyboardists George Colligan, Bernard Wright, Donald Blackman, (another Astral Pirate) and Vince Evans and bassists Victor Bailey, Richie Goods, Charles Fambrough and his RTF bandmate Stanley Clarke, White unleashes with Zeppelinesque fury on Anomaly, his tenth overall recording as a leader.

“I really wanted to rock out on this project,” says White. “Early on, David Bendeth said to me, “No one has made a jazz-rock or fusion record with the sound of a rock record.” So I said, “Let’s do it!” And one of the things for me that was a real boost before we got into recording was reading something that John Bonham had said in a book about the making of several famous Led Zeppelin tracks. Now, I have been a Led Zeppelin fan forever and ‘Black Dog’ had always been my favorite Zeppelin tune. But I actually recently rediscovered ‘In My Time of Dying,’ which became my new favorite Zeppelin tune. So I’m reading through this book and I got to the point where Bonham’s talking about constructing the track ‘In My Time of Dying,’ and he says, “We were kind of rocking a little bit more from a progressive standpoint at this point, and I had been listening to Tony Williams, Billy Cobham and Lenny White.”So that really made my day.”

Anomaly, it turns out, is an apt description for a record that defies all industry trends with its sheer audaciousness. “I would’ve never been able to make a record like this if I were on a major label today,” says White. “Most record companies are very myopic in how they market things. So they want you to do one particular thing and you’re not supposed to stray outside of the line. I don’t know any musicians who are myopic but when they come under the umbrella of major labels, they suddenly become that way because that’s what is demanded of you when you are part of a stable of artists”. But on this project, White was free to explore his musical vision with a no-holds-barred approach.

He opens the collection with the riff-driven funk-rock of ‘Drum Boogie,’ a tune he wrote for his Lenny White Group more than 25 years ago. Nick Moroch takes a particularly blistering guitar solo here. “Nick is an undiscovered guitar hero. A lot of people know about him but not enough. He’s really a brilliant musician. He can play any style, any kind of guitar. He’s amazing.”

The crunchy, grunge-toned ‘We Know’ is decidedly in a Zeppelin vein and features a fleet-fingered piccolo bass solo from Stanley Clarke. Producer David Bendeth also turns in a scorching guitar solo on this aggressive number. “David is one of the top rock-pop producers in the world today,” says White. “He’s produced recordings for platinum acts like Paramour and Breaking Benjamin. And the truth is, he used to play in my band long ago. When I called him to work with me on this project I went by his studio in New Jersey and he told me, “Man, I owe all of this to you because you kicked my butt so bad when I was in your band that I learned a lot and I use everything that you taught me with all these groups. “So it was great to be able to reconnect with him on this project.”

White’s longtime friend, singer/producer and collaborator Nicki Richards is featured singing on ‘Forever.’ Some liquid lines from Widespread Panic guitarist Jimmy Herring coolly shade her soulful vocals. Guitarist David Gilmore brings in his composition ‘Dark Moon,’ which features Bernard Wright on piano and Victor Bailey in a rare turn on upright bass. Gilmore’s fluid solo here is spectacular. “I went to Russia and took David as a part of my group there,” says White. And during that tour, David wrote this song for me. We pulled it out for this session and recorded it, and David sounds fantastic on it.” “Then on another tour we went to Warsaw with Polish pop singer Tatiana Okupnik and opened for the Rolling Stones.

White offers an intriguing re-imagining of Joe Henderson’s ‘Gazelle,’ a composition that he recorded with the tenor sax great in 1970 on the live Milestone album ‘If You’re Not Part of the Solution, You’re Part Of The Problem.’ White turns in an extended drum solo on this fresh remake of the Henderson staple. “That’s always been one of my favorite tunes of Joe’s,” he says. “I just decided to put a different slant on it.”

Guitarist Tom Guarna contributes the exotic ‘If U Dare,’ which he imbued with his distortion-laced tones and considerable chops. “Tom’s another one of these unsung guitar heroes out here. He’s one of those guys that the public doesn’t know that well. And I really do like to bring the focus on great musicians that people don’t really know about. Tom can really play! And he’s a science fiction fan too, so that worked for me.”

‘Election Day’ is a big triumphant-sounding number that pays tribute to the historic election of President Barack Obama. Almost orchestral in scope, it’s a kind of heavy metal ‘Fanfare for the Common Man.’ As heavy as James Gang, Grand Funk Railroad and Led Zeppelin rolled into one, this aggressive track features a remarkably grungy wah-wah synth solo by Wright and a stinging six-string solo by Moroch. “I wanted to have a rocking track that had strings like Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir,’” says White. “And this fit the bill.”

‘Coming Down’ is harmonically sophisticated tune in six with a cool distortion guitar solo from Guarna while ‘Anthem’ is George Colligan’s humungous-sounding arena rock number. Guarna erupts on this emotionally-charged power ballad like Tommy Bolin on Billy Cobham’s Spectrum.

White and his longstanding friend and drumming colleague Mike Clark (from Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters) join together for a two-drum jam on ‘Catlett Out of the Bag.’ Opening with a quote from jazz drumming great Sid Catlett’s ‘Mop Mop’ lick, it develops into a funky, organ-fueled groove with punchy horn section and Maceo Parker-styled alto sax work by Danny Walsh, another White regular. “Mike and I go back almost 40 years,” he says of Clark. “We played together a few years ago in a band we started called New Brew. For this track we just went in the studio and jammed with Jerry Z, the organist who plays in Mike’s band. I have no problem playing two drum things because I do it from the perspective of having one guy with eight arms. And then afterwards we overdubbed some horns on there so it would sound like a big jam band.”

Perhaps the most stirring tune on the collection is ‘Water Changes Everything,’ an exotic African flavored number featuring a vocal choir consisting of Chris Williams, Vanese Thomas, Gregg Clark, Irene James, Michelle Weeks-Reynoso and Nicki Richards. White explains the meaning behind this powerful original. “Basically, I had written this piece of music and after the fact a friend of mine told me about a charity called Water where they build wells in Africa where people don’t have any water and have to travel six hours to get water in some cases, and it’s not really drinkable water. So we put some words together to address this issue and I got some of my great singing friends to sing on it. I wanted it to be like a ‘We Are The World’ kind of thing, where everybody sings a piece of the verse. And I think you get the message.”

Another thought-provoking number is the hugely orchestral ‘The Wait Has Lifted the Weight,’ White’s spoken word meditation on the Obama Presidency. As he explains: “The actual piece was a part of an opera I’m composing. When Obama’s election happened, I thought about a whole bunch of things and I wrote down what I was thinking about. And I would’ve loved to have gotten Laurence Fishburne or a great voice like James Earl Jones to speak those words. But it didn’t work out, so I decided to go on and do it myself. What I was talking about was that for so long black people in the United States have been waiting to have some sort of major respectability boost. And I think with a black president people are starting to shift their attitudes. And you know, we’ve been waiting a long time. So now that wait, which is time, has lifted this weight.

Bonus tracks on Anomaly (not available for Stateside release) are White’s ‘Inside Strait,’ a revved-up funk rocker he penned more than 20 years ago, and Colligan’s slamming jazz-rock number ‘Arpanet,’ which features more sizzling six-string work from Guarna and a soaring Mini Moog solo by the composer.

Largely self-taught on drums, native New Yorker White broke into the jazz world in 1968 with alto saxophonist Jackie McLean. The following year he participated in Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, generally regarded as the album that birthed the fusion movement. He subsequently recorded with a Who’s Who in Jazz, including trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw, tenor saxophonists Joe Henderson, Gato Barbieri and Stan Getz and renowned composer-bandleader Gil Evans, among others. As a member of Return To Forever from 1973 to 1976, White gained a solid reputation as one of the top fusion drummers of the day. “I'm basically a jazz guy, and that’s what I grew up playing,” he says. “But when this new thing happened with jazz-rock through Bitches Brew and bands like Tony Williams Lifetime and Return To Forever, I found myself on the ground floor of a movement. And this musical movement co-existed with other forms of music that came in during the latter part of the 20th century.

“I was fortunate when I started to make music,” he continues. “I made music at the same time that Igor Stravinksy was making music, at the same time that Jimi Hendrix and James Brown were making music, at the same time that Duke Ellington and Miles Davis and John Coltrane were making music. Led Zeppelin co-existed at the same time that Return To Forever did. All these artists co-existed at the same time and I listened to all that music and was influenced by all of it. So now when I put together an eclectic project I sometimes hear people say, “Oh man, what is he trying to do” ”But the truth is, I’m not trying to do anything. I’m just representing the music that I came up listening to.”

He represents it well on Anomaly."

Lenny White and "Anomaly" featuring Jimmy Herring, Chris Goods, Vince Evans and Tom Guarna
Tuesday, August 24th
8PM Show: $22
10PM Show: $14

Wednesday, August 25th
8PM Show: $22
10PM Show: $14