Allan Holdsworth: 1946-2017

Since I have been somewhat under the radar over the last few days, I am a little behind on the news. Sadly, I discovered this morning that one of my all time favourite guitar players, Allan Holdsworth, passed away over the weekend.

You will not find an obituary for Allan in any of the popular newspapers, and I doubt MTV or the Grammy Awards will play a tribute to his work at their next ceremony. Holdsworth was a shy and humble figure who appeared to actively dodge the limelight anytime it shone in his direction. Though his music never achieved any considerable mainstream success, he is cited and praised as a formative influence by such guitar playing dignitaries as Steve Vai, Carlos Santana, Joe Satriani and Eddie Van Halen. In fact, Eddie once told Guitar World magazine, “To me, Allan Holdsworth is Number One.”

In 1982 Van Halen actually got to meet and play a few songs with his hero, during a clinic Holdsworth was hosting at The Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, California. It was Van Halen who brought Holdsworth to the attention of Warner Bros. Records, resulting in his first release on a major label, 1984’s Road Games . Despite the record receiving a nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 1984 Grammy Awards, Holdsworth disliked the EP because of creative issues with its producer, Ted Templeman.

A few years ago, I got hold of a bootleg of the gig that Holdsworth and Van Halen played together in 1982, and using my barely adequate audio skills, I was able to remaster the much aged recording. I put the file up on Youtube, and so far it has attracted barely a thousand views. Despite such modest figures, I’m proud of at least trying to get Allan’s playing out there. Here’s the video:

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