Allan Holdsworth: Hard Hat Area; None Too Soon (MoonJune)
Never mind what you've been told by the hagiographers of more famous six-stringers -- the contest for "greatest living British guitarist" is between John McLaughlin (Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra) and Allan Holdsworth (Soft Machine, Tony Williams Lifetime [as McLaughlin's replacement], U.K., Gong), and Holdsworth is my choice. That so much of his solo catalog (around twenty albums) has been hard to find in the U.S. has not helped his case here. Both of these reissues are important albums, for somewhat different reasons.
After a period where Holdsworth's albums had been pure products of the studio, with him laying down the guitar tracks (often guitar synthesizer) and having sessionmen overdub later, 1993's Hard Hat Area put an excellent band -- keyboardist Steve Hunt, bass guitarist Skuli Sverrisson, and drummer Gary Husband -- in the studio with him, interacting in the moment and even creating the closing track collaboratively.
Never mind what you've been told by the hagiographers of more famous six-stringers -- the contest for "greatest living British guitarist" is between John McLaughlin (Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra) and Allan Holdsworth (Soft Machine, Tony Williams Lifetime [as McLaughlin's replacement], U.K., Gong), and Holdsworth is my choice. That so much of his solo catalog (around twenty albums) has been hard to find in the U.S. has not helped his case here. Both of these reissues are important albums, for somewhat different reasons.
After a period where Holdsworth's albums had been pure products of the studio, with him laying down the guitar tracks (often guitar synthesizer) and having sessionmen overdub later, 1993's Hard Hat Area put an excellent band -- keyboardist Steve Hunt, bass guitarist Skuli Sverrisson, and drummer Gary Husband -- in the studio with him, interacting in the moment and even creating the closing track collaboratively.
- 4/28/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Gary Willis: Slaughterhouse 3/Actual Fiction
Mr. Willis has brought the electric bass beyond the now historic Pastorius/Vitous frontier and into new sonic territory. The music world has taken note of this with an Ibanez fretless signature bass, three Hal Leonard Willis-penned books, and a reputation the modest Willis endures graciously. The genius of Willis is in his departure from the known Clarke-to-Wooten parameters.
read more...
Mr. Willis has brought the electric bass beyond the now historic Pastorius/Vitous frontier and into new sonic territory. The music world has taken note of this with an Ibanez fretless signature bass, three Hal Leonard Willis-penned books, and a reputation the modest Willis endures graciously. The genius of Willis is in his departure from the known Clarke-to-Wooten parameters.
read more...
- 2/5/2009
- by tali madden
- www.culturecatch.com
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