guitar maestro Alan Holdsworth - RIP

another one of the great innovators on electric guitar has passed away. very fortunate to have seen him perform on numerous occasions. a brilliant and unique talent.

from The Buffalo News;

Allan Holdsworth, who died at the age of 70 on Easter Sunday, was the most profoundly innovative electric guitarist in the post-Jimi Hendrix world. And though you’ve likely seen tributes to the British guitarist and composer flooding the internet over the past few days, the sad truth is that, despite his prodigious talent and profound influence on the instrument and all who play it, Holdsworth barely made a living from music. His career is one marked by consistent brilliance, and just as consistent struggle.
This fact makes the loss of Holdsworth even more poignant for so many of us who loved his music, a body of work spanning his contributions to dozens of evergreen recordings beneath the banner of other jazz and rock bands and artists (UK, Soft Machine, Bruford, Gong, Jean Luc Ponty, Tony Williams Lifetime, Stanley Clarke, so many others) and a subsequent career as a bandleader that was still going strong when Holdsworth died.
Why was Holdsworth destined to fight tooth and nail for a financially stable career?

read the rest of the article here

check out a superb example of AH in action at Yoshi's (jazz club in SF) here

Sad news. He was a large influence on me when I first heard him back in the 70's even though I ultimately went away from his style and technique of playing.

Here's a nice write up in Premier Guitar LINK

Not my most favourite sound on the guitar, but there's no denying the man's talent.