Leverkusen 2010 (Live) Allan Holdsworth

• 1 Leave Them On (Live) 07:23
• 2 Fred (Live) 06:02
• 3 Water On The Brain - Pt. II (Live) 05:33
• 4 Madame Vintage (Live) 04:22
• 5 Above And Below (Live) 08:12
• 6 The Things You See (When You Haven't Got Your Gun) (Live) 02:54
• 7 Material Real (Live) 02:46
• 8 The Fifth (Live) 09:08
• 9 Letters Of Marque (Live) 11:49
• 10 Proto-Cosmos (Live) 03:14
• Total Runtime 01:01:23

Info for Leverkusen 2010 (Live)

Das Doppelalbum zeigt den großen Gitarristen live bei den Leverkusener Jazztagen am 9. November 2010, 13 Jahre nach seinem triumphalen Auftritt bei den Jazztagen 1997.

Bei diesem Auftritt wurde Holdsworth von dem gefeierten Schlagzeuger und langjährigen Mitarbeiter Chad Wackerman und dem Bassisten Ernest Tibbs unterstützt. Der Bassist schrieb auch die Liner Notes für das Set, die auf seinen persönlichen Erinnerungen an Auftritte mit Holdsworth basieren.

Die Zusammenarbeit mit Holdsworth stellte Tibbs, der für seine Arbeit mit einer Vielzahl von Künstlern wie Andy Summers und David Benoit bis hin zu Dionne Warwick und Lee Ritenour bekannt ist, jedoch vor einige besondere Herausforderungen. "Wenn man in Allans Trio spielte, hatte man keinen Pianisten oder Keyboarder, auf den man sich verlassen konnte, so dass man in der Lage sein musste, zu covern und die treibende Kraft zu sein", sagt Tibbs. "Da ich aus dem R&B-Bereich komme, dachte ich mir, dass dies eine großartige Erfahrung für mich sein würde. Ich habe es als Herausforderung angenommen, und als ich es geschafft hatte, fühlte es sich großartig an."

Als Gitarrist eines Gitarristen wurden Holdsworths Musik und sein Vermächtnis im Laufe der Jahre von einem Who's Who der Axtschwinger umarmt, von Eddie Van Halen und Joe Satriani bis hin zu Frank Zappa und Tom Morello. Van Halen war es, der Warner Bros. Records auf den gebürtigen Briten Holdsworth aufmerksam machte. Records aufmerksam machte, während Zappa ihn einmal als "einen der interessantesten Gitarristen auf dem Planeten" bezeichnete.

LEVERKUSEN 2010 beginnt mit Leave Them On", das später auf Gary Husbands Studioalbum Dirty & Beautiful, Volume 1, mit dem leicht veränderten Titel Leave 'Em On" erschien. Weitere Höhepunkte sind die Holdsworth-Live-Stücke "Proto-Cosmos" und "Water on the Brain - Pt. II" sowie die Dreifachaufnahme von "Madame Vintage", "Above and Below" und "The Things You See (When You Haven't Got Your Gun)". Wie so oft teilte Holdsworth auch großzügig das Rampenlicht mit seinen Mitstreitern, indem er die Wackerman-Komposition "The Fifth" coverte und dem Schlagzeuger ein Solo bei "Letters of Marque" erlaubte.

Alles in allem ist LEVERKUSEN 2010 eine würdige Ergänzung des Holdsworth-Vermächtnisses an Live-Auftritten, die von einer herausragenden Musikalität geprägt sind. Tibbs sagt: "Ich denke, dass Allans Musik eine Klasse für sich ist. Harmonisch und improvisatorisch gesehen ist sie nicht von dieser Welt. Die Leute werden seine Musik noch in hundert Jahren studieren. Ich sehe jetzt schon eine ganz neue Generation von jungen Gitarristen, die seine Musik studieren, so wie junge Saxophonisten die Musik von John Coltrane studieren."

"Allan war ein wunderbarer Mensch, ein wirklich netter Mensch und er war sehr großzügig und sehr aufmerksam", fügt er hinzu. "Es war eine Ehre für mich, dass ich die Gelegenheit hatte, mit ihm Musik zu machen und in seinem Trio zu spielen."

Allan Holdsworth, Gitarre
Ernest Tibbs, Bass
Chad Wackerman, Schlagzeug

Digitally remastered

Allan Holdsworth
is well known to contemporary musicians as an uncompromising virtuoso who redefined and re-invented the voice and scope of the electric guitar. To the mainstream of rock and jazz audiences, he remains a little known, unsung hero. To the initiated, Holdsworth looms as both musical legend and commercial enigma. In the early 70s, he began as a sideman to the protean forces who merged rock's electric instrumentation and driving pulse with the improvisational mastery associated with jazz. Holdsworth provided the searing, flamboyant edge that galvanized that era's most celebrated recordings by the likes of Soft Machine, Tony William's New Lifetime, and Jean-Luc Ponty. The sounds of Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, and later John Coltrane were among the primary inspirations that led Holdsworth away from his passion of bicycle racing, and into dance hall gigs, playing the Mecca circuit in Northern England. Born in Bradford, in 1946, Holdsworth had been tutored in many aspects of musical theory and jazz appreciation by his father, Sam, an accomplished amateur musician.

With the 1990 release of Secrets Holdsworth further revealed his rich musical vision, where contemporary forms of music are crafted in an improvisational context in defiance of conventional boundaries - a full range of emotions and textures. The Wardenclyffe Tower opens a stunning new chapter in a solo career that blossomed during the 80s. As a producer and composer, he continues to explore and expanding galaxy of guitar synths with a balance of his famed legato-lead stylings and an ever evolving array of chordal colorings. This 1992 album is stocked with further electric guitar innovations, including two tracks featuring his newly designed family of mutant, baritone guitars. Wardenclyffe Tower, like Secrets features contributions from world-class musical collaborators, including long-time bandmates like drummer Chad Wackerman bassist Jimmy Johnson drummer/keyboardist Gary Husband and keyboardist Steve Hunt and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta. The sum of Holdsworth's production realizes an enchanting rhythmic and harmonic chemistry - or alchemy - potent with unexpected melodic twists and turns. The spontaneous, fiery dialogue of group live performance is framed in Holdsworth's meticulous, state-of-the-art production techniques. The Wardenclyffe Tower, Holdsworth's seventh solo project, was dedicated to the technological visionary and great inventor, Nikola Tesla; its title is taken from one of Tesla's greatest dreams.

Many rock fans first became aware of Holdsworth's inventiveness when his musical presence dominated two of the definitive "progressive rock" albums of the late 70's, U.K., and Bill Bruford's One of A Kind. The successful 1978 debut release by U.K. was a band originally slated to be a reunion of King Crimson until Robert Fripp backed out of the project - Bruford suggested the remaining trio try working with Holdsworth - known then as a promising English "jazz/rock" guitarist due to his work with Tony Williams, Gong, and Jean-Luc Ponty. The personal chemistry of U.K. soon proved too volatile to contain four musical leaders in one group setting. Holdsworth and Bruford left the band, and continued their earlier, more jazz oriented venture in Bruford, but Holdsworth still felt trapped in the confines of slick studio mega-productions. He longed for a more immediate, live-oriented recording method, and the less rigid ensemble dynamics he found so vital during his work with Tony Williams. Like few guitarists before him, Holdsworth realized a style, tone, and technique in a league of its own - one he still strives to perfect. Many musicians who heard him never again looked at the guitar in quite the same way. In the 80s, growing recognition followed a series of successful solo recordings and extensive U.S. touring. An increasingly supportive international audience embraced Holdsworth in Japan, and more recently in Europe and Australia. He received a Grammy nomination in 1984, and later won five consecutive awards from Guitar Player Magazine's readers' Poll as "Best Guitar Synthesist", which inducted him into the Guitar Player Hall of Fame. His fascination with the innovative guitar-like synty controller, the Synthaxe, began during the mid-80's, and soon found him eventually attaching a breath controller to it - perhaps continuing a subconscious pursuit of the instrument he was first attracted to - the saxophone.

Today Holdsworth is widely revered as a virtuoso stylist - and perhaps the world's pre-eminent guitar synthesist. As for the legacy of his accelerated, legato lead guitar phrasing, Guitar Player's editor, Tom Mulhern credited him as that rare sort of guitarist who "originated his own school" of guitar playing. By 1979, Holdsworth found his London-based career at a standstill. Just as rock's new wave found its way to the pop forefront by the onset of the 80s, Holdsworth left Bruford, and immediately found difficulty in launching a new rock project with friend rock legends Jack Bruce and John Hiseman. Bruce would later appear as a guest on Holdsworth's 1984 solo release Road Games (Warner Bros.), along with Bruford alumnus Jeff Berlin & drummer Chad Wackerman. Holdsworth began his solo career after meeting Gary Husband - a brilliant musician, and eventually produced his first "official" solo project, I.O.U., with Gary Husband and Paul Carmichael. It was recorded in 1979 (re-released on Restless), and independently released two years later in the U.S.

Having nearly given up on music, friends prompted him to move to Southern California where an eager and devoted core following awaited him. Eddie Van Halen, who had met Holdsworth when U.K. opened for Van Halen during a 1978 U.S. tour, helped secure a contract with Warner Bros., but the relationship with Warner Bros. soured when record company executives dabbled with creative control during the Road Games sessions. He soon struck up a partnership with the fledging label Enigma (later bought out by Capitol), which later became his current label, Restless. His production work became more refined, and he broadened a roster of guest vocalist appearances through the course of Metal Fatigue, Atavachron, Sand, Secrets, Wardenclyffe Tower, Hard Hat Area, None Too Soon and the new release The 16 Men of Tain.

Allan Holdsworth continues to tour in Japan, Europe, and the U.S. A review by L.A. Times jazz critic Don Heckman raved about Holdsworth's new touring band, saying that Holdsworth was "an unlikely guitar hero whose phrasing has much in common with the expressions of saxophonist John Coltrane". Holdsworth still pursues a daily passion as an avid cyclist (when touring and recording permit) and currently resides in North San Diego County. Like a true Englishman, he relishes sampling and serving fine ales of the world during the brief respites from his music.

This album contains no booklet.