Allan Holdsworth - Fred (live)

[stratoleft]

Just ordered the Live at Yoshi's with Alan Pasqua. I heard him talk about Alan on the REH video but I have never seen him. Before I bought the video, that was the one and only time I've seen the group with Steve Hunt. Finally I get to see Alan on the dvd.

[stratoleft]

As evident with most of these sad guitar anylist type posts, alot of "musicians" seem to forget that this is a song, an amazing composition. It is another hit, as it were, by Allan Holdsworth. It's not just some mode or chords simply for him to solo over. It's a beautiful melody, of course. I've heard so many people run their collective mouths in their vain attempts at analyzing Allan Holdsworth. It's like you know how a light bulb works, after the fact, but you didn't invent the light, did you?

[53duby]

When i saw Holdsworth,Wackerman (whom i shook hands with at the bar before they played) and Tibbs in Buffalo,NY Sept 2010 i was so excited/glad to be there that i kept up with by whistling during the first two sets and Holdsworth said "who`s the f_ _ _king asshole whistler , get him the f_ _k out of here! It was a show that i`ll never forget..thank you!

[jamesha175]

wow yet another cel phone recording

[richcapo]

Amazing technician. Beautiful chord work, great lines, unparalleled mastery of modal soloing, but after a while (a very short while), all his songs sound the same (especially with the backing tracks missing), which is too bad.

[bogeybast]

No one is more critical of Allan than he is of himself. His refusal to be satisfied with his work pushes him to discover & express a music that many of us find strange, beautiful & complex. I hope he continues to inspire many to follow the pursuit of excellence in innovation.

[stratoleft]

@bogeybast I'm more than satisfied with his work.

[Guitarmeistro]

nice to see this live

[RickDuracell]

Man, I want these guys to come to Brazil SO BAD... =/

[ReActSound]

thank you so much for this. check out Fredrik Thordendal - Missing Time and My guitar horn demo.

[1118freeze]

yay my songs cool! um... long story =) my name's FRED

[Moog167]

I've seen Chad play plenty of times.....but I recently bumped in to Michael Phelps in downtown Baltimore and I was thinking...."Michael Phelps looks like Chad Wackerman"

[groovingsoul]

lol Yeah.........he kindda looks like him.

[babinm]

I saw Holsworth twice once in Sacto, CA at a little hole in the wall for 5$ and again at Yoshi's in Oakland he was hot 30 years ago and I guess you'd call it white hot now.

[freemetalguitar]

Allan has said he doesn't like his old stuff working for other guys because of the 'do this, don't do that' and you can hear it on Tony's and Jean-Luc's songs, but when they let him off the chain he always ran out of the yard.

[worriedaboutlife]

Have you heard the Gong stuff he did.. I love that shit - Gazeuse and Expresso 2 (apparently G released Expresso 2 before Expresso 1 and then changed the name - might be apocryphal story but it's sure is nice)

[5tgb6yhn5tgb]

A great piece - love it.

[ElPopularVale]

somebody cut that bastard's head

[mikemorrison281]

Allan is by far the most trailblazing guitarist on the planet.

[007zz]

Together with John mc Laughlin.

[stratoleft]

@mikemorrison281 Guitar Player said essentially the same thing. I say he is the most "trailblazing" musician and composer in the world.

[ExtremeBogom]

Does anyone know the album from which 'Fred' is from, I can't seem to locate it.

[lezerpiramis]

The New Tony Williams Lifetime: Believe It

or from the DVD called Live At Yoshi's (Allan Holdsworth & Alan Pasqua Group)

[stratoleft]

..and as a matter of fact, you can see the black and white picture to your right there with Tony Williams on the original record. The one with GGCJB on it.

[MuyGordito]

Isn't the original acoustic version of Fred on Velvet Darkness? It might have a different title. I can't remember.

[bardobound]

yes, there is a version of Allan playing Fred on solo acoustic on Velvet Darkness.

[ilikememusic]

no fred was made by neil hefti i think thats wats the music is under in real books

[MrGuitardudeism]

Allan wrote Fred. Fred was his(at the time he wrote it) wife's nickname. He talks about this in Reaching For The Uncommon Chord.

[whalingstories]

We saw it Yoshi's. we paid more for the sushi than all 4 of our tickets...

[steffanii]

oh man sorry about that. i saw allan in bostson when i was at school there and he played at this club but he only charged 20 bucks. it was the best 20 bucks ive ever spent, how much were you tickets?

[whalingstories]

i can't remember the exact price but $20 sounds about right. the funny thing was that there were so many people at the club who were just there for drinks and sushi and they didnt even realize that for a fraction of their bar tabs they could have seen allan. he also thanked the crowd and his words were literally "no, really, thank you for coming. now we can eat for the first time on this tour..."

[wonkavella]

what i remember about him was he was so humble when he came to pittsburgh the band was on fire.i mean i wonder what it's like for a musician of that caliber to be so on all the time

[javadude54]

He could have dumbed his music down, stuck to soloing in variations of the Harmonic Minor scale with every other note a "pinch" harmonic and made a bundle.

[ojideagu]

Soloing is not a competition. Most great composers music is in one key and one mode. You wouldn't say Mozart dumbed down. Too many Jazz fans see it as some kind of intellectual battle instead of music. Hence there is so much bad jazz.

[beanabus77]

No. But I see your point, I think you are saying complexity for the sake of complexity is nonsensical. But mozart changed key very daringly, and used rather complex harmony based on the major, minor and chromatic scales.

[Despond]

Got to agree with this. I love theory and broadening my knowledge to be more creative but when you start to saturate your music to sound "outside" to the point of no melody, well that's too far.

The greatest composers ever to of lived based all their work off simple classical scales and modes but the unique came from their arrangements/composition and the complexity of playing these at tempos.

I have a few AW albums, he is one of the best but I must admit after about 30min I have to stop.

[yagamei]

This is such a great tune. Allan Holdsworth is just in a league of his own. Harmonically, I dare say only Eric Johnson comes close in terms of rhythm playing. And that is a very bold statement..

[calvinlotz]

I love this tune... Excellent to see Holdsworth playing it.

Big thanks for filming & posting!!!

[alembicbassguy]

A godamn genius at work!

[evo17v]

this guy is completely out of his mind. so great!

[GiantDevilfish]

Brilliant.

[fulcrum100]

Pity about the sound, but what a tune. holdsworth at his best. Orange Club, London, 1992 gig was superb.

[DBP92]

Tony used to take it a lot faster.

[stringrip]

If anyone wants to hear Allan playing this song with Tony Wiliams New Lifetime in 1976 , audio concert website jazzfusion(dot)tv has some concerts of the band recorded in New york and Iowa in 1976 with great versions of this song.

[stratman687]

i saw this live at nectars a few days ago!!!

allan is amazing

[scottbos68]

im a little suprised hes still playing this, best version i heard him play of it so far

the h&k's sound great

[wolowolowolo]

great song

I practiced that song for yeaars..god bless Tony Williams

[djmomo17]

Wow, I've seen/heard Fred so many times but it's always great. Those last few choruses are especially great, you can tell even Allen was kinda happy about it..hah!

[acloakwithahood]

These Cats are still on tour, from when I saw them March 07 in Long Island at the IMAC theater, they are an enduring source of inspiration.

[boon210671]

I was at this gig

Jimmy Johnson for some reason didnt use a bass rig & was playing through the PA thats why the bass sounds so naff & has no top end shame cos hes one of the best in the buisness

[roon41]

Jimmy played without a rig? That's why he sounded so soft at the San Diego Show I attended last june. Thanks for the tip.

[Keeeeeeets]

what a wicked gig this was...shame the sound of the bass was shit. Chad Wackerman rocked, sounded almost like williams

[Tomurow]

I saw him in Penzance last night! He was drinking a bottle of 'Proper Job' ale. I too partook of 'Proper Job' and was a little put out to discover my guitar playing was still rubbish when I got home! Nads!

[Gretchluver1]

I was there too. Awesome gig! Still couldn't believe the likes of Jimmy Johnson and Chad Wackerman were down in Penzance! Managed to get Chad's autograph as well!

[gunfart]

i was supposed to fuking goooooooooooo

[egits]

wow this was last night thanks for posting!