For those of you who might not know…about Allan Holdsworth

Chad Wackerman once told a journalist that Frank “was a huge fan of Allan Holdsworth and invited him to his home many times, and there was even talk of a joint tour of Frank’s band and Allan’s band. Unfortunately, it never happened. It was also Frank who recommended me to Allan, and I auditioned for his band. In the 80s, I spent most of my time touring with Frank, and in between I would tour with Allan’s band. It was the best life I could have had as a drummer.”

In an interview with Guitar Player magazine, published in January 1987, Frank was asked about other guitar players he admired, and said, “You hear Wes Montgomery when you hear him play, and the same thing with Allan Holdsworth: he puts his personality, something about him as a person, into playing, and I don’t detect ‘watch me show off now’ – there is none of that syndrome.”

In later interviews, he described Holdsworth as “a brilliant musician” – a view shared by Zappa’s former stunt guitarist Steve Vai, who once said, “I very rarely agree with the term best guitar player. It just seems so obscene to put something so subjective into a best category. But if I had to say there was one, I would pick Allan Holdsworth. He was unique in ways that I don’t think have been discovered yet. Many musicians can be considered ahead of their time, but usually they’re not. They’re mainly ahead of everyone else at that time.”

And another former Zappa guitarist, Warren Cuccurullo, also composed a piece called Allantown in Holdsworth’s honour, which he performed with Patrick O’Hearn and Terry Bozzio at Zappanale in 2018, where it was “my end 5 section of Canarsie,” he told me.

In October 2008, yet another former stunt guitarist, Mike Keneally, performed Holdsworth's Floppy Hat as a duet with former XTC guitarist Dave Gregory at Riffs Bar in Swindon.

In 1977, after Eddie Jobson had left Zappa’s employ, he co-founded the progressive rock supergroup UK with former King Crimson members Bill Bruford and John Wetton – plus Holdsworth.

The band's eponymous debut album was recorded at Trident Studios in London. After it had been mixed, it was presented to the executives of E.G. Records. The playback was though interrupted by an unexpected visitor: Zappa wanted to hear the results of the collaboration between his young prodigy and his new bandmates.

Following  two subsequent US tours, Holdsworth was fired due to ‘musical differences’ (he had apparently clashed with Wetton). Bruford had earlier stated that he would prefer Holdsworth’s more improvisational style if there were disagreements about the band’s direction, and so was replaced by another Zappa alum, Terry Bozzio..

Holdsworth would then work with Bruford on his albums Feels Good To Me and One Of A Kind. But in 1979, he left Bruford and was replaced by his student, John Clark (who would subsequently go on to work extensively with Sir Cliff Richard).

In the early-80s, Allan’s band I.O.U. included Chad on drums, Jeff Berlin on bass, and Paul Williams on vocals. They were recording for Warner Bros. Records who were unhappy with Williams and wanted a singer with more ‘star-power’ - like Geddy Lee or Linda Ronstadt. Said Allan, “Producer Ted Templeman wanted to change the personnel of the band which caused terrible problems, and I put myself in a lot of trouble because of it, by trying to keep it the way it was.”

During this period, Zappa had Mark Pinske remix some tracks for Holdsworth at the UMRK. Holdsworth would write that Frank “was very kind to me. I told him my story about the WB problems (I don’t think he was a fan of WB either) and he very generously offered to let me use his amazing studio. He said go get a couple of 24 track tapes from WB which I did. I had to sneak them out as they were vaulted but I managed to get a couple of reels out. I took them over to Frank’s house and he introduced me to his engineer, Mark Pinske. He mixed three tracks in one evening. However, we ended up not using them as Ted Templeman would not allow it.”

The tracks – Tokyo Dream, Three Sheets To The Wind and Material Real – eventually got released in 2016 as a digital download album called Tales From The Vault.

In the early 1990s, Holdsworth joined English jazz-funk band Level 42, playing a residency with them at London's Hammersmith Apollo and recording five guitar solos in the studio for the band's album Guaranteed. Guaranteed was the first Level 42 album to be released following the death of guitarist Alan Murphy. While the album's inlay photos featured Holdsworth, the front cover showed Jakko Jakszyk, who played no part in the recording.

Julian Barratt of The Mighty Boosh is a huge Holdsworth fan (hence the reference to him in Jungle, the fifth episode of Series One, first broadcast in June 2004). Chad very kindly put me on the guest list for a Holdsworth show at London’s Jazz Cafe in 2007 where Barratt accidentally trod on my wife’s foot and elbowed her in the tit.

On February 20, 2012 Dweezil had Allan as a special guest on Zappa Plays Zappa’s renditions of Any Kind Of Pain, Eat That Question and Treacherous Cretins at the Canyon Club in Agora Hills, California. This was when Scott Thunes was a part of ZPZ.

After Holdsworth passed away, Dweezil wrote. “Allan was a major influence on my musical outlook. His approach to guitar was so unique and quite honestly baffling, especially to the 13 year old me who spent a summer trying to learn licks from his Metal Fatigue album. My dad was an admirer of Allan’s playing as well.  One day Allan came to our house to visit my dad... I remember that I was 13 and I couldn’t understand the scales Allan was using or the chords he was playing over. I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions that day and he was very patient with me as I attempted to show him some of the things I had tried to learn. He showed me a few easier licks and some two hand tapping ideas. Allan even played with my band on stage a few times. He was so humble and was allergic to compliments. If I mentioned something about his playing on a record or even in the moment while playing together he would say with a smile, ‘I’m sorry you had to hear that.’”

The Holdsworth track Against The Clock on his 1992 Wardenclyffe Tower album was co-written by Chad’s wife Naomi Star, who also sang it. Drums were provided by Vinnie Colaiuta. Chad played a version of this during a tribute to Holdsworth at the Baked Potato in October 2017; Chad and Naomi’s daughter Sophia James sang lead vocals. Naomi, Chad’s wife of 28 years, sadly passed away in 2015 after a long fight with cancer.

As well as Wackerman, Colaiuta, Berlin and Jobson, Zappa and Holdsworth both also worked with Jack Bruce and Walt Fowler.

Allan Holdsworth was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire on 6 August 1946. He was raised by his maternal grandparents. He died of heart disease at his home in Vista, California on 15 April 2017

A truncated version of this article can be found in the latest edition of the Arf Dossier. It also appears in an expanded edition of my Frank Zappa FUQ eBook...and also will be in a second paperback book sometime in 2025. Drawing of Allan by Julian Barratt.