Allan Holdsworth: Letters Of Marque (Frankfurt '86 Experimental Remix)
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- This video is an experimental remix of Allan's performance of "Letters Of Marque" from the Frankfurt '86 jazz festival. The audio and video is sourced from the 2020 release by Manifesto Records, links below. The master tape was taken from the two-channel broadcast version, which has some issues with levels, in particular the drums suffer in the mix. To see what could be done about this, the stereo audio was split into multitrack stems by Spleeter, which uses artificial intelligence to separate instruments. The stems were imported into Cakewalk by Bandlab. Some eq and compression/limiting was applied, and levels were adjusted. The Spleeter software is very impressive, but not perfect yet. Some artifacts can be heard throughout. It does however bring out nuances in the playing which you may enjoy. Let me know what you think!
Allan Holdsworth, guitar
Kei Akagi, keyboards
Gary Husband, drums
Jimmy Johnson, bass
Original audio: • Letters of Marque (Live)
Amazon US: www.amazon.com...
Amazon UK: www.amazon.co....
Spleeter: github.com/dee...
Here are excerpts of Jimmy Johnson's comments on this gig, taken from the Alembic forum:
JJ: “This particular gig was at the Frankfurt Musikmesse in 1986. That's the EU equivalent of our NAMM show here in the States but actually a larger exposition. I don't remember the exact circumstances which brought Kei Akagi into the band on keyboards, but this was his first and only tour with the band. He did an excellent job of dealing with the music but never had the chance to get very comfortable with it. Furthermore, I'm sure Allan and I got together with him in LA for a couple rehearsals but it's possible he had not yet played with Gary Husband until the day of this show.”
JJ: “This was the very first gig of the tour - and likely funded our flight expenses to get to Europe. So we had flown in the day before, then spent almost all of this day jet-lagged and running around the Muskmesse collecting gear which had been offered from various manufacturers for use on the tour. But as I said, that convention is HUGE so picture us trying to find the Mesa Boogie booth (or whatever he was using at the time) on the floor of the show, then finding a handcart to wheel speaker cabinets the 2 miles to the venue, dealing with security to get the gear out of the building, etc... I have the feeling we had to chase down a drum kit that same way. That took all day leaving us precious little time for a soundcheck or a much needed rehearsal with the full band.”
JJ: “So we had done what we could to get set up with the borrowed gear and get the monitors working so we could hear each other. We understood that we were contractually obligated to let the "festival" be recorded for a one-time tv broadcast. What we had NOT anticipated was that as soon as we started playing, 2 or 3 handheld cameramen and their cable wrangling assistants were running back and forth on stage basically in our faces. To the point where they were stepping on our pedals! Complete disregard for us trying to concentrate on the music. It was one of those situations where you needed to completely close your eyes and not see what was happening around you. But then my chorus effect would suddenly turn on. HA!!”
Found here: club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=8041.1500
Key Akagi, Allan and Bunny Brunel on bass ( I forgot who was on the drums ) played a concert in the GIT , Los Angeles in 1986 . Key Akagi used to perform with Al Dimeola at that time and with Franck Gambale later in 1988 ...I remember GIT had the video of this concert...
Musicians deal with "Murphy's Law" once again..(if the fans o nly knew)
Steve Hunt told me that if you play fusion you need to be prepared to make tens and tens of dollars lol. He was right.
@@luke125 If you're succesful, you might become a hundredaire!
@@MrTubularBalls Exactly lol
I met Allan countless times. I worked in a bank near to the Bruford rehearsal room in Kingston on Thames. He popped in every week to cash a cheque and we had a chat. This was 1978. Lovely man.
Lovely story..! I wish i was in your place. (R.i.p mr. Allan)
Thats a cool story from so long ago. Its sad, to me at least, that this man is not better known by the masses. A real genius. God rest him.
Thanks for sharing your memories. It's always nice to know that talented people we look up to are also nice people. 👍
Thanks for sharing. Whatever the cheque amount, the dear man was woefully underpaid.
The amount of the check at that time would be the same today... possibly less.
Holdsworth had good days and bad days like every great musician. This is definitely a good day...
A bad day of his would be a good day for 99% of guitar players
Good days and badder days.
No allan had good days & totally unbelievably amazingly good days
It might be more fair to say that he had days where he felt inspired and excited about what he was playing, and days where he didn't. I think he was always amazing, but his attitude toward his own playing varied a lot.
@@pobinrI have to agree hahaha. A “bad day” for Allan was still light years ahead of anything I could dream of having. And his good days and best days (that I’ve come across recordings of) are completely alien and on a level that I’ve never heard any other musician reach.
Every player on the stage is at the top of their game. Astounding!
Gary Husband is both great on drums and keyboards nowadays.
He wasn't the cleanest drummer, but I just love his ideas. Very organic, and fit well with Alan's style. Wackerman may have eventually been the better choice for his timing, versatility and less cluttered style, but Husband is a great artist.
The description to this video says the drums suffered in the mix when the levels were taken into consideration in making the recording , which in my opinion had something to do with the fact that Gary Husband is smashing the living hell out of those drums , i mean this would have to be the loudest fricken jazz drumming i have ever heard , has he just had a line bf going on stage and rolled his t shirt sleeves up like he's going into battle or what ?!
Gary Husband is a brilliant musician.
He is a great compliment to Alan.
Yes, he really is
I saw Alan when he and his band pulled up in a VW bus to my uni commons stage in California in 1980- there were maybe 50 people watching. Paul Williams was on vocals. It absolutely changed my life and my vision of what music could be.
Allan's lines come directly from his soul.
I mean...it is endless noodling. If you cant remember it and hum it, it is just wankery.
@@jhrdrake7205 Interesting that I remember the phrases from practically all of his solos by heart, and can whistle along to it (save for the parts that I just can't due to the physical limitations of the mouth and tongue). If you can't perceive the melody and emotion, perhaps the sad truth is that you just don't have ears. Sucks for you.
@@lex.cordis2 Dude, I would LOVE to hear that and request that you post a vid on RUclips please! While not pleasant to the vast majority of people myself included hearing you whistling scattershot chromatic scales and pointless noodling would be spectacular to hear! Melody and emotion are Mark Knopfler, Chet Atkins and Dave Gilmour, not Allan. Allan was a spectacular technician no doubt but unlistenable to the vast majority of the population. Playing this kind of music will get you a room full of guitar geeks...all male and that sir..sucks for you! ;)
@@jhrdrake7205 Genius wouldn't be genius if the masses were capable of appreciating it. That's just how it goes.
@@lex.cordis2 The masses appreciate Gilmour, Knopfler, SRV, Chet Atkins. The masses dont appreciate stuff like this because it is inaccessible tedious noodling in key but if it makes you happy then more power to you!
JIMMY JOHNSON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish Kei Akagi played with Allan and the boys for more than one tour, he's so amazing.
His wife used to be a copywriter for an ad agency on West LA and my employer acct was assigned to her. She was every bit as much of an artist with phrases as he.
He did. I saw him with Allan At The coch House in OC Cali for Atavachron tour.
First time I was exposed to Allan Holdsworth was in 1975, when I stood in front of the stage, where he played with Soft Machine the material of their Bundles album. Ever since then I´ve been an Allan Holdsworth addict. I shout it out to the world: ALLAN HOLDSWORTH was his name!!!
I wasn't in the mood for an Allan Holdsworth video... but once you start watching, how can you look away?
Gary Husband is also an accomplished keyboard player! Amazing! 🥁🎹
If you wish to experience what extreme musicianship is beyond countless hours of practicing.....just hit replay! Thank you for posting this treasure, Gary Husband is a fucking monster on drums and keyboards, amazing! Lets appreciate and support him and all others who have played with Allan. Peace from Detroit MI.
fabulous performance -- many thanks for sharing this ... I hear a lot of Chick in Kei's playing, and that's a good thing
Reminds me of Morning Sprite live.
100 years of practice in 15 minutes, everybody sounded amazing!
I dont think that non musicians and even some musicians will be able to understand just how good this really is....its the kinda thing that all us musos can only marvel at and hope to get maybe some where close to maybe some time in the far off future 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
OMG. It is like a higher lifeform explaining the universe to me. I feel smarter, even though I couldn't even begin to comprehend what it told me. Fantastic.
Jeff Holdsworth - the only guitarist I’ve heard friends and read critics comparisons to Frank Zappa. And here just the other day im watching an interview with Frank and he’s asked if and or who his favorite guitarists are. He only had one answer, Jeff Holdsworth. I just loved hearing that!
If I have to understand how good this is to realize its good... then I would say I dont like it... you should not have to think about music to enjoy it... its just sound with the main objective to be pleasing to the listener or affect him emotionally to where he would like to hear it again... As I can see that AH is proficient with his instrument he fails to connect with me... frankly I dont get what people see in his music especially his style of playing... too each his own I guess
WoW, wish I could have seen this lineup just once.
We take it as read that Allan will play an amazing solo but Gary Husband’s drum solo is a proper piece of work too. Great musicians can always get other great musicians to play with them and Allan certainly did that.
this is one for the ages... unreal...
The dvd has less clarity compared to this mix. This mix pops with a higher brightness. Good job!
I think Alan improvised his own hair cuts. Truly one of a kind.
My god, that keyboardist is a monster!
Wonderful, Kei Akagi is a great compliment to AH in my honest opinion
I was there, in the first row of the public, and was as anoid as Jimmy told, of the stupid camera-men, who were stepping in front us, disturbing the view on our musical heros....but the concert was brilliant ! 1986 I was 26, now I am 62 - I never was tired, to listen to Alans music and hope, to meet him in musicians heaven some day in the future - RiP ( by the way Gary Husband was a killer in this concert ! ) ***
Yes the cameramen were a pain.... But... they gave us this
Now you know what the cameramen were doing there, preserving it for posterity.
No one did it like ALLAN HOLDSWORTH 🖤
He's great.
The best, also a big fan of your playing.
One monumental improvement!! Wish the DVD sounded like this! 👍😀
Stellar performance Gary!! Bravo!!
Qobuz are selling a 24/48 Hi Res. Nice. My DVD hasn't arrived yet
Gary- you should always be UP in the mix like this! I know Allan would smile and approve of this mix! We met at the Baked Potato. You may recall my name from other comments...Love u Gary!
Yes m brother it' fenomenal guitariste paix a son âme
The OP can't really have much more validation for their work than this. Thank you, Gary. Thank you, Allan, Jimmy and Kei.
Wow!Great musicians.I love that old school jazz.
Against Holdsworth you have to hold your own. Kei Akagi did an admirable job here, incredible in fact. Some of those licks he pulled off were on another planet. What an absolutely phenomenal line up of talent.
The piano solo was sick!
So sick! One of my favorites ever!
Simply astounding
@@davidaltemir1564 sickstounding bros
It's insane!
Yep, probably my favorite part of this performance. It's fantastic!
Allan's playing is ferocious! Beyond words really. Keyboardist Kai's solo piano is pretty astounding as well, as is Jimmy's bass playing. The entire band is top-notch! Sounds fantastic!
You can see why FZ respected this man so much.
I was thinking the same thing.
Most of the 80s shredders did too. At the end of Drop Dead Legs by Van Halen. Eddie draws inspiration from Holdsworth.
@@markusantonio4866yes, i remember catching that also.
Gary and Allan...just the best team ever for me...and Jimmy such a perfect flow ...I feel so lucky to have witnessed this band 3 tims in one week in 1989...with Steve Hunt on keys...never matched musically for me on any live gig.
Wow... Gary has amazing phrasing on the drums and the piano... What a player❤️
初見ですがナイスな動画ですね😃このギタリストを、知ったのは中学生の時にこういうギタリストがいるよと教えてもらった❗フュージョンバンドですね😃お元気そうで何よりですがナイス😆👍✨
I hate to say it, but I'm so grateful for those camera men getting right up in the players crotch! The shot of their hands playing is amazing! And bless those players for putting up with those invasive German camera men!
Fantastic music and fantastic musicians!!! i never heard or saw Kei Akagi before, his solo was really great, Allan Holdsworth, Jimmy Johnson and Gary Husband are icons!!! this video is a bliss!!!
Kei was the last regular keyboard player of Miles Davis band.
The pianist is sensational.
Imagine being asked to stand in for Allan on this gig?!? I'd be like, "ok guys, shall we start with Johnny b Goode" ;)
@@chopholtz4950 GOT IT ! THANKS..( the sound of me running off to grab my axe to apply your jeti knight knowledge !!!
First off
LOUIE LOUIE !! 😆
If I am not mistaken, Eddie Van Halen was a big Holdsworth fan. I can hear his influence on the “1984” album especially.
Holdsworth was a big influence on EVH.
Yes that’s correct! Have you heard the live performance of Eddie and Allan at The Roxy in Hollywood, California?
@@ericaward702 I’m not familiar with it. I will check it out. Thanks!
The amount of talent sharing the same stage is mind-blowing. Great seeing Allan smile at Gary at the end.
I was just thinking exact same thing. Allan's music is so intense that it seems he's always so concentrating. And to see his smiles of spontaneous surprise throughout that ending, especially at the very end, was really joyous. I could feel it. A stellar band as well. AH, the boss of bosses.
It looks like Husband went into beast mode in that solo and beyond, and Holdsworth cherished it.
@@jambalaya7647 Allan is always so immersed and concentrating, that when you do see him smile, especially when inspired by the drummer as they're playing dissected time signatures all over the place, well... it is just a consummate Musical moment. I'm so grateful I know what that feels like. That all of us here know what that feels like.
@@jambalaya7647 He's an alternate theory: Immediately prior, the cameraman kneels down directly in front of Allan, pointing the camera right up at him. Jimmy Johnson made comments about how ridiculously intrusive the camera crew were at this show. I'm guessing Allan thought it was funny. I would also find it pretty ridiculous and hard to ignore if I were in his position.
Incredible performance!
Fantastic musicians playing fantastic music, craftsmanship of the highest quality. There are no words to describe the feeling in the subject of the game. Great musicians with knowledge and experience.
The unique, incredible talent of Allan Holdsworth. And such a thoroughly nice guy as well, so humble. Rest in peace.
Not from this world, I think- marvellous!!! 👍👍👍
Drummer absolutely smokes !!!
Hello..welcome to the world as a Gary Husband fan.....at the Roxy gig.. the one eddie VH put together..I was sitting right in front of the kit..I seriously had to pull my chair back ...
Insane masters of their instrument.
This is the highest level of musicianship
My favorite bass player. If you guys haven't heard what JJ did with Wayne Johnson's band, do yourself a favor. Fantastic stuff.
so beautiful!!!! impossible ! i can't believe this!!!
Very physical drumming...wow.
Transcendent, so incredible. Enountered Allan one time in Southampton England in the 90s. He struck me then as one of the greatest guitarists of this genre, and now almost 30 years later so glad to reencounter this genius, playing straight from soul to strings! Thank you!
Celestial….been a fan ever since transcribing secrets….
What a wonderful video and what a wonderful job you've done! I enjoyed every second! Thanks for investing you time into making this legendary performance sound more distinct and perfect. And thanks to great Allan and the musicians for their talend! Allan is my latest discovery - and I fail to find anything and anybody close to him yet.
This is absolutely transcending...I've never seen anything quite like this. His playing is on another plane. From 5:00 to 6:40 I can't stop replaying. There's no "in key" or notes when he's playing, it's just a perfect string of order and chaos, words flowing down a stream into a word soup that translates into universe juice!
I've read Allan say something similar about how he felt listening to Coltrane solos, and Allan's playing makes me feel that way today. Like he's plugged into some cosmic channel, some elemental force where pure expression is flowing through him.
Lol, juice you say that sound about right
He’s playing the changes deffo, it’s incredible playing.
The keyboard player Kei Akagi is excellent here !
I don't know what's going on here, I can't even tell if I like it... but I can't stop watching it... nor listening to it.
To me, a large appeal of Allan's music initially was that I couldn't figure out what was going in. Clearly, the music had its own internal logic, but it was so different from everything else I had heard. Allan's music tickles your curiosity, which you need to embrace!
Same here. Now I know how Dream Theater must sound to my wife. I don't know what's happening in any part. It's like they're all playing different songs at the same time and occasionally they coincide. My head was spinning. 😱
Man, I felt the same way when I first discovered Allan's music. I knew something special was there, but just not sure how to process. For the past 5 or so years now, I've almost listened to nothing but Holdsworth music. It eventually just clicks and makes perfect sense, once your ears/brain gets acclimated to his musical universe. It's just "music to me ears" now. Makes perfect sense to me now.
Gary Husband drum playing is really something else. He has a very distinctive, signature sound. I wonder if it's his piano/keyboard background that makes his approach on drumming so unique.
If your thinking how some of those riffs remind you of Satriani, Vai, Van Halen, and Govin? It's because Allan was thier biggest influence, and they borrowed from him "Greatly". With no payback. Al was the king of kings, second to none!
Except Zappa
Looks and sounds very difficult - I like it!
Totally INSANE! I'd need 2 lifetimes just to be comfortable with the chord changes. Thanks for posting.
Fenomenal! Love this song and the album IOU since I start playing a long time ago. Really nice to see them permorming alive. Gary, thank`s man! You have influenced a lot of drummers aroud the world.
I don't think I've ever seen Allan this animated taking a solo. These guys were on fire that night. Incredible. !!!
gary :D
Awesome REAL music!
amazing !
So can we safely assume that this was not the first night of the tour? GOD DANG!!!!
Well, I'm not sure about that. I think this might be Kei's first appearance on stage with Allan. Jimmy and Gary had of course toured with Allan before. They had flown in from the US the same day or the before, and had to get their gear together. The experience was stressful any way you look at it.
Omg, this so stunning and amazing, beautiful 🙏
I'm workin up a sweat just watching the drummer...
The piano solo is fucking tremendous !!!!! 😮
These guys blow this away, f*ckin awesome!
If anybody had doubts about Jimmy and Gary's playing deserving same treatment as Allan's well here is the proof lads.... what a wonderful rendition man..
this is it. this is the best holdsworth video. other comments are saying that this sounds much better than the DVD, so thanks for doing that work dude!
You know, of course everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, but sometimes I really wish that some who do not have experience with or training in certain genres or styles would keep their opinions to themselves. I swear, I was just thinking to myself that Gary Husband has to be one of the least cliche prone, most cerebral, yet exciting, drum soloists that I've ever heard (which is likely one big reason that a master like Dennis Chambers is a big fan of his work), and I just then came upon someone calling his playing "incoherent," certainly one of the LAST descriptors that would have come to my mind. And, so it often seems to go with less experienced critiques of Holdsworth's improvs, as well. It's too often "I don't get this," "This makes no sense," and so forth. Meanwhile, I am just stunned by the beauty of his amazing scalar/harmonic intuition and miles deep melodic sensibility. If you don't like it, folks, find something that does resonate with you, or spend the time with great jazz improvisers to appreciate it. But don't just hurl epithets from the sidelines, because I promise you, this shit is heavy. There most definitely IS a there there, and it's breathtaking, once you can appreciate it.
Yep, artsy fartsy snoozefest à la Zzzzzzzzzzzzappa. You can be as pompous and pretentious as you want, not everyone likes this stuff. Bye Felicia 👊
Do you have remixes for the rest of this show? This sounds AMAZING!
Holy crap, the pianist is amazing!
Gary such a huge influence on my playing......He is a freak
Alan came through a wormhole from a distant universe where cerebral mutants have deciphered alien quantum time chronometry.
Well to my musician, hobbyist audio engineer and Holdsworth fan - this mix totally slays the original. Great job. Better than front row listening. What artifacts are you hearing?😎👍🎼🎸
Thank you. The artifacts are only slightly noticeable on this track. But it has to do with the fact that the instruments are separated by artificial intelligence, which is not perfect by any means. I struggled with the bass solo, some of the bass notes lack punch, and you can hear some odd frequencies here and there. But you need to listen closely on this one - I got quite lucky.
@@aharchives Brilliant work. AI meets MI (musical intelligence) 🙂
You can hear the "artifacts" mostly during the drum solo. At least, that's all I'm really hearing.
Thanks for all this amazing content, please keep it coming. Can never get enough of the master!
Honestly, the camera and editing in this video is outstanding!
Well, the camera crew stepped all over Jimmy Johnson's pedals...
@@aharchives At 14:20, you can see Allan trying not to laugh as the cameraman is crouching down directly in front of him pointing the camera up at him.
As much I can't stand Fusion there is no denying Alan's approach to guitar was just on a different level!
whats wrong with fusion
@@progfox As much direction as a baby pissing into a nappy.
@@progfox nothing really. It got a bad name within a generation of people who were committed metal heads/rockers who didn't like the competition as musicians is the distillation I've found.
@@colinburroughs9871 a large amount of metalheads also enjoy fusion so idk what you mean by that
@@progfox ok
Bravo! Spleeter is a good app!!!!
Kei Akagi is criminally unknown...
Agree 1000%
Allan was the best guitar player ever.
don't know what Marque scribbed in that letters, but it's must be some fantastic things.
"A letter of marque was the license issued allowing a privately owned vessel to attack those of an enemy nation. Quite a lot of this went on in England's war with Spain during the sixteenth century when the privateers literally indulged in official piracy." (Reaching For The Uncommon Chord, p. 35)
@@aharchives cool, get it, I do have found that i the wikipedia and that make me see this track with new eyes.
But its just a joke bro LoL
Wow that is great!!
The remix to my opinion sounds really good man!! Nice job, I'll ask if you can remix one of the "synthaxe tunes" Plz 😁
Thanks, it's under consideration.
I like a nice tune to whistle along too ,me...
c'mon, everybody together: whiddlyey whiddley runa runarunrun whiddley doodoodoodood gwiddygwiddylakitalakita burdiliburdilifoodilidigidbilik!
@@jimmythebold589 That`s easy for you to say, Jimmy.....
Sounds nice. That kick though...
Hey, I know that piano man from Airto and Flora! 🎹
It was Allan’s playing that aided me in deciding that playing the guitar after 50 years was pointless. It would be more rewarding to just listen to the greats and stop wishing I could be one.
Be you and never ever stop playing.
Ex level 42 tuvo poco tiempo en la banda exelente grupo y buen baterista
The opening riff has Animals as leaders vibe lol.
There's a video out there of Tosin Abasi breifly playing that riff during a clinic or something.
Allan was from another planet
My goodness … he hardly looks at the fretboard
3:30
the remix is nice. but allan was having a 'bad tone' night with his guitar. i think that's why he doesn't seem to pleased here. his guitar sounds raspy and not smooth like i know how he liked it.
As Jimmy Johnson commented, they had just flown in from the US, and had to spend the day jetlagged to procure the gear they were borrowing. Then the cameramen kept poking the camera in the face and stepping on their pedals. So, they were having a bad night overall!
listening to this again, and inspite of what i say, allan's WORST tone is still better than most other guitarists, i'm only comparing that tone against HIS own tone, lol... cheers
Only saw Allan once. Tempest at the Whisky. It was amazing.
I showed my girlfriend this and she said “sounds like club penguin”
he is playing an earlier Ibanez road star "RG"
Wow look at Akagi go!!! Definitely will be looking up more of his work!!!