i don't understand the point of................is that music? :?
I heartily agree ; for as deft as that is from a technical viewpoint, it is the sort of Jazz that I studiously avoid. As the late Joe Pass once remarked to a 'shredder' in one of his classes : " We play TUNES in here son " ...
On the haircut front, surely the style dammed forever is the dreaded 'Mullet'.
I've got to say, I'm a fan of Holdsworth. Never really thought about it as shredding - he sounds like a sax or even a clarinet player to me. But with an overdriven guitar!
PDT_004
(that's the first time I've ever used one of those flashy emoticons on this board, but I think it called for it...)
Mark.
In fairness to Alan Holdsworth, I would never accuse him of 'shredding' as such. Joe's comment to a true 80s Rock 'shredder' at that time, merely reminded me that there tends to be a bias amongst Jazz players towards either a more traditional / song based form - and leans toward harmonising the melody line in a more predictable fashion ( which in turn better lends itself to comping ) - or a more evolved ( Allan Holdsworth / John Coltrane / Pat Martino / Miles Davis ) form, where stretching the melody itself predominates - and (in the case of Allan holdsworth ) a parallel quest towards very sophisticated and physically challenging voicing of intervals / chords - as a musical statement in it's own right.
I remember seeing an absolutely
blistering sax player in a local bar - who must have had the mental agility and physical speed of a mutant ;
but I was just waiting for the other guy to take a couple of choruses, so I could hear something tuneful and emotive.
Allan Holdsworth does however have sensible hair -
AND is from Yorkshire. :)
