Allan Holdsworth – The Sixteen Men of Tain (2000)
Hi, my name is Nathan from JazzGuitarLessons.net and you're listening to Album Deep Dives.
In this episode we will discuss in depth one of the most important works of the visionary guitarist Allan Holdsworth, and that is his 10th studio release “The Sixteen Men of Tain.”
Before getting into the album, let’s set a bit of background information first. Allan Holdsworth was born in Bradford, England in 1946. He never really intended to play guitar, as his favourite instrument was the saxophone. But at that time this instrument was too expensive, and his father gifted him a guitar when he was 17, so that’s how it all started. Allan always stated that his biggest influence was the legendary saxophonist John Coltrane. He said that when he heard Coltrane’s playing in the 60s everything changed for him. He considered Coltrane to have found some sort of “truth” with his instrument, and that he didn’t quite sound like anything he had heard before. He thought Coltrane was truly improvising, and this inspired Allan to find his own sound, which he certainly accomplished.
Allan Holdsworth’s sound is very particular, and very much based on legato playing, following his original desire of playing saxophone but through the guitar. His unorthodox technique is incredible, and one can really hear Coltrane’s influence in his fast flurry of legato notes. This enabled Holdsworth to be an influential figure in rock, fusion, and jazz. In fact, his first international appearance was with the renowned prog rock group “Tempest” in the 1970s. Shortly after this, he was recruited to record two influential fusion albums by the legendary jazz drummer Tony Williams in 1975.
Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Allan kept experimenting with technology to further develop his sound. He was one of the first guitarists to play the SynthAxe, a guitar synthesizer that had the ability to be hooked up to a breath controller in order to manipulate the dynamics of the notes played. Throughout his career he recorded upwards of 20 solo albums, as well as numerous collaborations with names such as Stanley Clarke, Jean-Luc Ponty, Frank Gambale, and many others.
[music clip “0274” 00:00 – 00:30]
As I said before, “Sixteen Men of Tain” is Allan’s 10th studio album, released under the Gnarly Geeser Records label in the year 2000, and recorded in Allan Holdsworth’s home studio “The Brewery” in San Diego. The personnel on this album include Gary Novak on drums and Dave Carpenter on upright bass.
This album is special because it was the very first time that Allan recorded with an acoustic rhythm section. Prior to this record, Allan used to record regularly with electric bassists Jimmy Johnson and Skuli Sverrisson. Furthermore, Holdsworth also decided to move away from the more intense drum sounds of his usual drummers Gary Husband and Chad Wackerman, and instead chose Gary Novak, who is a much more jazz oriented player, with a more mellow approach in general. Holdsworth was well aware of this drastic change, and he purposely composed all the tunes in the album with this very different approach in mind. This resulted in superbly fresh material.
What we heard before this introduction to the album was the start of the very first track “0274.” This track is extremely progressive in nature, starting with a floaty rubato section with Allan making great use of volume swells and eerie chord voicings to set the tone. After this intro, the band sets the tempo to start the main melody of the tune. The melody is very much driven by the complex harmony chosen by Allan, and one starts to wonder how will the band make sense of the chord changes to solo.
But to be honest, it’s not surprising just how smoothly Holdsworth navigates this harmony when he starts blowing. He begins his solo extremely melodically, making perfect use of adjacent tones to create strong melodies that emphasize the voice leading within the harmonic background. His solo quickly builds to a flurry of notes reminiscent of Coltrane’s approach. We can really appreciate Holdsworth's legato technique here, and of course, the deep influence that John Coltrane’s sound on the saxophone had on Allan.
[music clip “0274” 03:00 – 03:35]
Although we didn’t include a clip of his playing, it’s good to say that by the end of “0274,” Walt Fowler’s rich trumpet tone comes in to play a fantastic solo before the tune disintegrates into a spacy outro.
Now, the title track, “The Sixteen Men of Tain,” is the breathing proof of what a fantastic and peculiar combination of personalities this album encapsulates. The melody of the tune features some amazingly light and driving rhythm section work, especially on the drums—all of this together with Allan’s sparkly guitar tone and yet again, complex harmonies.
Dave Carpenter takes a great first solo on upright bass, filled with clear intention and melodic passages. Then, it’s Allan’s turn to solo, and the magic really starts to show around the 2 minutes and 20 seconds mark. At this point, the rhythm section breaks the light sixteenth-note-based rhythm they have been keeping and starts swinging really hard. Dave Carpenter starts a walking bass line, and Gary Novak plays more traditional swing time.
This, juxtaposed with Holdsworth’s modern tone and approach makes for an amazing and truly unique surprise. Throughout the remainder of the tune, the band will go in and out of this swing feel, building the intensity of the tune to culminate with Gary Novak’s tasteful solo on the head out.
[music clip “The Sixteen Men of Tain” 02:07 – 02:39]
One of the highlights of the album is Holdsworth’s tribute to his late colleague, the legendary drummer Tony Williams. This tribute bears the name of “The Drums Were Yellow,” referring to Tony’s signature yellow Gretsch drumkit. This track highlights the amazing interaction that drummer Gary Novak and Allan are capable of achieving. Novak’s snare work is breathtaking, accompanying Allan with subtle polyrhythmic grace. Holdsworth and Novak create a thick wall of sound—it’s hard to believe that there are only two instruments playing during the entire 6 minutes of the track.
And even within this wall of sound, Allan’s solo in this track feels so free. He suddenly takes flight, playing an overflow of notes that is again, very reminiscent of John Coltrane, going in and out of tonality with amazing grace. All this while Novak follows and supports him with outstanding creativity.
[music clip “The Drums Were Yellow” 03:53 – 03:25]
During the introduction to this episode, we mentioned that throughout Allan Holdsworth’s career, he was always avid to keep developing his own expressive sound. One of the things Holdsworth did in order to do this, was to experiment with new technology that was being developed.
The sixth track of this album, that is “Downside Up,” is special for a number of reasons. It is the only track of the album that is not Allan Holdsworth’s composition. In fact, it was written by the drummer Chad Wackerman, with whom Allan worked extensively and is a guest artist for this track.
But more relevant to our discussion, it features Holdsworth playing the SynthAxe. As mentioned before, this instrument is a MIDI controller that uses the sound producing characteristics of the guitar to control an electronic synthesizer. Because this synthesizer doesn’t produce sound acoustically, the audio signal that is emitted can be manipulated electronically to a great extent. This allowed Allan to phrase melodies in a very different manner, sometimes resembling a saxophone in many ways.
Allan Holdsworth was one of the main proponents of this instrument right from the moment it was released in 1985, so by the time “The Sixteen Men of Tain” was recorded fifteen years later, Allan had developed a great degree of mastery with this instrument. Listen to his phrasing, and how the attack and dynamics are much more subtle than with a traditional electric guitar. The notes seem to melt into each other, giving it a more vocal sound, and the way Allan combines his legato technique with the new approach this instrument enables is truly unique.
Now, the actual sound of the SynthAxe may or may not be to your liking, but we should give credit where credit’s due, and Allan's expressive use of this tool is pretty amazing. A different example of this can be found in the next tune on this album, “Eidolon.” On this track, we hear Allan soloing with the SynthAxe, and it is very different from what we just heard.
Allan retains his soloing style in the sense that he plays both very melodic passages and long streams of fast notes. His time is as precise as ever, and the more subtle attack of the SynthAxe allows him to phrase more like a saxophone, which, as mentioned previously, was a lifelong ambition of his. One of the characteristics that work particularly well as an effect with this instrument are subtle bends. Listen to how he incorporates these into his solo.
If your interest was piqued by Allan Holdsworth's sounds, there is plenty more to explore. Allan has an impressive amount of recorded work, so knowing where to start can be a bit daunting. If you want to experience the development of his explorations with sound, I would recommend listening to his work from the late 80s and 90s. Some of his most acclaimed albums from this period include Atavachron (1986), Sand (1987), Secrets (1989), and Hard Hat Area (1993).
I would also recommend you take a listen to None Too Soon (1996). This album is the release prior to The Sixteen Men of Tain, and it's a straight-ahead jazz album. It is pretty interesting and rewarding to listen to Allan play over standards.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Album Deep Dives. I hope you enjoyed it. Allan Holdsworth has been one of the most unique and virtuosic guitar voices of the last 50 years, and I hope I was able to convey some of that in this episode.
Sadly, Allan passed away recently in 2017, but as we can all see, he is and forever will be present with his strong and innovative musicality with the guitar. Once again, my name is Nathan Corr, and I've been your host for this episode of Album Deep Dives.
You can find other episodes included in your Jazz Guitar Mastery program. Until next time, happy shedding.
