page_title: Allan Holdsworth
section_title: 2000s–2017 (and death)
hierarchical_section_title: Allan Holdsworth / Recording career / 2000s–2017 (and death)
caption_attribution_description: English: Allan_Holdsworth, Chad_Wackerman, and Jimmy Johnson, Huntington Beach, California.
context_page_description: Allan Holdsworth was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer.
  Holdsworth was known for his highly advanced knowledge of music theory, through which he incorporated a vast array of complex chord progressions, often using unusual chord shapes in an abstract way based on his understanding of "chord scales", and intricate improvised solos, frequently across shifting tonal centres. He used a myriad of scale forms often derived from those such as the lydian, diminished, harmonic major, augmented, whole tone, chromatic and altered scales, among others, often resulting in an unpredictable and dissonant "outside" sound. His unique legato soloing technique stemmed from his original desire to play the saxophone. Unable to afford one, he strove to use the guitar to create similarly smooth lines of notes. He also became associated with playing an early form of guitar synthesizer called the SynthAxe, a company he endorsed in the 1980s.
context_section_description: The decade began positively with the release of The Sixteen Men of Tain in 2000, but it turned out to be Holdsworth's last album recorded at The Brewery. Immediately afterwards, he abruptly slowed his solo output due to events in his personal life. A pair of official live albums, All Night Wrong and Then!, were released in 2002 and 2003 respectively, along with a double compilation album, The Best of Allan Holdsworth: Against the Clock, in 2005.
  His eleventh album, Flat Tire: Music for a Non-Existent Movie, was released in 2001. In a 2008 interview Holdsworth mentioned that a new studio album entitled Snakes and Ladders was slated for release in the same year through guitarist Steve Vai's Favored Nations label, but this did not happen. Further new material with Chad Wackerman and Jimmy Johnson was also said to be in the works. In a 2010 interview he claimed to have enough material for two albums, which he planned to begin recording after a show in Tel Aviv.
  Throughout the latter half of the 2000s he extensively toured both North America and Europe, and played as a guest on albums by numerous artists. Notably, he was featured on keyboardist Derek Sherinian's 2004 album Mythology, as well as with the latter's progressive metal supergroup Planet X, on their 2007 album Quantum.
  In 2006 he performed with keyboardist Alan Pasqua, Wackerman and bassist Jimmy Haslip as part of a live tribute act in honour of the late Tony Williams, with whom Holdsworth and Pasqua had played in the mid-1970s; a DVD (Live at Yoshi's) and double album (Blues for Tony) of this tour were released in 2007 and 2009 respectively. Throughout 2008–10 he toured with drummers Terry Bozzio and Pat Mastelotto, and bassist Tony Levin as HoBoLeMa, a supergroup playing improvised experimental music. On 3 November 2011, Holdsworth performed in Mumbai as part of drummer Virgil Donati's touring band. The following year, Holdsworth joined Chad Wackerman for a third time on a studio album by the latter, for Dreams Nightmares and Improvisations.
  In 2015, Holdsworth launched a PledgeMusic venture to release new studio material, as part of a collection named Tales from the Vault. The album appeared in July 2016.
  On April 7, 2017, Manifesto records released the box set The Man Who Changed Guitar Forever! The Allan Holdsworth Album Collection, which comprises remastered versions of 12 of Allan's solo albums. These 12 albums also have been released in a vinyl box set under the name "The Allan Holdsworth Solo Album Collection", marking the first time many of these albums have been available on vinyl. At the same time, Manifesto also released the 2-CD compilation "Eidolon", which features tracks selected by Holdsworth himself. Allan was able to promote these albums briefly, as he passed away only a week later from high blood pressure. According to The Guardian, he played his final gig in San Diego on April 10, 2017.
caption: Holdsworth, Chad Wackerman (centre) and Jimmy Johnson (right) in Huntington Beach, 2006
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