Allan Holdsworth on working with Bill Bruford - Part 1

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What , no drum action this week? I can hear the chorus of complaints, but I have something very special that will both relax your ears and give insight into the delicacy of inter-personnel relationships in both my band Bruford and the group UK. But let me explain.

Back in 1982, I was approached by two young film makers, Steve Apicella and Kenny Klompus, about making a drum video: part instructional, part autobiographical, part performance. Drum videos were rare back then. I’d never seen or bought one, but I’d heard about them. Kenny and Steve had just finished a performance piece with Max Roach, so their credentials were impeccable - if they were cool enough with Max, they were OK with me.

This was around the time of hybrid kits, Simmons Electronics, Discipline, King Crimson, log drums and boobams. A 30’ piece was filmed and edited, and duly appeared on video-tape and then DVD. It's an antique piece now, but remains available on Winterfold Records as one half of a two disc package called ‘Double Time’: https://burningshed.com/store/billbru...

Anyway, there was a ton of excess material from the shoot that had lain dormant until recently, when Kenny and Steve blew the dust off it and discovered some fascinating stuff. Over the coming weeks, this channel will be presenting this previously-unseen footage, including several of my solo performances from that era, along with interviews with three of the most interesting guitarists I’ve had the privilege of working with: Robert Fripp, Steve Howe, and the late, great Allan Holdsworth. I was not present at these interviews.

This week we begin with the first part of a two-part interview with Allan, who discusses in plain language his views on working with me, the 'Bruford' band and 'UK' from around 1975 to 1980. Allan’s view of our relationship back then is particularly personal and poignant from my perspective. He never told me this stuff! All he really wanted, it turns out, was to play the most inter-active music he could; a music usually known as jazz. There was definitely too little in our group 'UK', considerably more in 'Bruford', but ultimately neither organisation could offer him sufficient satisfaction and he wisely moved on.

His articulation of this predicament comes with no rancour or ill-feeling. It highlights his passionate need to develop his already sensational guitar-playing in less restrictive surroundings; in other words, to form his own band. I’d like to feel that 'UK' and 'Bruford' provided two stepping stones on the path towards his realisation of the fully-matured genius he eventually became, but I'm sure he’d probably have got there just fine without me.

Second part of this interview will be posted in a few weeks.

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