JAZZ REVIEW : In Any Category, Holdsworth Delivers Hard-Driving Show

Reviewers have always had a tough time categorizing the music of guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Although his compositions provide space for long improvisations, they don’t rely on blues-based changes as does jazz, and they certainly can’t be called be-bop. But the speedy guitarist also shies away from predictable, rock-style backbeats.

Further complicating matters, the instrument Holdsworth straps on most frequently is not even a guitar but a breath-controlled, string-synthesizer setup called a SynthAxe. Looking like a cross between an outsized guitar and a respirator (volume is varied by means of a slender tube that leads from the instrument to the musician’s mouth), the gizmo gives Holdsworth the same wide selection of sounds available from keyboard synthesizers.

But forget the categories. The Holdsworth sound, as heard Tuesday at Hamptons in Santa Ana, where he fronted a quartet, consists of hard-driving, electronic instrumental music, full of responsive interplay and backed by firm rhythms. Steely, almost cold themes work their way through serious-sounding chordal patterns that give Holdsworth a chance to display his prodigious technique.

And Holdsworth has technique to spare. His fingers fly up and down the instrument’s neck, packing the sound in, barely giving the listener time to grab a breath. On headless-electric guitar, he works up a rich tone that’s crisp and clean, but still relentless. Are these, to borrow a term coined by John Coltrane, “sheets of sound,” or is the guitarist just busy?

Take the opening number, Holdsworth’s “Nonbrewed Condiment.” Its deliberate, halting beat, like a walk with a limp, gave him a chance to peel off involved lines that had that Chick Corea electric keyboard sound as well as some of Corea’s improvisational style.

Keyboardist Billy Childs seemed the perfect foil to Holdsworth’s technical displays, adding warmth with his attentive accompaniments, matching the guitarist’s speed and agility when soloing. Bassist Jimmy Johnson kept the music’s foundations intact, tracking the bottom and adding the occasional ringing embellishments. Solid, to-the-count drumming came from hard-hitter--and apparent crowd favorite--Chad Wackerman, who was especially active over the changes.

So what’s the verdict? This demanding, action-packed music is fascinating in small doses, and the guitarist’s complicated improvisations can be as engrossing as the plot of a Victorian novel. But over long periods, the onslaught is exhausting, the attack too much the same. Not that Holdsworth isn’t capable of slowing down the pace. His relaxed solo on the encore, “Shallow Sea,” was a pleasant windup to a tightly wound performance.

Fluegelhornist Tony Guerrero and his band opened the show with beat-minded numbers and the leader’s unabashed tribute to fellow fluegelhornist Chuck Mangione, called simply “Mangione.” Guerrero has a full, almost caramelized sound and is a smooth improviser who prefers to work the instrument’s middle register.