JAZZ REVIEW : Holdsworth: Improvisation With Fervor

Intensity is what one expects from Allan Holdsworth, and intensity is what he delivered in his early set Saturday at the Roxy.

Sporting a mop-top straight out of the Dave Clark Five, the English-born guitarist (who first came to prominence in the ‘70s with Soft Machine) looked far more mild-mannered than he sounded.

Holdsworth has often spoken of his affection for jazz tenor saxophone in general and for John Coltrane in particular, and his soloing had the feel of extended ‘60s-style jazz improvisation dramatized by the theatrical fervor of rock guitar.

The current group--with keyboardist Steve Hunt, bassist Skuli Sverisson and drummer Chad Wackerman--has been together long enough for strikingly intuitive interaction on Holdsworth’s sometimes thorny, harmonically dense compositions. Collectively and individually, the members both articulated and expanded upon Holdsworth’s fascinating musical vision.

About two-thirds of the way through the set, during a piece that was (like all the others) unannounced, Hunt took off on a tension-filled, stretch-the-envelope solo that threatened to upstage his leader. But Holdsworth, ready to respond to the challenge, came back with a group of choruses that was little short of astonishing--pure state-of-the art contemporary improvising.

It’s probably safe to say that at least half the rapt, mostly male crowd gathered around the stage at the Roxy were guitarists hoping to pick up a few useful bits of wisdom from the fingers of an acknowledged master. They were surely not disappointed by what they heard.