Well, how would you like to be viewed as far as your influence on guitar? But they’re lovely people and I’ve been working with the family for many, many years. It was their words, not mine! I was distressed by it at first, but Evan at Manifesto Records had put so much time into it I didn’t feel it was appropriate of me to have them change the whole thing at the last minute because they had already begun the manufacturing of it. They took that from a Guitar Player magazine interview that I did. But by the time they got to the box set I didn’t realize that was gonna be the title. I listened to everything and, like I said, they did a great job. All I was concerned about was the quality of the remasters. That wasn’t my idea! It’s not my personality to brag in any way or be pretentious.
The box set is called The Man Who Changed Guitar Forever! I think as a box set it won’t be available for that long, but then they all will be available as individual albums. did a very good job of remastering everything, considering that many of the source tapes were very old. Well, Evan called me up one day and said, “Why don’t we remaster and repackage all your solo records and put them in one box? And, if you’d like, we’ll add a best-of compilation to go along with it.” And all the records are “in the family,” so everything would be available again. I’ve worked before with Evan Cohen at Manifesto, and his dad was my publishing administrator for over 30 years.
This is my first collaboration with them as a record company, yes. Is this your first collaboration with Manifesto Records? Holdsworth also worked with Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford on his first solo project, Feels Good To Me, and he contributed to recordings by-and live performances with-Jon Heisman’s Tempest, Jean-Luc Ponty, Gong and rock supergroup U.K., among others.īelow are excerpts from an interview DownBeat conducted with the guitarist in March 2017. In the ’70s, Holdsworth played with legendary drummer Tony Williams in the band Lifetime, and toured with British progressive jazz fusion group Soft Machine. Holdsworth has been heralded by the likes of Eddie Van Halen, Carlos Santana, Frank Zappa, Pat Metheny and John McLaughlin as possessing a pioneering style and vast harmonic vocabulary. Manifesto has also released the double-CD set Eidolon, a 28-track compilation of Holdsworth’s handpicked personal favorites. The set’s extensive booklet boasts colorful photos and detailed accounts by Holdsworth on the making of each individual album. The box set includes all his re-mastered full-length solo albums from 1982 through 2003. The legacy of legendary British guitarist, composer and bandleader Allan Holdsworth, who died April 15 at age 70, will live on through a 12-CD box set entitled The Man Who Changed Guitar Forever! on Manifesto Records. Allan Holdsworth is the subject of a 12-CD box set, The Man Who Changed Guitar Forever!, from Manifesto Records.