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Holdsworth/Pasqua/Haslip/Wackerman

Blues for Tony

MoonJune Records MJR029

'Tony', of course, is Tony Williams, the late great jazz/fusion drummer with whose New Lifetime both guitarist Allan Holdsworth and keyboardist Alan Pasqua played in the mid-1970s.

On this two-CD album, recorded live in 2007, these two are joined by bassist Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets) and drummer Chad Wackerman (Zappa, Holdsworth et al.).

Their material is taken partly from Lifetime's playlist ('Fred', 'Protocosmos', 'Red Alert'), but also comprises Holdsworth classics ('Looking Glass', 'Pud Wud') and the odd Pasqua piece ('San Michele', 'To Jaki, George and Thad'); whatever they're playing, though, the band address with power, grace and considerable virtuosity.

Holdsworth has always been one of the most distinctive and eloquent guitar soloists in the business, his speed of improvisational thought matched perfectly by the fleetness of his execution; Pasqua, too, is on top form throughout, both in his soloing and in his choice of keyboard textures.

With Haslip and Wackerman tellingly emphatic but lissom and supple where required, this amounts to definitive fusion, and will delight fans of the genre as much as it (audibly) pleased those who attended the original concerts.