LIVE: Allan Holdsworth @ the Van Dyck, 3/24/12

Photograph by Andrzej Pilarczyk

The Allan Holdsworth Band exploded into the Van Dyck in Schenectady, and everybody got pretty much exactly what they expected – a fiery, prog-rock-meets-jazz-fusion fandango featuring the fleet-fingered guitarist backed by a dynamic, locked-in-synch all-star rhythm section featuring Yellowjackets bassist Jimmy Haslip and Planet X drummer Virgil Donati.

So it was no surprise that the Van Dyck was jammed to the rafters last weekend for a pair of inspiring (and oh-so-sold-out) Saturday night shows.

From Chicago by way of Israel, the muscular, like-minded fusion foursome Marbin opened both shows and managed to hold their own in Holdsworth’s shadow. No easy feat…

SECOND OPINIONS:
Excerpt from Michael Hochanadel’s review at The Daily Gazette: “This is a masterly trio of powerful elements linked closely in Holdsworth’s jazz-rock concept: Holdsworth’s own brilliant guitar fireworks, Haslip’s uncanny ability to hold this careening machine together rhythmically and harmonically and Donati’s imagination and testosterone. Holdsworth cued them with just a glance and they followed instantaneously with nanosecond precision. They played lots of notes, very close together, always the right ones.”