THE SIXTEEN MEN OF TAIN

It can't be easy being Allan Holdsworth. Not-so-arguably the finest technician to ever pick up a guitar, perhaps only equaled in prowess by Ulrich Roth and maybe Ron Jarzombek, the tours, appearances & demonstrations, guest spots, and a healthy recording schedule must be just a bit less attractive for this soft-spoken grandmaster than it once was. Sure fate smiled upon him, providing a career most players would die for. But as with any genuine music-maker later in his career, fresh, exciting new ideas became less abundant.

Yet on his tenth full-length release Mr. Holdsworth, dipping a bit into his jazz roots, does not take things lying down. The Sixteen Men of Tain is no barn-burner (All About Jazz called it "A very comfortable listen", awkward praise to say the least) but it is a carefully considered set that if offered up by a new guitarist would probably be hailed as brilliant. So goes the conundrum of deep artistry and well-earned success: If you don't outdo yourself sooner or later, listeners may not come back. In a way, SMoT is more for hardcore Holdsworth fans than anyone, serving up little of the immediate flash & bang of i.o.u., Secrets, or Wardenclyff Tower, but rather taking as much time as is needed to bloom the material and coax some lightning from the nebulous clouds. I imagine it being what A.H. devotees listen to when something like Hardhat Area sounds too Pop. Volume-swollen chords unfold the drowsy beginning of '0274' but it develops well for the rest of the nearly eight minutes, setting the tone for the largely cerebral album, Walt Fowler's trumpet a fitting surprise.

Risks are still taken-- it is, after all, jazz. The title cut swings to the West Coast while Allan sweeps and hammer/pulls at his strings on top, building up, generating heat. Dreamy 'Above and Below'; Boggling 'The Drums Were Yellow' where our host switches to a classic hollow-body sound eventually ripping a mean hole in space, soloing like a madman; Lively and tuneful 'Texas' is all over the place with Dave Carpenter holding it together like a pro on the upright bass, Allan rocking, and another respite from brassman Fowler. A great little number.

Holdsworth's unmistakable horn phrasing in 'Downside Up' would be perfect as a somnambulant for any jazzrocker having trouble sleeping... in the best way of course, and lightly rendered 'Eidolon' reprises Allan's interest in myth & fantasy and features the dreaded but tastefully used synthaxe. Good but nonessential? Yes, I'd say that's quite right.