With guitar god Allan Holdsworth’s passing in 2017, there will unfortunately be no more new albums from him, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any more new Allan Holdsworth type records. St. Louis-based guitarist Scott T. Jones has recently made such a record titled Fictional Characters and it fully captures the spirit, style and finesse of the late British axe maestro.
In some cases it’s a backhanded compliment to state that one artist can faithfully copy another artist but how many guitarists can truly replicate what Holdsworth had done, as both a complex composer and a true craftsman of his instrument? It’s further remarkable what Jones has achieved considering he’s had to do this with one hand tied behind his back. Not literally, but not too far from the truth, either: nerve issues in his left hand has forced Jones to relearn playing the guitar essentially without the use of one finger on the fretboard. Spoiler alert: you’ll never notice.
The genesis for this album goes back several decades ago, when Jones began composing in the advanced jazz-fusion style inspired by Holdsworth and others. When the time finally arrived to make Fictional Characters, he didn’t mess around. Jones enlisted keyboardist Steve Hunt, who has actually worked with Holdsworth as well as pre-eminent fusion bassist Stanley Clarke. Drummer Archibald Ligonnière and bassist Romain Labaye is also the rhythm section for a band headed by another acclaimed guitarist, Scott Henderson.
Scott T. Jones wrote most of these songs, stuffed with sophisticated chord progressions and rich harmonics over lively, knotted grooves. It’s the kind of progressive fusion that was much more common a couple of decades ago but harder to come by in the current age. Thankfully, Jones is carrying that torch.
Right out the gate with “Floki’s Shipyard”, Jones reveals a flair for conceiving harmonies that are both complex but also very melodic. It’s nearly impossible to single out guitar solo highlights because Jones is on fire for every turn he gets, like the groove-riding he does on “Human Music” or the liquid, legato lines dispensed on “Interlocking Wheels,” which also features the other band members quite well.
A couple of tracks breaks down the group dynamic to a duo that highlights Jones’ artistry in more intimate settings. “Let’s Cook” finds Jones fronting a straight-ahead rhythm from Ligonnière and no one else (shades of “The Drums Were Yellow”), showing his single line prowess and understanding of jazz bop concepts with no accompaniment net underneath. Jones goes one-on-one with the piano of Hunt for “Time Is an Infinite Field,” by far the softest moment of the disk that wouldn’t been out of place on a John Abercrombie album. Here, Jones reveals a lot of prettiness that goes hand-in-hand with the dexterity in his guitar playing.
To end the whole album, Jones at last covers Holdsworth, reviving the title track from Holdsworth’s pivotal 1986 release, Atavachron. Hunt presumably covers on keyboards what Holdsworth had originally wrought from his then-cutting-edge Synth-Axe and Jones in this most direct comparison to one of his heroes stands strong.
Fictional Characters originally came out in 2020 via Bandcamp but has just been made available on streaming services via Autumn Hill Records. You can still grab this gem on Jones’ Bandcamp page.
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