Allan Holdsworth (born August 6, 1946 in Bradford, West Yorkshire) is a British jazz guitarist and composer. Holdsworth has recorded many different styles of music over the years, including a brief flirtation with pop, in the form of a collaboration with British funk fusion pop band Level 42.

Holdsworth's playing is the musical equivalent of an anagram - all the parts are right there in front of you but it's tricky to decipher. Not for him a trad blues 12-bar, no, sirree, bob. Instead, mazy runs of lightning-fast, almost atonal jazz licks and supreme technique. Innovative? Undoubtedly. Musical? That is for you, dear reader, to decide...