''The Guitar Player'' is an album by British

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist

Davey Graham David Michael Gordon "Davey" Graham (originally spelled Davy Graham) (26 November 1940 – 15 December 2008) was a British guitarist and one of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk revival. He inspired many famous practitioners ...

(then Davy Graham), released in 1963. It was his first LP after releasing the EP ''3/4 A.D.'' one years earlier. Allmusic entry for ''The Guitar Player''Retrieved December 2009. The session-musician Bobby Graham (no relation) plays drums on the album. "I started to play the guitar about seven years ago, while I was still at school- homework always gave in to music, so I was no genius! As soon as I got home, I would put on a blues record-

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...

Blind Lemon Jefferson Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929)Some sources indicate Jefferson was born on October 26, 1894. was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues sing ...

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

Champion Jack Dupree William Thomas "Champion Jack" Dupree (July 23, 1909 or July 4, 1910 – January 21, 1992) was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. His nickname was derived from his early career as a boxer. Biography Dupree was a New Orleans ...

and

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

and many others as well as modern jazz greats like

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

Charlie Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...

and

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

, who are still my favourites. When I got tired of the city and a job suffocating in an office, I went to Paris and sang and played in the streets to cinema queues and up and down the French Riviera. I must admit I was very glad when I was invited to play in night clubs where I could put down the plectrum and play finger style as I still do. Every summer for three years I would break the chains of a job (anything from librarian to crate-humper) and leave for the continent, taking £5– the fare to Paris, freedom and the sun of the Cote d’Azur. When I came back to England in the winter of 1961, I started to get more regular work playing in folk song clubs, and got my first “break” playing as accompanist along with

Alexis Korner Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major in ...

for

Shirley Abicair Shirley Abicair (born 26 October 1930) is an Australian-born singer, musician, television personality, actress and author. In the 1950s and 60s, she was probably best known as an exponent of the zither. Early life Shirley Abicair was born in Mel ...

, the Australian folk singer on broadcasts for radio, a TV series and a concert at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

. When people ask me what type of guitar I play, I usually say “Blues, bits and pieces”. The numbers on this album are a mixture of jazz and folk influences. I think that every number has its own particular mood. Before I play I don’t know exactly what notes will come out, but I know the mood the number conjures up in me, so that on the framework of, say, a 12-bar blues with a slow tempo and a minor key, I can make the guitar cry by whining the strings. On the other hand, for a calypso or fast rocking blues, I can use running single-line phrases with clipped notes to convey movement and excitement, filling in with block chords to keep the pulse of the number. For me, the richness of the guitar as a solo instrument, or an accompaniment to a singer lies in its many voices and moods. For the last two years, I have been playing in Nick’s diner near Earl’s Court where I eat excellent steaks and am acquiring a taste for good wine and cigars! Over the past year I have made half a dozen solo TV appearances, though I love to play with a band. I have recently joined Alexis’ “

Blues Incorporated Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, or simply Blues Incorporated, were an English blues band formed in London in 1961, led by Alexis Korner and including at various times Jack Bruce, Charlie Watts, Terry Cox, Davy Graham, Ginger Baker, Art Woo ...

” and have a ball both playing, and watching the dancers. All is said now except that I sincerely hope you enjoy this record either to listen to, or as a background to good conversation!" - Davy Graham 1963 It was reissued in 2003 on CD by

Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is as of 2013 a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest m ...

with eight bonus tracks. It was also released as ''The Guitar Player... Plus''.

Reception

In his

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review, critic Thom Jurek wrote, "The Guitar Player is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, instrumental acoustic guitar record of the 1960s and 1970s British folk scene... the release of the classic The Guitar Player in America, some 40 years after its initial issue, is still an occasion for great celebration and is a candidate for reissue of the year."

Track listing

#" Don't Stop the Carnival" (Traditional) – 1:54 #"Sermonette" (

Cannonball Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered for the 1966 soul jazz single "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", whi ...

) – 2:45 #"

Take Five "Take Five" is a jazz standard composed by saxophonist Paul Desmond and originally recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet for their album ''Time Out'' at Columbia Records' 30th Street Studios in New York City on July 1, 1959. Two years later it b ...

" (

Paul Desmond Paul Desmond (born Paul Emil Breitenfeld; November 25, 1924 – May 30, 1977) was an American jazz alto saxophone, alto saxophonist and composer, best known for his work with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for composing that group's biggest hit, " ...

) – 1:55 #"

How Long, How Long Blues "How Long, How Long Blues" (also known as "How Long Blues" or "How Long How Long") is a blues song recorded by the American blues duo Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell in 1928. It became an early blues standard and its melody inspired many later ...

" (

Leroy Carr Leroy Carr (March 27, 1904 or 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. Mus ...

) – 2:25 #"Sunset Eyes" (

Sherman Edwards Sherman Edwards (April 3, 1919 – March 30, 1981) was an American composer, jazz pianist, and songwriter, best known for his songs from the 1969 Broadway musical '' 1776'' and the 1972 film adaptation. Early life Edwards was born in the East ...

Sid Wayne Sid Wayne (January 26, 1923 – December 26, 1991) was an American songwriter, lyricist and composer, who wrote a number of well-known songs from the 1950s to the 1980s. Almost every Elvis Presley film contained one or more works written by Wa ...

) – 1:53 #" Cry Me a River" (

Arthur Hamilton Arthur Hamilton Stern (born October 22, 1926),Stern, Arthur “Art”
''Mar-Ken ...

) – 2:19 #"The Ruby & the Pearl" (

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

Jay Livingston Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison, March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a song-writing duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote music and Evans t ...

) – 2:27 #"Buffalo" (

Kenny Dorham McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention or public ...

) – 2:17 #"Exodus" ( Ernest Gold) – 1:57 #"Yellow Bird" (

Alan Bergman Alan Bergman (born September 11, 1925) and Marilyn Keith Bergman (November 10, 1928 – January 8, 2022) were an American songwriting duo. Married from 1958 until Marilyn's death, together they wrote music and lyrics for numerous celebrated telev ...

, Marilyn Keith,

Norman Luboff Norman Luboff (May 14, 1917 – September 22, 1987) was an American music arranger, music publisher, and choir director. Early years Norman Luboff was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1917. He studied piano as a child and participated in his high ...

) – 2:19 #"Blues for Betty" (Davy Graham) – 3:27 #"

Hallelujah, I Love Her So "Hallelujah I Love Her So" is a single by American musician Ray Charles. The rhythm and blues song was written and released by Charles in 1956 on the Atlantic label, and in 1957 it was included on his self-titled debut LP, also released on Atla ...

" (

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

) – 2:00 #:2003 reissue bonus tracks: #"She Moved Thru' the Bizarre/Blue Raga" Live (Colum, Traditional) – 7:43 #"

Misirlou "Misirlou" ( el, Μισιρλού < tr, Mısırlı 'Egyptian' < ar, مصر ''Miṣr'' 'Egypt') is a folk song from the Eastern Mediterranean region. The original author of the song is not known, but Arabic, Greek, and Jewish musicians wer ...

" Live (Nick Roubanis, Bob Russell, Fred Wise, Milton Leeds) – 3:27 #"Hey! Bud Blues" Live (

) – 6:15 #" Anji" (Davy Graham) – 1:27 #"Fingerbuster" (Davy Graham) – 1:54 #"La Morena" (Davy Graham) – 3:45 #"Happy Meeting in Glory" (Traditional; arranged by Davy Graham) – 2:08 #"Suite in D Minor" (

Robert de Visée Robert de Visée (c. 1655 – 1732/1733) was a French lutenist, guitarist, theorbist and viol player at the court of the kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, as well as a singer and composer for lute, theorbo and guitar. Biography Robert de Visée's pl ...

) – 3:56

Personnel

*Davey Graham – guitar * Bobby Graham - drums *

- guitar on "3/4 A.D."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guitar Player, The 1963 debut albums Davey Graham albums Pye Records albums