Castle Music UK
1963
The Guitar Player
About This Album
While few on the North American side of the Atlantic are aware of the sheer poetic and instrumental genius of guitarist Davy Graham -- such listeners usually get all misty over one of the persons he influenced, such as Richard Thompson, Martin Carthy, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, and Ellen McIlwaine, all of whom he is superior to in both technique and compositional style -- his place in the world of guitar icons is well-established. Graham literally started the modern folk revival for guitarists in England. The Guitar Player is his first full-length album, recorded in 1962 and issued on the venerable Pye Records Golden Guinea label two years after Graham's recording debut, the 3/4 A.D. EP on Topic. This Castle/Sanctuary reissue of The Guitar Player is lovingly and painstakingly remastered from the original tapes. It contains the 12 dazzling tracks in sequence from its predecessor that showcase Graham's truly astonishing range -- even by today's standards. Jazz classics such as Sonny Rollins' "Don't Stop the Carnival" accompanied by timpanis, Brubeck's "Take Five," Cannonball Adderley's "Sermonette," Horace Silver's "Buffalo," the torch song "Cry Me a River" (which was a hit by Julie London just before Graham reinvented it), and Ray Charles' R&B classic "Hallelujah, I Love Her So" were re-imagined by Graham as folk instrumentals.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14 and 15)

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