The Guitar Player

Folk, Blues & Beyond... One of the most important recordings from the 1960s folk revival. Newly remastered featuring original artwork, five bonus tracks from two rare EPs and unpublished photographs.	Folk Roots, New Routes Digitally Remastered Edition of an Album First Released in 1965. 'folk Roots, New Routes' is a Remarkably Experimental Record, Uniting Shirley Collins' Beautiful Singing with Davy Graham's Jazz-inflected Guitar.	Complete Guitarist	Midnight Man First released in 1966, Midnight Man has a slightly more rhythm'n'blues focus than his other Decca albums - as Mr. Graham plays homage to some of his musical heroes. Beautiful playing as always, and a repertoire drawn from the songs of Lalo Schifrin, Herbie Hancock, Lonnie John, ...	Blues Run the Game The first compilation of the enigmatic artist's complete recordings. Features rare demos, sessions, & the elusive 1965 single. Sleeve notes by folk expert Colin Harper, with an introduction by Bert Jansch. 43 tracks with a slipcase. Castle. 2003.
Large as Life & Twice as Natural With the exception of 1964's Folk, Blues & Beyond, this is Graham's finest non-compilation album. It's also his most fully arranged and rock-influenced effort, with backing by a meaty ensemble featuring Danny Thompson (of Pentangle) on bass and British blues stalwarts Jon Hiseman...	The Basement Tapes The Basement Tapes can be heard as a manifesto for the '90s' underlying Americana agenda or as the greatest album never intended for commercial release. Homegrown 1967 recordings taped in the Band's fabled Big Pink hermitage in Saugerties, New York, many of the 24 songs resonated...	Large as Life & Twice as Natural With the exception of 1964's Folk, Blues & Beyond, this is Graham's finest non-compilation album. It's also his most fully arranged and rock-influenced effort, with backing by a meaty ensemble featuring Danny Thompson (of Pentangle) on bass and British blues stalwarts Jon Hiseman...	The Black Swan Bert Jansch has been working with some of the latest musicians to emerge on the scene on his long awaited album "The Black Swan", including producer Noah Georgeson (Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom), and musicians and vocalists Devendra Banhart, Beth Orton, Otto Hauser, Helena Espvall (Espers).	The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death 1959's self-released Blind Joe Death had an enigmatic spare cover that read "Blind Joe Death" on one side and "John Fahey" on the other. The playful 20-year-old "American primitive" guitarist had created an alternate identity: that of the obscure, unknown guitar great Blind Joe D...

There's a storm a-brewin'!
I've heard Davy Graham not-so-humbly describe his sound as "like a force of nature." After listening to this, his debut album, you might just agree. This guy's got chops, and he's not afraid to bust them out. Not only is he a force of nature, but he's also quite a force of influence, inspiring contemporaries from Roy Harper to Bert Jansch to all points in between. Graham is not unlike contemporary John Fahey, insofar as he plays solo finger style acoustic guitar (I guess it's not completely solo, since he's accompanied by a drum kit on all the original album songs). However, whereas Fahey mastered his technique, his brilliance was most astounding in his skills as a composer/player, bending the genres of blues, classical, and just plain bizarre, Davy Graham is a straight up performer--he only wrote one of the songs on the original album, and his amazing strength is in his nimble ability to play blindingly in all genres, from jazz to blues to flamenco to surf to classical to raga. The Guitar Player, surprisingly (in accord with Graham's reputation), is mostly jazz. He covers a number of standards, like Brubeck's "Take Five," and "Cry Me A River." At first I wasn't sure about the sparse combo of drums and acoustic guitar--I'd usually prefer either just solo guitar or at least a bass along with the drums. After a few listens, though, it works pretty well, and the drums help provide a rhythmic counterpoint and keep Graham in time. The guitarist rips through the 12 songs, swiftly picking through a lot of colors, moods and textures, as well as deftly providing himself a bassline to go off of and solo--sometimes it sounds like there HAS to be two guitars playing. In a way, it reminds me a bit of Joe Pass on an acoustic. I never thought I'd find myself saying this, but I think the bonus tracks really make the album. "She Moved Thru' The Bizarre/Blue Raga" is probably the coolest track on the album, blending folk with raga and foreshadowing the less jazzy work he'd become known for later. "Miserlou," the classic surf instrumental sounds great on solo acoustic, and it's pretty sweet to hear him do a little Spanish guitar and classical as well. Without the bonus tracks, The Guitar Player wouldn't have as much diversity, and it probably wouldn't make the listener as curious to check out his later, more experimental work. I highly recommend this album to any fans of solo acoustic players with astounding chops, fans of Fahey and Pass, but also to fans of folk and jazz--you might be a fan of solo acoustic and not even know it! Hope you like it.