R.I.P Davey Graham

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R.I.P Davey Graham

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Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

R.I.P Davey Graham

Was sad to hear guitarist Davey Graham died on the 15th of this month.

He influenced many guitarists including Bert Jansch, Paul Simon and a heap of English rock guitarists including Jimmy Page.

His composition "Angi" has been covered many times by various guitarists.

I saw him play down the Glasgow Folk Centre many many years ago and he was incredible.

A very quiet and modest man when offstage.

I know Norman here is a fan.

Here's a little tribute to him on the BBC's "Last Word" program.

Click "Listen to latest edition".

(Starts about 10mins into the programme)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/lastword.shtml

cheers,

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 21 2008 3:08:17

NormanKliman

Posts: 1143
Joined: Sep. 1 2007

RE: R.I.P Davey Graham (in reply to Ron.M)

Thanks for the post, Ron. That's too bad. He was truly ahead of his time. Here are a couple of links:

http://www.lescousins.co.uk/
http://www.daveygraham.moonfruit.com/

There are a few videos of him on YouTube, as well.

His guitar playing still sounds extraordinary, at least to my ears, like a guitarist who's a little closer than normal to being able to play what he hears. Solid nylon-string technique and really cool blues and jazz arrangements, as well as other styles.

They say he spent some time in Spain, maybe in Málaga, but I haven't heard any flamenco influence in his playing. In any case, he was one of the few fingerstylists who I'd rate on the same level as an average flamenco guitarist.

Thanks again for the post.

_____________________________

Be here now.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 21 2008 10:20:39

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: R.I.P Davey Graham (in reply to NormanKliman)

Yeah Norman,
Funny we should just be talking about him a few weeks ago....

Those "live" YouTube vids are just rubbish.
He's an old man, he's sick and either on something or off something and it's a bit like looking up Manolo de Huelva and getting some of his later vids and saying.."Gee, what's all the fuss about?... This guy is awful!"

I saw Davey Graham play live around 1968 or so and believe me, this guy was exceptional.

He started off playing pretty good and competent stuff and had an OK but not great singing voice.
I wondered what all the fuss was about, since I thought Bert Jansch and Renbourn played better.

He never really related to the audience other than a polite recognition and just mumbled stuff into the mic, like he was happy and safe in his own world and was just doing what he felt like.

As the evening wore on and he got a few songs under his belt, he suddenly transformed into a different person and started to play the most amazing and technically complicated stuff.

It's like he suddenly moved up not one...but several gears!

His sense of rhythm was certainly uncanny (for a Folk club!).

He started to really rock, like a one man band, like there were two instruments and a percussionist playing at the same time.

Just like that...
Like a switch was thrown..

You could have heard a pin drop...everybody was just blown away!

Probably the best acoustic steel string player I've ever seen.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/davy-graham-virtuoso-guitarist-at-the-heart-of-the-british-folk-revival-whose-playing-influenced-a-generation-1192738.html

cheers,

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 21 2008 11:43:48

Guest

RE: R.I.P Davey Graham (in reply to Ron.M)

"Probably the best acoustic steel string player I've ever seen. "

Olé. Have to agree. Once walked out of a concert of John Rebourne due to the effects he was using, though, because I respect all artists, this was rare. Though I heard Graham when I didn´t understand. Jansch was incredible too. Just as well you don´t have to play guitar well to accompany a singer

Suerte,

Seán

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 22 2008 7:36:30

Estevan

Posts: 1936
Joined: Dec. 20 2006
From: Torontolucía

RE: R.I.P Davey Graham (in reply to Ron.M)

A great pioneer who has probably influenced many musicians indirectly without their knowing it.

There's a good biographical sketch here, which includes one or two important facts that the Independent omitted (such as how he became a junkie). And this nice anecdote:

"Graham's lifestyle affected his career [.....] He began to give fewer public performances, but spent his time learning languages (he spoke excellent French and studied Arabic, Turkish, Greek and Gaelic), and the Arabic oud and Indian sarod, which he played on his 1979 album Dance for Two People. But he was never far from his guitar and gave some extraordinary private performances. On one occasion in the early 1980s he came round to my house and started playing in the garden - he was concentrating so hard on what he was doing that he failed to notice that a neighbouring house had caught fire."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/dec/17/folk-blues-music

There are some interesting video clips here, although they are not "five of his finest moments" least of all the last one, which is just sad:

http://tinyurl.com/davy-graham-video-tribute

Ron - did you ever hear of the "notorious Scottish beat writer and junkie Alexander Trocchi" ?

I remembered reading a very good description of an encounter with Davey Graham which really gives an idea of his fantastic character. It took a while to track it down again, but here it is - highly recommended:

http://www.kiwifolk.com/pipermail/nz-folk_kiwifolk.com/2005-July/000990.html

_____________________________

Me da igual. La música es música.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 22 2008 16:11:22

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: R.I.P Davey Graham (in reply to Estevan)

Great links Estevan!

I love the kiwi interview, especially this bit...

"Davy's always been too wayward for commercial success," says Jansch. "A
lot of people in the folk world don't rate him because of that lack of
professional discipline. He said to me once, 'As long as you have a good
start and a good ending to a concert, the middle doesn't really matter.' I
remember thinking, 'But it does help if you turn up in the first place, Davy.'"

When I saw him at the Glasgow Folk Centre, (which was basically the top flat of a bombed out and crumbling tenament and held about 100 people max), it was certainly an interesting introduction.
It used meet at the weekends featuring local talent, but every now and then they would be able to lure a major name from London or whatever, who would do a half hour or threequarters of an hour at the end.
The door fee would go up a bit on these occasions.

On the Davey Graham night, the lady running the venue came out after the first hour to say that they were having difficulty getting in contact with Davey and didn't know where he was, or would even be appearing, so they had called in a couple of emergency acts to fill in.

Towards the end of the night when the place was winding up, he eventually showed up and went straight on.

I remember thinking he was a tough-looking guy, with the cropped, no-nonsense hairstyle, (everybody had long hair in 1968), pock-marked face and Mexican moustache.

He was chewing gum and looked like he carried a knuckleduster and a flick-knife and knew how to use them.

The bit of "oddballness" about it all though was, although he was wearing a black Brando-esque leather jacket, underneath it he was wearing a white shirt and a smart tie, like he was going for a job interview with the Civil Service. (??)

Also he would play some raunchy blues number, full of sexual inuendo, in a pretty convincing black delta blues voice and a really groovy down home style of guitar playing, yet when he spoke afterwards, his voice was very quiet and polite, like he was addressing a meeting of the East Anglia Model Railway Enthusiast's club.

He never had any kind of contiguous set, but just flitted from one thing to another as the mood took him with no pre-prepared audience chat up lines or anything.

He was indeed a true eccentric and a helluva guitar player when it suited him.

cheers,

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 23 2008 12:02:26

Matic

Posts: 603
Joined: Jul. 3 2006
From: Slovenija

RE: R.I.P Davey Graham (in reply to Ron.M)

Hey, Ron and others.
The discussion here made me search a little and I really like the guy. I hadn't heard of Davy (or Davey

) before.
I learned Anji (or Angi?

) today and tried DADGAD tuning...

This made me think: You were saying that there was already a discussion on Davy on the foro some time ago. I think I even read it but I never thought of wasting time on further listening. Now the guy dies and I spend 2 afternoons listening to documentals about his life and learning his piece.
Does a man have to die to get the attention?

Cheers and thanks for introducing him to me!

_____________________________

vengo de los san migueles
si no me caso este año que yo
me caso el año que viene

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 24 2008 12:38:28

michel

Posts: 315
Joined: Apr. 14 2008
From: france

RE: R.I.P Davey Graham (in reply to Matic)

I'm also a fan of davey graham!
sad news Ron but thanks for the information.
My favourite track is his cheeky minimalistic and beautiful trio version of "all of me"
A great artist!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 9 2009 1:49:32