When A Guitar Plays The Blues (CD)

• Category:  Music  »  Blues  »  General/Blues
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: January 1, 1985
• Label: Alligator Records
• UPC: 014551474128
• WAPI (Tower ID): 106623878
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #64470 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #1325 in Blues (See Top 100 Blues Bestsellers)
• #510 in General/Blues (See Top 100 General/Blues Bestsellers)

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Personnel: Roy Buchanan (vocals, guitar); Otis Clay, Gloria Hardiman (vocals); Criss Johnson (guitar); Steele "Sonny" Seals (tenor saxophone); Bill Heid (keyboards); Larry Exum (bass); Morris Jennings (drums).

Recorded at Steelerville Studios, Chicago, Illinois.

WHEN A GUITAR PLAYS THE BLUES is one of Roy Buchanan's finest studio dates. A hand picked group of Chicago blues musicians--including Gloria Hardiman, who lends her gospel-charged soprano to "Why Don't You Want Me?," and the irrepressible Otis Clay, who tears it up on a version of O.V. Wright's "A Nickel And A Nail"--keep things at a high simmer. As always though, it is Buchanan's virtuosity that burns most brightly. While the fare here is primarily traditional hard-driving blues, the range of Buchanan's versatility and grab bag of effects (including double-string bends, over-the-top harmonics, snarls, scratches, and delicate, melodic underplaying) help transcend the genre.

One of Buch's most distinguishing characteristics is his manipulation of tonality and volume-knob dynamics (his approach sometimes bear a resemblance to the complex, evocative shadings of avant-jazzster Bill Frisell), a quality particularly notable on the title cut, which opens with a quote from a Bach fugue. The full range of his instrumental power is on display on the pounding "Short Fuse," the Elmore James-influenced "Hawaiian Punch" and the epic "Sneaking Godzilla Through The Alley." In all, a superior set.

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