Player given an awful roasting (8)
I believe the answer is:
organist
'player' is the definition.
(organist is a kind of player)
'an awful roasting' is the wordplay.
'an awful' indicates an anagram.
'roasting' anagrammed gives 'ORGANIST'.
'given' is the link.
(Other definitions for organist that I've seen before include "Accompanist, keyboard player" , "Church instr. player" , "One plays in church usually" , "Roasting (anag)" , "Cathedral musician" .)