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Live Concert Review - Burghausen, Southern Germany.
B.Furtner.
Burghausen News October 3rd 2005.
Phasenkonzert-Bericht-
Burghausen, Southern Germany.
B.Furtner. Burghausen News October 3rd 2005.
Live Concert Review - Open Strings Festival, Osnabruck.
Ulrich Olshausen.
Frankfurter Allgemeine September 30th 2005.
Phasenkonzert-Bericht-
Open Strings Festival, Osnabruck.
Ulrich Olshausen.
Frankfurter Allgemeine September 30th 2005.
Live Concert Review - Queens Hall, Edinburgh.
Rob Adams. April 21st 2005.
Live Concert Review - Lerwick, Shetland.
Chris Silver. March 16th 2005.
"After A day in the office grinding away at a word processor,
desperately trying to find out information on fish, the prospect of
reviewing a faceless jazz quartet seemed a lot less attractive than heading
home to Aith and lying about on the sofa for an evening.
Also, I had almost no idea what to expect, apart from a vague idea that jazz
rambling would come into the equation. Yet the beauty of the unknown soon
became the highpoint of this performance: even half way into the second set
we still weren’t sure what to expect.
From the moment when the polite audience murmuring began to fade, and the
four black-suited men made their way onto the tiny stage of Lerwick’s
premier public building, the word understated immediately sprung to mind.
Taking up their places in a semi- embarrassed manoeuvre you could tell that
this quartet wasn’t going to rely on stage presence. Although it must be
said that Nigel Clark, who took up his position on the left of the stage,
compensated for this and became increasingly dominant, both musically and
visually as the evening went on.
The opening number "See You in Seattle" set the format for the night, with
moments of cool co-ordination spiralling into red hot improvisation.
Although the quartet is firmly grounded in its members’ venerable jazz
abilities, the group managed to stay down to earth thanks to solid melodic
patterns which they always managed to refer back to.
The group also had an astounding ability to completely change the mood of
their music even within a single piece. During the first set they made a
definite point of capitalising on this ability, although by the second half
of the evening they seemed to become more restrained, perhaps settling into
the mellow atmosphere evident in the Town Hall.
One piece that deserves particular note was "Near the Circle," written by
Malcolm Macfarlane after one of his visits to Shetland. Buoyed up by a
pounding chord sequence battered out by Kevin Mackenzie, it managed to take
the infectious rhythms and tunes of the Shetland reel and place them
effortlessly into a jazz setting, providing a perfect ending to the first
set.
The quartet’s sense of timing seemed flawless- just when things had begun to
verge on the insignificant, the significance would come crashing back at
you. The group were obviously masters in the art of musical construction,
making the substantial length many of the pieces irrelevant, thanks to the
ever changing nature of their self-composed music.
Although defined as a group of jazz guitarists, they lacked a lot of the
irritating traits normally associated with that area. Despite their notable
fretboard trapeze artists abilities they seemed determined not let that take
over, save in a few short bursts throughout the evening.
The Scottish Guitar Quartet are as unassuming as they are virtuosic, as
innovative as they are accessible, and long may they continue to revive
frustrated office workers throughout the country."
Live Concert Review - Roots @ The Reid Series, Edinburgh.
Nick Scott.
www.edinburghguide.com. August 28th 2004.
Live Concert Review - CCA, Glasgow.
Leon McDermott. SUNDAY HERALD. September 2003.
Live Concert Review - Eden Court Theatre,
Inverness.
Kenny Mathieson. JAZZWISE. November 2001.
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