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Landmarks
Jim Gilchrist. THE SCOTSMAN. April 18th
2005
Scottish Guitar Quartet Review - The Bull's Head, Barnes, London.
Sholto Byrnes.
INDEPENDENT. July 2003
Four Blokes With Guitars Are Breaking All The Rules
Colin Somerville.
Scotland On Sunday. October 2002
WHO would have thought it? Four blokes
of a certain age and varying musical backgrounds have become the
biggest genre-breaking act Scotland has produced in recent memory,
rewriting the rules with a natural verve that can take the breath
away.
The concept, as the closing track would have it on the Scottish
Guitar Quartet’s forthcoming album, Fait Accompli, is ‘Simplicity
Itself’. Combining musical backgrounds coloured by pop with Shakatak,
Hue And Cry and Matt Bianco, purer jazz influences such as John
McLaughlin and Django Rheinhardt, the legacy of classical training,
and an intuitive grasp of Scottish traditions, the SGQ sound is
distinctive to the point of being unique. Not that the notion of a
guitar quartet is anything new, according to founder member Malcolm
McFarlane.
"It’s common enough in the classical world, where there have been
quite a few fairly well known ones, then the King Crimson guitarist
Robert Fripp ran a huge guitar ensemble quite a few years ago. I
also remember a jazz group on the American West Coast who used to
specialise in playing harmonised versions of Charlie Parker’s solos.
But what we do is quite unusual."
Which is good news for those of us who associate acoustic guitar
virtuosity with Gordon Giltrap’s theme for BBC television’s Holiday
programme, or John Williams’ Sky - the progressive classical guitar
ensemble and not the satellite broadcaster, obviously. Malcolm
McFarlane first had the idea for the quartet when he returned home
from London about four years ago, and embarked on the task of
securing the other three individuals who could make it work.
The first proved to be Ged Brockie, a fellow graduate of Leeds
College of Music who had worked with Scottish National Opera and the
Scottish National Orchestra in addition to his own jazz fusion
groups. Next was Nigel Clark, renowned for both his own jazz quintet
and the Rheinhardt-influenced Hot Club, and Kevin MacKenzie, a
Guildhall graduate and a firmly established name on both the jazz
and folk circuits. "There was no real format, not really one
particular style we wanted to do," says McFarlane, "It was more
about what people wanted to do with the potential of four guitars
playing together, inspired by Scottish musical tradition through
jazz and our different backgrounds. It was a concept which melted
the usual resistance to the innovative or new on the live circuit,
where promoters unsurprisingly feel more comfortable with the tried
and tested when it comes to putting bums on seats. "I think it is
one of the first things I have been involved with where people have
actually booked us without hearing a thing, whereas before they
always wanted to hear a CD or something first. I can only imagine
something excited them enough to just want to hear what it was going
to sound like," says Malcolm.
In due course, the first recorded fruit of their labours was last
year’s album, Near The Circle, a calling card which clearly stated
the intent not to follow in others’ footsteps. The only difference
was in the playing discipline, with the emphasis on the songs rather
than the soloing which presumably comes with the territory, when
four guitar players of equal reputation are gathered together in a
studio. That varied from the experience of playing live, where more
improvisation is often necessary: "At one festival early on they
wanted more and we had no more tunes, so we just thought of one we
all vaguely knew and made something up."
You might imagine that would come easily to the Scottish Guitar
Quartet, consisting as it does of four bandleading virtuosos in
their own right. Such a combination, particularly in the pop or rock
world, could spontaneously combust, and has done on just about every
occasion it has been attempted. Even in the more genteel environs of
the jazz and classical worlds, feathers can fly when too many
artistic temperaments are confined in the same space, so come on
lads, it must all kick off when someone’s solo over extends itself
by a bar or 32? "Oh it is tough dealing with four huge egos in the
one band," says Malcolm, kindly playing along with the flawed
theory. "No, sorry to disappoint, but there isn’t really any of
that. Inevitably it can be slightly competitive, but we are more
interested in the potential of what we can do together." "There’s a
lot of love in this band," Ged Brockie calls gleefully over his
colleague’s shoulder.
A European tour is planned for next
year, and there is little doubt that the Scottish Guitar Quartet has
a potentially huge international appeal, due to its traditionally
tinged jazz and classical approach. Only two records in to their
two-year career, the foursome already have a clear idea as to how
their already distinctive sound will evolve. "In the future we will
be using some new technology as it becomes available, which will
move on from being purely acoustic," says Malcolm, before being
shouted down by his more secretive band mates. "Erm, apparently we
are keeping that under our hats at the moment but it should become
clear in the next few months," he laughs.
The Scottish Guitar Quartet premiere
their new album, ‘Fait Accompli’, at the Queens Hall in Edinburgh on
October 24. The record is released in January next year |
