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Landmarks
Jim Gilchrist. THE SCOTSMAN. April 18th
2005
THE name may suggest a classical
outfit, the driving force jazz; but with influences ranging from
Celtic to world music and combining improvisation with an intensity
of ensemble playing which verges on the baroque, the Scottish Guitar
Quartet is no band for pigeonholers.
The five-year-old outfit launches its third album, Landmarks, this
Thursday with a concert in Edinburgh. Whatever new listeners may
expect, they’re liable to have any preconceptions vigorously tweaked
by this foursome of genre-busters, each of whom is an established
guitarist in his own right. During a conversation with three of them
- Malcolm MacFarlane, Ged Brockie and Nigel Clark (the fourth
member, Kevin MacKenzie, is elsewhere) - they sound more than
pleased with the new album, recorded by the renowned sound engineer
Calum Malcolm in a near-live setup in St Mary’s Church, Haddington.
"We’re absolutely delighted," says Brockie, who also helps run the
Loanhead-based Circular Records which has issued the CD. "You’d
think that after eating, sleeping and drinking the album for all
these months, it would have lost its edge a bit. But Calum’s
production is just unbelievable and we feel the material is really
strong."
The material on the new recording is all composed by the four
guitarists, bar one written by occasional collaborator Ross
Milligan. It is a typically engrossing and at times dazzling
showcase of the band’s work, acoustically based, but with tonal
colouring provided by the judicious use of the distinctive
Frameworks midi guitars created by master-luthier Frank Krocker -
such as the spooky sci-fi gurgling which opens Brockie’s No Longer
South of This House. Elsewhere, material ranges from the taut
Spanish accent of Clark’s Road to La Mancha to MacFarlane’s
orientally tinged East Lothian pastoral, Phantassie Hill.
Ask them to describe what they play, and after some group murmuring,
Brockie replies: "I don’t know about describing it, but we’re
marketing ourselves under the ‘world music’ category. We don’t want
to be all things to all men, women and children, but we’ve gone down
the world music route, although with definite jazz influences. It’s
a melting pot, really."
Is there a risk they might deter audiences who think they know what
they like? MacFarlane believes not: "Marketing people may have a
problem with it , but I think that audiences are prepared to take a
chance."
If their influences are eclectic, the common ground uniting the four
tends to be jazz. MacFarlane spent last summer touring with Jamie
Cullum and is working on an ongoing musical celebration of places
and events of East Lothian, where he lives, two examples of which
feature on Landmarks.
Clark’s solo career took a boost a couple of years ago with his
signing to New York label Arkadia, while he also plays with the
Glasgow-based Russian gypsy-swing trio Koshka and has a
long-standing playing partnership with singer Carol Kidd, with whom
he has a Far East tour in August.
Apart from his record label involvement and solo work, Brockie is
involved in jazz education at Jewel & Esk Valley College and also
helps devise an education project in film music writing with
Hollywood-based composer Hummy Mann.
Meanwhile Kevin MacKenzie flits agilely between the Scottish folk
and jazz scenes, playing with traditional outfits such as Keep It Up
and the folk-tinged modern jazz trio AAB, while the debut album by
his similarly genre-spanning band Vital Signs received an
enthusiastic critical reception last year.
All of which must make co-ordinating the SGQ’s movements a tricky
business. "You have to keep a beady eye on the diary," agrees
Brockie, who believes that, since it formed in 2000, the SGQ has
worked up "a real momentum". While, so far, they have toured no
further afield than the south of Ireland, he sees the overseas
market as inevitable. "We’ve been getting inquires about the CD from
America and Germany and once the UK distribution of the CD is fixed,
we’ll be looking at them, and at Japan.
While Landmarks was released last week, they regard Thursday’s
Queen’s Hall gig as very much the launch. "We hope all those who
know about us already will come and support us," says Brockie, "and
those who don’t will come and take that chance."
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
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