Features

The Scottish Guitar Quartet / SGQ are a contemporary music group, comprising four of Scotland's leading acoustic guitarist-composers; Ged Brockie, Nigel Clark, Malcolm MacFarlane and Kevin MacKenzie.

They draw on celtic, modern, classical and jazz genres, with strong influences from world music, and blend these disparate styles together to produce an eclectic sound that is both unique and powerful with the textures and timbres of four acoustic guitars.

The Scottish Guitar Quartet are known as one of the Scottish music scene's most exciting acts, with plaudits such as "national asset" being bandied about in reviews - the band have earned their following largely through refusing to be boxed in by genre. Though pitching themselves primarily as a jazz outfit, they also weave Celtic, classical and world music strands into their sound. This is aided by the fact that all four players are talented composers, in addition to the diversity of their previous experience. The quartet's intricately arranged, original material, punctuated by improvisational interludes, also takes in re-workings of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis tracks, plus evocative pastoral pieces inspired by Scottish landscapes.





BIOGRAPHY

Formed in the spring of 2000, SGQ have toured extensively throughout the UK and Ireland. Inspired by Celtic, Modern, Classical and Jazz genres, fused with World influences to create music that combines these diverse styles producing a powerfully elegant, eclectic sound that is truly distinctive. Each musician has his own individual style, a vital ingredient in any ensemble however; the textures and timbres emanating from four acoustic guitars produce an electrifying experience for every listener.



Ged Brockie

A truly gifted guitarist and prolific composer not only for SGQ, but writing for numerous groups including media broadcast/film projects. Ged also works with a Hollywood composer of note for a filmscoring program as well as busying himself with educational programs and having input with new sample products.



Nigel Clark

Signed to New York label Arkadia, Nigel is a stunning performer who has worked with everyone from pop group Hue and Cry to Jazz singer Carol Kidd. An unbelievably gifted guitarist, he has a worldwide reputation that continues to grow.

Malcolm MacFarlane

A truly awesome guitarist and composer who not only worked in the London scene at the very highest level for over a decade, but toured extensively with Barbara Thompson, Shakatak and recently Jamie Cullum.



Kevin MacKenzie

Without doubt a rare and incredible musical talent busy not only in the Jazz field but across the Scottish folk scene as well. Recently honoured in his home country by receiving a prestigious "Creative Scotland" award, Kevin has numerous album releases and has toured extensively across Europe and the US.



VERY LATEST PRESS ARTICLE

Eclecticism and all that jazz

JIM GILCHRIST 18 April 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."