Greetings
from the land of jazz! Glad you found this site!
I've
been a guitarist and producer (in many styles) for
years now, but in the last decade or so, I've happily
been able to focus mainly on playing my original instrumental
jazz. Besides recording work as a sideman, I've brought
out two albums of my own music [available from Cordova
Bay], which have been quite well-received. And
late in 2002 CBC Records released my art-inspired
hybrid jazz project, GROUP
OF SEVEN SUITE, which features (among others)
Jane Bunnett, Don Thompson, Jeff
Bird of Cowboy Junkies, and Jane Siberry.
(Sounds interesting, doesn't it?) 2003 saw two further
recordings, a self-titled album by my trio SWING
STREET, and a collaboration with veteran
B-3 player Denis Keldie, called HAMMOND
GRITS. I'm mainly active as a player around
Toronto, and throughout Southern Ontario (though I
do get a bit farther afield for festivals).
I've
also been pleased to appear lately on some fine albums:
the wonderful DELISHIUS
by singer Adi Braun, SERIOUSLY
HAPPY by Jaymz Bee and the
Royal Jelly Orchestra, and BLUE
TURNING GRAY, a blues album by my old pal
Chick Roberts, which I also produced. A highlight
of this one was playing guitar duets with two of my
favorite players, Amos Garrett and David
Gogo.I also just participated, as guitarist and
arranger ,on a Bee-produced project called '2
A.M. AT THE TORCH CAFE' for a remarkable
singer called SERAFIN.
This five-octave countertenor singer remakes 80's
pop...REM, Cyndi Lauper ,Eurhythmics....into amazing
jazz. I also did a guest turn on the new album by
PORK BELLY FUTURES
[which is the blues band of my famous writing brother
Paul Quarrington.] I'm also working on my own
next project, a solo guitar outing which will be called
STRING THEORY.
2006 was a busy recording year, and 2007 will see
the release of a live project with Kevin Breit,
a live album with Denis Keldie, and new CDs
with singer/guitarist George Grosman 'BLUE
LULLABY', the Jazzophones 'TAIN'T
WHAT YOU DO, the Hawaiianaires,
and the Yiddish Swingtet 'SHUL
DAYS' [the latter with some original klezmer/jazz
tunes by yours truly!].
2006
saw me take part in several important events for JAZZ-FM,
Canada's premiere jazz station. In January I played
with fellow guitarists Reg Schwager, Lorne Lofsky,
Jake Langley, Kevin Barrett, and Danny Marks in
an extravaganza called STRINGS
ATTACHED. My duet with Danny [on
the Santo and Johnny classic SLEEPWALK]
is now featured on the Warner Bros. release
THE SOUND OF JAZZ : THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION.
Then, in May, I joined Doug Riley, Neil Swainson,
and Terry Clarke in the rhythm section of the
JAZZ LIVES Convocation
Hall Concert. Good times were had by all as we accompanied
Swing Rosie, Peter Appleyard, Molly Johnson, Russ
Little, Ben Sidran, and David Clayton-Thomas,
among many others. And finally, in December, the Old
Mill rang with the sounds of the Hammond B-3, as my
old pal Denis Keldie led a quintet including
Chris Plock, Kevin Clark, Howard Gaul,
and myself. This will air in February sometime,
and may become our new live album as well.
If
you enjoyed the MP3 samples, please check out my CDs,
at the Cordova Bay and CBC Websites.
And if you enjoy these you might look for SWING
STREET and HAMMOND
GRITS at Sam The Record Man, Toronto,
the JAZZ-FM e-site,
and many other stores. Or, if you want to order either
of these two independent releases through me, then
please feel free to contact me at tonyquar@securenet.net.
And do check out my various friends, associates,and
mentors, under LINKS. Thanks for visiting!