Tony Quarrington
Biography
ANTHONY BRUCE (TONY) QUARRINGTON (guitarist, composer) has become a frequently-heard guitarist in Toronto jazz clubs and at Ontario jazz festivals including the international Toronto Jazz Festival, Markham Jazz Festival, Jazz at the Hillebrand Winery, and the Guelph Jazz Festival, ever since his 1999 release of the critcally-acclaimed One Bright Morning (Cordova Bay) featuring Quarrington, Bernie Senensky, and Kirk MacDonald.
Throughout the past decade he has been busy as both a producer and musician, working on recordings with jazz pianist Joanne Brackeen, singer Daisy DeBolt, Club Django, The Jeff Bird Trio, violinist Sam Murata’s band, enor saxophonists Chris Robinson and Ryan Oliver, and singers including Dee Kaye. He also works with specialty bands Mike Scott's Hawaiianaires and the Yiddish Swingtet.
In 2002 he recorded the Deep River album (Cordova Bay) with Juno award-winner Pat LaBarbera on saxophone, Neil Swainson on bass, and Greg Pilo on drums.
In 2001, Tony Quarrington fulfilled a ten-year dream when he recorded his eight-part Group of Seven Suite, which had been composed a decade earlier, The work aims to present musical analogues associated with specific canvases by the renowned Group of Seven artists, performed during the recording session by an assembly of Canadian jazz all-stars including Jane Bunnett, Kirk MacDonald, John MacLeod, Brian Dickinson, Don Thompson, and Barry Romberg. Released in December of 2002, the album also features appearances by multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bird (of Cowboy Junkies) and pop diva Jane Siberry, who sang the Suite's only vocal. In 2004 Quarrington staged the work live four times during the Distillery Jazz Festival in Toronto.
