Guitar recital

Press, 11 September 1986, Page 6

Guitar recital

Harley Scott Quintet and Graham Wardrop at the Centre Gallery, Arts Centre, Wednesday, September 11, at 1 p.m. Reviewed by Roger Flury. The enterprising Christchurch Classical Guitar Society has organised a four-day guitar festival and workshop. Under the direction of Antonio Losada and other tutors, the students are exploring all aspects of jazz, folk, and classical guitar. Not only does this kind of event help to increase public awareness of the instrument, but it provides a much needed platform for.performers. v v A jazz quintet, led by the guitarist, Harley Scott,

occupied the first half of yesterday’s recital. They made a warm, mellow sound, spoiled only by some moments of sour intonation between saxophone and guitar in unison. “The Gentle Rain,” “Lullaby of the Leaves,” and “Night and Day” featured good solo work, and “Blue Bossa” generated rhythmic excitement as well as offering an interesting dialogue between saxophone and guitar. The rest of the recital was devoted to the solo guitar playing of Graham Wardrop. This extremely talented musician played a mixture of original compositions and arrange-

ments with style and flair. From the opening "Moon Song” it was obvious that he had an ear for texture, and in all seven items he created a fascinating range of sounds. The virtuoso “New Land” was remarkable for its variety of tone colours, and “Sweet Georgia Brown" was offered in a snappy arrangement Most interesting, though, was the original composition, “Restaurant Blues,” composed while playing in a restaurant as a response to the lack of interest shown by the customers.

Twtri more recitals by students and tutors will be given this week.