Tony Quarrington, composer, guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, and producer, was honoured by his fellow musicians on August 10th at Toronto’s Black Swan Tavern. “The Songs of Tony Quarrington” featured performances by 15 different artists, each of whom interpreted one of Quarrington’s many compositions.
Performers included Laura Fernandez, Glen Hornblast, Brian Gladstone, and Soozie Schlanger. Some People’s Voice readers will recall Tony’s performance at the 38th Convention of the Communist Party last May, where he sang originals like “Sing the Struggle On” and “Joe Hill, Joe Hill We Need You Now”, along with his hilarious satirical blues “Hellhound On My Lawn”.
Tony Quarrington’s career in Canadian music goes back to 1966, when he made his debut at the Mariposa Folk Festival. Since then he’s distinguished himself as a bandleader, studio musician, songwriter/composer, JUNO-winning record producer, and master guitarist, in a wide array of jazz and roots music styles. The tribute was presented by Winterfolk, Toronto’s grassroots folk festival, now in its fifteenth year. A live recording of the event will be released at Winterfolk XV next February.
Reprinted from People’s Voice
