Tony Quarrington

Tony Quarrington is a Canadian guitarist, composer, songwriter, arranger and record producer whose career has encompassed folk, rock, blues, country, jazz, klezmer, Hawaiian music and numerous other styles. Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on May 17, 1948, he was raised largely in Toronto and became a longstanding presence in the city’s music community.

Music ran throughout the Quarrington family. His younger brothers were acclaimed writer and musician Paul Quarrington and internationally recognized double bassist Joel Quarrington. As young musicians, the three brothers played together, with Joel initially taking up the bass to complete a bluegrass trio with Tony and Paul.

Quarrington began performing professionally during the 1960s. He appeared at the Mariposa Folk Festival with the Gangrene Boys and spent the decade playing folk, roots and rock while studying jazz. He later pursued graduate studies but left a doctoral program—and an unfinished thesis on Ezra Pound’s Cantos—to tour across Canada as guitarist with Joe Hall and the Continental Drift.

Quarrington became one of Joe Hall’s closest and most enduring musical collaborators. He played guitar with the Continental Drift, wrote material for the group and helped produce Hall’s 1976 recording H J Boenke, which was engineered by Bob and Daniel Lanois. The group’s various lineups also included Paul Quarrington, Martin Worthy and other musicians from Toronto’s independent music scene.

His first presently documented solo single was ‘King Kong’ with ‘Lumsden Street Beanery’, released by Toronto’s Ixtlan Records in December 1976. Quarrington wrote both songs and co-produced the record under the combined credit QuarringtonWorthy. ‘King Kong’ was promoted as a novelty disco recording and received exposure through regional disco pools in Toronto, London and Windsor. Ixtlan supported the release with promotional appearances involving a costumed gorilla distributing bananas—an approach the label described as “gorilla warfare.”

During the following decades, Quarrington established an extensive career as a studio guitarist, arranger and producer. His credits crossed numerous genres and included work with Willie P. Bennett, Jane Siberry, Jane Bunnett, Don Thompson, Jeff Bird, Adi Braun, Jaymz Bee, Chick Roberts, Amos Garrett, David Gogo, Kevin Breit and Denis Keldie. He received a Juno Award as producer of Willie P. Bennett’s Heartstrings.

Quarrington increasingly concentrated on original instrumental jazz. His major compositional project, Group of Seven Suite, drew inspiration from paintings by Canada’s Group of Seven and brought together musicians including Jane Bunnett, Don Thompson, Jeff Bird and Jane Siberry. CBC Records released the work in 2002, with the commercial album following in early 2003.

His other projects have included the jazz trio Swing Street, the Hammond-organ collaboration Hammond Grits with Denis Keldie, the Jazzophones, the Hawaiianaires and the Yiddish Swingtet, along with numerous recording and performance partnerships. His versatility has allowed him to work convincingly in jazz, blues, swing, folk, roots, country and klezmer settings.

Quarrington also continued writing songs. His later album For King and Country explored Canadian experiences during the First World War, while the Winterfolk community honoured his songwriting with the tribute collection Songs of Tony Quarrington.

In more recent years, he has worked closely with singer and actress Zoey Adams as the duo Q&A. After performing together for many years, they began writing collaboratively and developed a large catalogue of original songs spanning jazz, folk, blues, country, comedy and cabaret.

Based primarily in Toronto and Southern Ontario, Tony Quarrington has remained active for more than five decades as a performer, composer, producer and musical collaborator. His career connects Toronto’s experimental folk-rock underground of the 1970s with the city’s later jazz, blues, roots and singer-songwriter communities.

-Robert Williston