Sony
Andrew York, second from right, and the
Los Angeles Guitar Quaret play Saturday.
Four men on guitar
This quartet takes on
By Burl Burlingame
tunes from Souza
to Zeppelin
Star-BulletinThere's something almost campfire-ish about a guitar quartet, four lads in a semi-circle playing identical instruments, pouring out notes that flit upward like dancing sparks. Andrew York, one-quarter of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, was introduced to this peculiar magic by his father and uncles, who played British and Irish folksongs in the living room.
"They were really good, but not professional, but it didn't matter because we enjoyed it so much," said York. "As soon as I showed promise, though, my dad steered me toward classical music."
The quartet performs Saturday in the opening round of the University of Hawaii's Summer Session Guitar Festival.
The other players are John Dearman, William Kanengiser and Scott Tennant, and Guitar Player magazine calls them "one of the finest guitar quartets in the world."
Steered toward classic music he may have been, but York wound up majoring in jazz at the University of Southern California, where he met the other future members of the LAGQ. Ironically, they were all classical majors.
"We started getting together and playing, and it was interesting because we were coming from different places," said York. "It was like apples and oranges, but if you mix them together you've got a salad."
It's rare for a quartet to all play the same instrument, but the quartet uses the guitar's ability to play both melody and rhythm to good effect. "It's a challenge to make the instruments stand out," admits York. "We do a lot with texture and phrasing."
The members all play guitars handmade by professional luthiers; interestingly, they're all different. York's is made by Dave Daily of Reno.
The group is signed with Sony, which considers the quartet a "classical-crossover" group, and their pieces range from Aaron Copland to Count Basie to John Philip Sousa to Led Zeppelin. York and Kanengiser also write original pieces; York's compositions have been recorded by Christopher Parkening and John Williams.
While the members would like to hear some Hawaiian slack-key -- "I first heard it back in the '70s by . . . who is it? . . . Gabby Pahinui," said York -- they're hungry for something else.
"What we really go for is good food," said York. "Basically, we organize our tours around our stomachs."
Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
In concert: 8 p.m. Saturday
