SEE Magazine
Copyright © 1998. All Rights Reserved.

ROOTS
BY JERRY OZIPKO

REVIEW
Quartette, with the ESO
Winspear Centre
May 8-10

A Quartette of elegant and talented ladies blew into town last weekend as featured guests for the ESO’s final Parade of Pops concerts of the season. Formed in 1993, Quartette combines four individual and formidable talents into a wonderful vocal blend that performs an eclectic mix of R&B, soul, Cajun, bluegrass, swing and gospel music.

The group comprises Sylvia Tyson, Cindy Church and Gwen Swick. Swick, a longtime friend and colleague, was recruited just prior to the death in 1996 of one of its founding members, Colleen Peterson.

Quartette began its first set (with orchestral arrangement provided by Newfoundlander Jim Duff) with Swick’s Pink China Pig. In this and the songs that followed, each member shared the spotlight as soloist with the remaining members providing a blended vocal backup. Each woman’s voice is distinct on its own, yet they blend beautifully. To quote a statement from Church following the concert, “in all reality, (the voices) shouldn’t do that, but it’s just one of those unexplainable mysteries of the universe.”

Swick’s voice has a pleasing sonority in the alto range. Church, meanwhile, is a stylish guitar-picker with a lovely soprano that projects well. Tyson still sings with her trademark vocal quiver, but it is never excessive. And Hanford, who composed the final selection before the intermission – a pop ballad entitled Promised Land – with Catherine Day, possesses a distinctive alto voice – bold but without bombast.

To begin the second set, Quartette came on with just the intimate accompaniment of guitar, bass and drums. They performed Papere’s Mill, a truly bi-cultural folk tune with a down-East flavor (Tyson played the button accordion and Hanford rattled the wooden spoons). Alison Lives By the Big Bend (from the CD Work of the Heart) again gave Church an occasion to woo the audience with her resonant and sometimes plaintive voice. Swick introduced her song, Me and My Love and I, as a “happy” love song, by stating that “there are not too many happy love songs. When people are in love and happy, they’re probably too busy for much else.” The set closed with an arrangement of the Staple Singers’ When Was Jesus Born?/Last Month of the Year, sung a cappella and very much in the style of a black American spiritual. It was a warm and cohesive presentation.

After the orchestra’s performance of Canadian composer Kelsey Jones’ Miramichi Ballad, Quartette returned to perform a final quartet of selections. These orchestrations were less robust and more subdued than in the first half, allowing the voices to clearly predominate.

However, the singers sometimes sounded far away and the lyrics were often difficult to understand. Perhaps that’s because the orchestra sounded just as lively as ever from its vantage point in the choir loft, while the singers were amplified and had their sound projected away from the stage into the hall.

Still, Quartette endears themselves to audiences, both through their music and by the very simple process of going out to meet in the lobby following performances. None of the snobbery of green-rooms and back-stage passes here, just four unique singers.