Nigel Clark (3)

Nigel began his professional career as a musician at the age of eighteen. In the late eighties he joined the band Hue & Cry as lead guitarist and he contributed arrangements to the band's several UK top ten singles and two top ten albums. High profile collaborations followed with Moya Brennan (the singer with Clannad) and with jazz singer Carol Kidd. He also worked on BBC TV as musical director and lead guitarist for 'disco diva' Gloria Gaynor. Nigel's first jazz album as a leader, Worldwide Sound for Wet Wet Wet guitarist Graeme Duffin's Sienna Records featured pianist Brian Kellock, saxophonist Tim Garland, Ewen Vernal on bass and Mike Bradley on drums. The album wowed the critics, showcasing Nigel's highly eclectic compositional style, and it reached the top ten in the UK jazz charts. In 1997 Nigel appeared at the North Sea Jazz Festival as special guest of his boyhood hero; guitarist Jan Akkerman. In Cannes the same year, by special invitation, he performed with Akkerman, Terje Rypdal and Wolfgang Muthspiel in a band featuring eleven of Europe's elite guitarists. The performance was witnessed by Bob Karcy, CEO of New York label Arkadia Records and led to Nigel signing an exclusive five album recording deal with Arkadia Jazz; Karcy's Grammy-winning label whose roster also included such stellar names as Dave Liebman, Joanne Brackeen, Benny Golson and Dr. Billy Taylor. Grand Hotel Europa Nigel's first album release in the U.S. featured five original compositions and marked a permanent switch to nylon strung acoustic guitar. Nigel's most recent projects have included a duo concert with another of his boyhood heroes; the legendary Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine. He has toured extensively and recorded four albums with the Scottish Guitar Quartet and has also toured with Australian vocalist Anita Wardell, and with pianist Dave Newton and bassist Paul Morgan in a tribute to the Oscar Peterson Trio. Nigel is a permanent member of Russian Gypsy violinist Oleg Ponomarev's trio, Koshka with whom he continues to tour and with whom he has recorded two albums. With Dutch jazz violinist Tim Kliphuis Nigel has recorded three albums to date and he has been invited to perform with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra in Amsterdam. Nigel also continues his long time association with "the world's greatest living female jazz singer" Carol Kidd with whom he frequently tours.