Review: David Borgo, Sync or Swarm

Author Biography

• Raymond MacDonald, Glasgow Caledonian University

  Raymond leads the Glasgow Caledonian Music Psychology Research Group. After completing his PhD at the University of Glasgow, investigating therapeutic applications of music, he worked as Artistic Director for a music company, Sounds of Progress, specialising in working with people who have special needs. His ongoing research focuses on issues relating to improvisation, musical communication, music therapy, music education and musical identities. He is involved in running Polyphony a lottery funded music project providing access to musical activities for individuals with mental health problems and is a Patron of Drake Music Scotland. His research has been recently supported with grants from a wide variety sources including Scottish Executive Chief Scientist Office, EPSRC, The British Academy, The Royal Society, The European Union and The Scottish Arts Council. He has co-edited two texts, Musical Identities (2002) and Musical Communication (2005) and is currently Editor of the journal Psychology of Music and Associate Editor for The International Journal of Music Education , Jazz Research Journal and Research Studies in Music Education . As a saxophonist and composer his recorded output can be heard on over 30 CDs and he performs internationally with some of the world’s leading improvising musicians including Evan Parker, Keith Tippett, George Lewis and Barry Guy. He co-leads The George Burt / Raymond MacDonald Quartet (Leading Scottish contemporary jazz -The Guardian) and is a founder member and key player in The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra (the premier league of the international improvisation scene - Sueddeutsche Zeitung). He also performs with Günter Sommer , Neil Davidson, The Scottish Jazz Composers Ensemble and international saxophone quartet Rich in Knuckles. He has worked extensively with visual artists and has produced music for film and television and collaborated with David Byrne on David McKenzie’s feature film Young Adam