Four well-known Scottish musicians are joining forces for the first time for a run at The Fringe.
The quartet comprises Edinburgh-based music award-winner Dick Lee (clarinet), who composed the music for Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games, Malcolm MacFarlane from East Lothian, one of the country’s top guitarists who has recorded with Jamie Cullum, shared the stage with George Benson and accompanied Curtis Stigers, Ed Kelly the renowned and widely respected jazz bassist, also from Edinburgh, and Roy Mac, of Gullane, bandleader and vocalist with top Showband Spatz & Co.
The quartet are playing 5 intimate gigs – ‘When Frankie Meets Benny, The Music of Messrs Sinatra and Goodman’ – at Valvona & Crolla on Elm Row on August 8 (8.30pm), 10 (8.30pm), 14 (3.00pm), 15 (3.00pm), 17 (3.00pm).
“Messrs Sinatra and Goodman lived in an era of wonderful song writing and composition,“ said Roy Mac.
“Music written and arranged by greats such Sammy Cahn, Nelson Riddle, Cole Porter, Benny Goodman himself, Gershwin and of course the living legend Quincy Jones, to name but a few.
“Mostly, all this music was performed using big bands or full orchestras with Benny Goodman or Sinatra recording them in that format.
“Our show strips away the big band and orchestrations and sets out to showpiece the music in a different light, with the simplicity of a single guitar, a double bass, clarinet and voice.
“The result, we believe, is a greater appreciation of just how stunning and beautiful the melodies are. We aim to keep things simple yet quite sophisticated.”
