Casey MacGill and The Blue 4

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Casey MacGill & The Blue 4
Authentic Small Group Swing & Vintage Jazz

[Audio Samples]

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Casey MacGill's Blue 4 Trio performs music that swings. Some have called it the Nat "King" Cole Trio meets the Mills Brothers. Others have called it Fats Waller meets Fats Domino. Slim Gaillard meets Fred Astaire. Its music from the ''20's to the '60's, all happening at the same time, woven into a seamless, beautiful whole. At the core of the sound are the bands sometimes sweet, sometimes rough-hewn three-part harmony vocals and a piano-ukulele-bass-and-drums rhythm section that swings along in a variety of textures. Their debut recording as a group, "Casey MacGill's Blue 4 Trio", features 10 trio tracks and 2 quartet tracks. Says Casey: "My other projects were like oil paintings, constantly being tweaked and refined. The Blue 4 Trio CD is my watercolor, I put the paint on and what you get is what you get." The result is soft, loud, happy, sad, raw, mellow, with an honest mistake or 2 thrown in for good measure. It is a real band playing real music.

"... the personification of swing authenticity."
-Spokesman Review

"On select Thursdays, when Casey McGill and the Blue Four Trio play '30s-era swing and jazz, [Seattle restaurant] Dinette takes on an energy that I've never felt before, probably because I was born 40 years too late."
-Seattle Weekly

Casey MacGill is the heart and soul of the band. From California, he is a classic Hollywood character in appearance and style. MacGill plays boogie-woogie, swing, and stride piano. He blows a lyrical cornet, and his most unique instrumental voice is a 6-string tenor ukulele. He has been singing and arranging vocal harmonies for almost 30 years, in a career that stretches from Los Angeles (Mood Indigo, feature films "Frances" and "Swing Shift") to Spokane, WA (The Spirits of Rhythm and the neo-swing classic CD "Jump") to Broadway (The musical "Swing") and finally to Seattle. "I've played a lot of music with a lot of people," he says "and one thing I've learned is to tailor my arrangements to the individual musicians. Its gives each musical situation a unique sound." He steers the band from his piano bench, alternately cruising along and sweating feverishly, switching intuitively between the ukulele and the piano and the cornet, singing and scatting, sometimes all within the same song.

The Blue 4 have started to leave their musical mark around Seattle and around the world. Weekly Seattle gigs at landmark music venues The Pink Door and Salty's on Alki have allowed them to hone their sound. Featured prominently is a lack of amplifications, allowing the real sound of the band and their instruments to permeate the room. It has also allowed them to build a devoted following of listeners, dancers and cocktail-sippers. More recently, Mike and Matt appeared in the 5th Avenue Theatre's production of Buddy, the Buddy Holly musical. In Europe, the trio have been an integral part of "Swing" alumni Ryan Francois and Jenny Thomas' Camp Savoy and their dance troupe, and have performed at the camp for 4 straight years. They have appeared at the Fous de Danse Festival in Toulouse, the Edinburgh Jazz Festival, and a Ronnie Scott's Jazz club in London.

"A lone guy comes onstage, singing and plucking a ukulele. Your mind starts humming....Suddenly--bam!--the lights blaze and an art deco bandstand designed by Thomas Lynch rolls forward, swarming with musicians dressed for a sweaty, 1940's night of music. Casey MacGill rejoins his band, Gotham City Gates, as Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" rocks the house. The audience about dies of pleasure.
---The Village Voice, review of the Musical "Swing!"

"A crooner of the highest caliber"
--Atomic Magazine

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Casey MacGrill

Casey MacGill and The Blue 4
__

Casey MacGill & The Blue 4
Authentic Small Group Swing & Vintage Jazz

[Audio Samples]

__

__

Casey MacGill's Blue 4 Trio performs music that swings. Some have called it the Nat "King" Cole Trio meets the Mills Brothers. Others have called it Fats Waller meets Fats Domino. Slim Gaillard meets Fred Astaire. Its music from the ''20's to the '60's, all happening at the same time, woven into a seamless, beautiful whole. At the core of the sound are the bands sometimes sweet, sometimes rough-hewn three-part harmony vocals and a piano-ukulele-bass-and-drums rhythm section that swings along in a variety of textures. Their debut recording as a group, "Casey MacGill's Blue 4 Trio", features 10 trio tracks and 2 quartet tracks. Says Casey: "My other projects were like oil paintings, constantly being tweaked and refined. The Blue 4 Trio CD is my watercolor, I put the paint on and what you get is what you get." The result is soft, loud, happy, sad, raw, mellow, with an honest mistake or 2 thrown in for good measure. It is a real band playing real music.

"... the personification of swing authenticity."
-Spokesman Review

"On select Thursdays, when Casey McGill and the Blue Four Trio play '30s-era swing and jazz, [Seattle restaurant] Dinette takes on an energy that I've never felt before, probably because I was born 40 years too late."
-Seattle Weekly

Casey MacGill is the heart and soul of the band. From California, he is a classic Hollywood character in appearance and style. MacGill plays boogie-woogie, swing, and stride piano. He blows a lyrical cornet, and his most unique instrumental voice is a 6-string tenor ukulele. He has been singing and arranging vocal harmonies for almost 30 years, in a career that stretches from Los Angeles (Mood Indigo, feature films "Frances" and "Swing Shift") to Spokane, WA (The Spirits of Rhythm and the neo-swing classic CD "Jump") to Broadway (The musical "Swing") and finally to Seattle. "I've played a lot of music with a lot of people," he says "and one thing I've learned is to tailor my arrangements to the individual musicians. Its gives each musical situation a unique sound." He steers the band from his piano bench, alternately cruising along and sweating feverishly, switching intuitively between the ukulele and the piano and the cornet, singing and scatting, sometimes all within the same song.

The Blue 4 have started to leave their musical mark around Seattle and around the world. Weekly Seattle gigs at landmark music venues The Pink Door and Salty's on Alki have allowed them to hone their sound. Featured prominently is a lack of amplifications, allowing the real sound of the band and their instruments to permeate the room. It has also allowed them to build a devoted following of listeners, dancers and cocktail-sippers. More recently, Mike and Matt appeared in the 5th Avenue Theatre's production of Buddy, the Buddy Holly musical. In Europe, the trio have been an integral part of "Swing" alumni Ryan Francois and Jenny Thomas' Camp Savoy and their dance troupe, and have performed at the camp for 4 straight years. They have appeared at the Fous de Danse Festival in Toulouse, the Edinburgh Jazz Festival, and a Ronnie Scott's Jazz club in London.

"A lone guy comes onstage, singing and plucking a ukulele. Your mind starts humming....Suddenly--bam!--the lights blaze and an art deco bandstand designed by Thomas Lynch rolls forward, swarming with musicians dressed for a sweaty, 1940's night of music. Casey MacGill rejoins his band, Gotham City Gates, as Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" rocks the house. The audience about dies of pleasure.
---The Village Voice, review of the Musical "Swing!"

"A crooner of the highest caliber"
--Atomic Magazine