Traces of romance at Kelso from Spatz & Co

The new show is the result of an extensive series of test concerts last year to establish audience reaction to the return in Scotland of the ‘showband’ concept.

These concerts proved to be very successful and the band has gone from strength to strength, increasing the band size to eight and upping the overall quality of musicianship on board.

Spatz & Co’s bandleader and vocalist Roy Mac describes the show: “The band is unique in the UK – it is now truly a band of bandleaders, the concept being that bandleaders tend to be proven professional musicians, strong solo performers, multi-instrumentalists, and experts in a particular musical genre.

“The collaboration within the band brings out the best of everyone and means our show can satisfy any number of musical tastes - from Glenn Miller to Sinatra, Acker Bilk to Gerry Rafferty, Michael Buble to Paul Simon, Billy Joel to Lennon and McCartney and more.

“Our aim with Midnight at The Oasis is to create something of a musical ‘experience‘ for our audience.

“During the two-hour show we feature over 20 instruments, so changes in sound are constant, and we deliberately keep the audience guessing as to what might be next. It all adds to the fun!”

The band pedigree is strong. Gus Andrews (trumpet) toured with The Drifters and worked with Deep Purple; Dick Lee (sax/clarinet) is an award-winning composer; Gordon McNeil (tenor sax/flute) has toured the world and played Las Vegas; Malcolm MacFarlane (lead guitar) toured with Shakatak, has recorded and performed with Jamie Cullum and Curtis Stigers; Tom Gordon (drums) holds the much coveted BBC Big Band drum chair; Erik Lars Hansen (bass) has played the Los Angeles jazz scene for years; Ray Elrick (keys/synths) has a wealth of experience in bands and is a multi instrumentalist; and Roy Mac (vocals, guitar/piano) has a theatre background with TV and radio appearances to his name.

Tickets are on sale at Browns Newsagents in Kelso, 01573 224269.