ALI MCGREGOR RETURNS TO SOUTHBANK

Gifted with one of the most versatile voices in Australian music, the smooth and sultry Ali McGregor returns to The Salon at the Melbourne Recital Centre to present her new show ‘Alchemy’ for audiences of Southbank.

With four shows at The Salon kicking off from Wednesday, May 15 through until Saturday, May 18, Ali will bring the unique sounds of her pop merged jazz album to life following a smash hit season at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival.

Accompanied by one of Australia’s finest jazz pianists and arrangers in Sam Keevers and his trio, the concept of Alchemy draws upon all of McGregor’s influences in creating unique jazz inspired hybrids of popular songs by everyone from Foo Fighters and Radiohead to Madonna and Britney Spears.

“When I started singing there were two very big inspirations for me one being the kind of style of the American Songbook, 50s jazz standards, music of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday,” she says.

“I was also listening and watching RAGE every Saturday morning and listening to a lot of pop music like everyone else.”

“I guess I just wanted to try and merge these two loves, these two musical loves and see if I could make something happen from that.”

Following the response to her previous album Jazz Cigarette, which also contains traces of the similar mash-up style narrative to Alchemy, McGregor says that the feedback to the live show has been great.

“It’s been interesting because the audience is split into two fairly distinct categories,” she says.

“You have the people who are kind of my age who know all the songs that I’m singing or most of them and it conjures up memories of their teenage years and then there’s people that don’t know any of the songs who just appreciate the songs just from scratch.”

Making her first return to the Melbourne Recital Centre since her performance in the American Songbook Series of previous years, McGregor says she can’t wait to present Alchemy to audiences at The Salon.

“Oh yes, I love The Salon so much,” she says. “I think as a Melburnian through and through. I’m so proud that another great music venue is built in that Southbank area and the architecture of it is so beautiful and the space is just glorious.”

For bookings and more information visit melbournerecital.com.au or phone 9699 3333.