Meet Casey MacGill and the Blue 4 Trio, appearing this summer with Meschiya Lake as part of Voice Works at Centrum.  Casey will accompany Meschiya during her classes, and probably teach some of his own. The Blue Four Trio plus One will back up Meschiya at the swing dance portion of the Voice Works public performance on July 2. The entire workshop runs June 27 – July 3, 2011.

Casey MacGill is a classic Hollywood character in appearance and style. He blows a lyrical cornet, plays boogie-woogie, swing, and stride piano, and 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. It 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 trio – with bassist Matt Weiner and drummer Mike Daughtery, performs without the aid of amplification, 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 has appeared in England, Scotland, France and Sweden.

Joining the Blue 4 Trio at Voice Works is saxophonist Paul Woltz. As a professional musician, Paul performed for 10 years at Disneyland and also worked as a studio musician in Hollywood. He currently performs with the 5th Ave Theater, the Cascade Symphony, and The Uptown, Lowdown Jazz Band; a touring Dixieland band.

To learn more about Voice Works, or to register to participate, visit the Voice Works site, or call 360.385.3102.