Ben Crosland's All Star Band performs The Ray Davies Songbook

While there have been a myriad of Beatles tunes set to jazzy interpretations, plus jazz covers of other 60s rock stars, including Jimi Hendrix by Gil Evans and even The Rolling Stones by guitarist Joe Pass, one might be forgiven for thinking that Ray Davies and jazz are strange bedfellows. However, like the Beatles, the songs of the Kinks have become part of the British consciousness.

Ray Davies' music is rooted in the blues, music hall, popular song, variety and musical theatre. In The Ray Davies Songbook, bassist Ben Crosland's musical homage has managed to craft deft, universally imaginative and intelligent interpretations, celebrating the idiosyncratic songs of a man without whom 20th Century popular music would have been all the poorer.

Frequently heralded as the 'Godfather of Britpop', Ray co-founded the Kinks in 1963 with his younger brother, lead guitarist Dave, and the band became one of the defining groups of the British Invasion and a monumental influence on rock history. 

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, Ray was knighted in 2017 for his services to the arts.

​Among Kinks classics Ben Crosland and his (literally) All Star Band will be performing are All Day and All of the Night; Waterloo Sunset; You Really Got Me; Sunny Afternoon; Dedicated Follower of Fashion; Tired of Waiting for You; Dead End Street; and Set Me Free. 

​Theo Travis (Tenor & Soprano Saxophones), John Etheridge (Guitar), Steve Lodder (Keyboard), Ben Crosland (Bass), Nic France (Drums).