In a stroke of initiative Craig contacted Sony/ATV who now own 99% of the copyright to The Beatles songs and sought permission to have the Fab Four’s songs arranged swing style - but without a guitar in sight! The concept of no guitar in the swing arrangement really impressed the management of Sony/ATV as very few artists, if any, have ever covered Beatles songs without a guitar. It helped, also, that Craig Martin had grown up in Liverpool and as a teenager had played lots of venues where The Beatles had performed - The Cavern, The Jacaranda and had performed with other Merseyside greats over the years - Gerry Marsden, The Searchers and Billy Kinsley from The Merseybeats.
Having been given permission from Sony/ATV to arrange 25 of The Beatles songs Craig used several talented arrangers around Brisbane and even legendary Aussie arranger Ed Wilson of Daly -Wilson Big Band fame to put their individual stamp on songs like Can’t Buy Me Love, Hey Jude, In My Life, Get Back, Yesterday. Sony/ATV told Craig that he is the only artiste in the world with permission to perform this many ‘swing’ Beatles songs in a show. In a World Premiere Craig Martin and his Swing Band perform ‘The Beatles Swing’ for the Gold Coast Jazz & Blues Club at The Arts Centre Gold Coast on Friday 13th March.
