Aberdeenshire-born bassist Lewis Benzies plays three gigs in October with his band in support of his recently released album, Mosaic.

Inspired by the music of Stevie Wonder, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Bartok and Stravinsky, as well as Miles Davis’s electric period, the album features saxophonist Gordon McNeil, trumpeter Jonathan Green, pianist Huw Rees, and sometime Average White Band drummer Paul Mills.

Benzies and band appear at the Blue Lamp, Aberdeen on Sunday, October 2, the Jazz Bar, Edinburgh on (13th) and the Butterfly and Pig, Glasgow (19th).

lewisbenzies.wordpress.com

Comedy show Still Game has partnered with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for a new recording of its title music, arranged and conducted by BAFTA award-winning TV & film composer Ben Foster.

Recorded last week at the City Halls in Glasgow, home to the BBC SSO, Foster arranged and orchestrated the new titles, re-recording the Frank Chacksfield song ‘Cuban Boy’.

The track has long been associated with the Still Game series since its debut in 2002, originally using a version by The Cuban Boys.

The new title music was conducted by BAFTA award-winning British composer, Ben Foster whose TV and film credits include Doctor Who Live, Torchwood, Prometheus and The Grey, amongst others.

The opening titles of Still Game which see Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade (Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill) age through the years, have also been reshot for the new much-anticipated seventh series.

The new titles remain faithful to the original style seeing Jack and Victor through the ages from schoolboys, to teens and adults in the 60s, 70s, 80s to the present day.

After a nine year hiatus, Still Game returns to BBC One on October 7.

www.bbc.co.uk

Compact Pictures and Synchronicity Films has announced it will develop Olivier-award winning Scottish playwright David Harrower’s 9 Deaths.

The film will be produced byClaire Mundell and John McKay with support from Creative Scotland.

Harrower's Una, has screened to international acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival and Telluride.

9 Deaths tells of the "quiet, conflicted middle son of a local crime family, who must choose between his freedom and leading his clan in an escalating gang war."

Harrower said: "It’s great to be working with John and Claire on this project. We have a fantastic story, peopled with complex, damaged characters and we hope we can create an electrifying, intense Scottish film."

John McKay, producer, said: "It's truly exciting to be working with one of the UK's foremost dramatists just as he hits full stride in film writing."

This is the first time Mundell and McKay have worked together as producers, having previously worked successfully as a producer / director team on Not Another Happy Ending, the closing film of the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013.

http://www.compact.pictures/