The power of partnerships
Marc Jordan excited to join Cindy Church, Murray McLauchlan and Ian Thomas for two P.E.I. performances as part of Lunch at Allen’s
Marc Jordan is an award-winning Canadian composer.
He has penned songs for Cher, Bette Midler, Chicago, Diana Ross, Josh Groban and Rod Stewart, including the latter’s smash hit, “Rhythm of My Heart”.
Jordan is also a solo artist. He has recorded 14 CD’s of his own material that have appeared on labels including Warner Brothers, Atlantic, RCA and Blue Note. And he has toured around the world.
But, these days, Jordan tells me he prefers travelling in the company of friends.
“The road is lonely. And we get to hang so it’s not so lonely,” says Jordan, a member of Lunch at Allen’s, the powerhouse quartet that is heading to P.E.I. for concerts at the Homburg Theatre of Confederation Centre of the Arts on Oct. 28, and the Harbourfront Theatre in Summerside on Oct. 29. Both shows start at 7:30 p.m.
The group consists of Cindy Church, guitar and vocals, Murray McLauchlan, guitar, piano, harmonica and vocals, Ian Thomas, guitar, mandolin and vocals and Jordan on guitar, piano and vocals.
“We’re friends. And working with Lunch at Allen’s is fun because we get to have dinner together. Then, at night we get to sing for people and we don’t take it for granted. We’re lucky to be doing it.”
I first became aware of Lunch at Allen’s when I saw the group perform in Charlottetown about a decade ago. I was curious about the project because I knew Church, McLauchlan, Thomas and Jordan as Canadian stars on their own.
But when they came together on stage, something magical happened.
“It’s an explosion of rare and exotic talents. And the harmonies are really lovely,” says Jordan, during a telephone interview from his home in Toronto.
The group started 14 years ago, as an experiment.
“When four voices sing together it either works or it doesn’t. But, ours blended really well, and that’s the secret to Lunch at Allen’s,” says Jordan, who is looking forward to the P.E.I. shows.
“We love coming out East. It’s the nature of our music because we’re basically acoustic. And that really works out East.”
Besides the songs they sing together, each of the artists will perform their own material.
But the official program hasn’t been released yet.
“It depends on how much wine we have for dinner. Murray and Ian are very funny and we just try to have fun up there. The show is different every night.”