In Edinburgh, meanwhile, 2019 sees the 40th anniversary of the former Newington and St Leonard’s church becoming the Queen’s Hall, a venue much loved by audiences and musicians alike.
A packed year-long programme kicks off on 12 January when fiddler John McCusker presents Southside of the Tracks, celebrating four decades of traditional music at the hall, the bill including such luminaries as Phil Cunningham, Kathleen MacInnes and Rachel Sermanni.
The hall’s events later in the year include Martyn Bennett’s great composition, Mackay’s Memoirs, premiered there 20 years ago (4 March), and saxophonist Tommy Smith revisiting his Beasts of Scotland collaboration with the late Edwin Morgan (18 April).
It’s a busy year for Smith’s Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, which joins bassist Arild Andersen and drummer Palo Vinaccia in a new commission, Norse Myths, premiering at Aberdeen Jazz Festival on 22 March before playing the Queen’s Hall on the 23rd and the RSNO Hall, Glasgow, on the 24th, while 3-5 May sees the orchestra touring with guest singer Irini Arabatzi and pianist Brian Kellock. Look out, too, for Thrill – Jazz from Brussels, a three-day mini-festival at various Edinburgh venues, combining Belgian and Scots musicians, launching at the Queen’s Hall on 7 February with a Beyond Django gypsy jazz night.