Charles Rennie Macintosh jazz suite’s rave reviews

The Hill House in Helensburgh. Picture: Allan Milligan/TSPL

• A piece of jazz music inspired by architect Charles Rennie Macintosh has become a cult favourite among Scottish jazz fans

• Helensburgh Suite, composed in 2002, has become Dick Lee of Dr Lee’s Prescription’s most requested song

• Popularity linked to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as they visited house in 2011

The Helensburgh suite, composed by Dick Lee of Dr Lee’s Prescription over 10 years ago, features music representing the Hill House in Helensburgh as well as two pieces about strolling along the town’s promenade and the tale of an aviator who made pioneering flights from nearby Cardross.

Dick Lee, of Dr Lee’s Prescription, composed the jazz suite in 2002 following a commission from the Helensburgh Music Club.

Since then the music became a regular part of his repertoire but over the past year it has become one of his most frequently requested pieces of music.

The Hill House, run by the National Trust for Scotland, (NTS) hit the headlines in August 2011 when Holywood A-listers Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie turned up for a surprise tour of the property.

Pitt, a fan of Macintosh’s work, was making his second visit to the house built for Glasgow publisher Walter Blackie between 1902 and 1904.

Lee said it was a bit of a mystery why the music was suddenly in demand but speculated it could be linked to Pitt’s recent visit while he was filming his zombie movie World War Z in Glasgow.

Lee, from Edinburgh, said the melody in his music about the Hill House had been inspired by Macintosh’s architecture.

“I was walking around on a still, calm day, a very beautiful day and happened to glance up and knew straight away what I wanted for the music. The tune came to me fully-formed. Sometimes this is a process which can take weeks.

“I looked at the roof and saw the rising and falling shape of the house and wondered if I could write a tune which include that in the first couple of bars.

“The melody was modelled on the geometric proportions of the house. The “down and up” sound represent the shapes Mackintosh used going down in a stepped form in evocation of the eves and after a while the baseline rises every two beats.

The Helensburgh Suite also features music about strolling along the town’s prom.

“It gives the impression of strolling and uses “walking” as its baseline. The image I was trying to conjure up was of someone walking along with their hands in their pockets. It also features the sounds of seagulls and crashing waves. It also has the sound of the hurricane which struck Helensburgh in the 1950s.” said Lee whose music includes his own compositions as well as music including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Miles Davis.

Part of the suite represents the adventourous life of aviator Percy Pilcher who was based in Helensburgh and renown throughout the world as one of flying’s pioneers.

Pilcher became the first person to make heavier than air flights in the UK after flying his Bat Mark 2 at Cardross during the summer of 1895.

“The music sort of “follows” Pilcher through the air - it’s a waltz, airy and floaty flying about hither and tither through the air then comes to an abrupt halt because he died in 1899 when one of his flying experiments went wrong.”

Dr Lee’s Prescription consists of a quintet with Lee on saxes, clarinet and recorders and also features Stu Brown on drums, Phil Adams on electric guitar, Marcus Ford acoustic guitar and Jerry Forde playing bass guitar and double bass.

A spokesman for the NTS said: “The jazz artist Ellis Marsalis Jr has some wise words: ‘At a time when individualism is becoming an endangered species, jazz represents a celebration of the individual.’

“It is therefore apt that it is through jazz that such a unique individual as Charles Rennie Mackintosh is being celebrated as a result of inspiration provided by one of his greatest architectural works. We hope everyone who hears this fantastic piece of music comes to see Hill House, the place that inspired it.”

David Kinniburgh, Conservative councillor for Helensburgh and Lomond South, said he was “delighted” to hear about the success of the Helensburgh Suite.

“I’m surprised to hear this as I didn’t realise there was such a thing out there attracting so much attention.

“We are always looking for anything which will help promote Helensburgh and this sounds ideal. It is unusual and I hope it will continue to be a something people are talking about.”

• Hear Dick Lee and band perform part of the Helensburgh Suite on Sunday 5 May at Valvona and Crolla’s Vin Café, Multrees Walk, Edinburgh, 6pm-8.30pm. Free entry.