Tri-City Rat Pack opens for Jay Leno

Jay Leno has raced cars, whizzed through Los Angeles on motorbikes and fired artillery tanks.

However, the legendary Tonight Show host takes a break from his celebrated garage filled with cars and mechanical wonders on Saturday, Nov. 28 as the featured stand-up comedy act at River Cree Resort and Casino.

Opening for Leno is The Tri-City Rat Pack, a Capital Region trio that represents the essence of cool. Adopting their moniker and style from Sinatra’s Vegas Rat Pack, Tri-City is the ultimate tux-attired, smooth jazz night club act singing, telling jokes and doing the odd impression.

The charismatic trio is composed of Terrell Edwards (gospel singer), Bernard Quilala (Canadian Idol finalist) and St. Albert’s Donovan Weihmann of Edmonton’s Singing Christmas Tree.

Not only does the trio realize this show could be a career maker for them, but they also have a high degree of respect for Leno’s work ethic and the level he’s taken his craft.

“He’s a funny guy. He has a unique perspective and he’s not crass. He doesn’t take the low road. He keeps it high. I hope to meet him and I hope to get a picture of him,” Weihmann said.

So are the boys keyed up about performing for such a prominent celebrity?

“I’m excited. I get nervous. For any show I perform at I have butterflies. If you don’t have them, you get blasĂ©,” said Weihmann.

“Having said that, between us we have had lots of experience and we’re prepared. That takes the edge off being nervous.”

Tri-City Rat Pack met several years ago in one of the dressing rooms during rehearsals for the Singing Christmas Tree.

“Here we were in tuxes in the dressing room singing and harmonizing together and we discovered we had the same taste and liked the same stuff. Terrell had the idea of starting a group that sings old jazz standards just like the Rat Pack of the old days. The unique thing is that no one else in Edmonton is doing it,” Weihmann said.

Quilala is a chameleon shifting seamlessly from rock to pop to soul while Edwards is more of a grooving gospel and R& B vocalist. And Weihmann brings out the blues-rock vibe.

They officially came together in 2014 and shot to prominence in Sept. when they performed a Motown-focused concert at Festival Place that rocked the theatre.

“Through big events like this one, we’ve built and developed a set list.”

The high-profile gig for Leno actually fell into their lap through one of Quilala’s connections at Trixstar, an event management company.

Trixstar books acts for River Cree and Quilala phoned them asking if anything was on the books. The Trixstar contact was searching for a jazzy a cappella act – something “with a classy style” that fit with Leno’s comedy and the casino ambiance. Did Quilala know anyone?

Within a few brief hours, the trio received a link and forwarded a demo to Leno’s people.

“They said, ‘Fantastic. Give them a shot.’ And here we are,” Weihmann explained.

The crooning threesome are contracted to sing 25 minutes. That is time enough to deliver four charts in their inimitable style laced with jazz, soul and R & B.

Two songs, Michael BublĂ©’s Feeling Good and the Dean Martin’s Ain’t That a Kick in the Head are tracked while Maroon 5’s Sugar and The Temptation’s My Girl are sung a cappella.

“It’s an honour to be chosen. An opportunity like this comes along once in a lifetime and to perform to a sold-out crowd of about 2,000 plus people is incredible. It’s a good opportunity to get your name out.”