‘Family Guy’ creator croons Sinatra-era classics

Seth MacFarlane has been able to use his agile vocal talents to create distinctive voices such as vengeful toddler Stewie and doofus dad Peter Griffin on his enduring Fox animated sitcom “Family Guy.”

But the successful TV and film creator (“Ted,” “American Dad”) also happens to be a fine baritone, which allows him to indulge in what might be considered a labor of love: performing American standards with different orchestras across the country. His latest stop is Atlanta Symphony Hall on Sept. 18 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

The 41-year-old has a deep, abiding love for music from well before he was born, with an especially soft heart for Ol’ Blue Eyes.

In a recent phone interview, he said as a teen, he fell in love with soundtrack composers such as John Williams (“Close Encounters,” “E.T.”), Alan Silvestri (“Back to the Future”) and James Horner (“Cocoon,” “Titanic”) and music from the 1987 Woody Allen film “Radio Days,” set in the 1930s and 1940s.

“Those two very different influences converged when I discovered the Frank Sinatra recordings of the 1950s and early 1960s,” MacFarlane said. “The big band/jazz symphonic orchestra genre. That represented the peak of popular music.”

He dabbled in singing this style of music in college but didn’t truly indulge until he began working with orchestras to create music for “Family Guy” starting in 1999. He found vocal coaches in an older couple, Lee and Sally Sweetland, who were about 90 at the time and, according to MacFarlane, had worked with Sinatra.

Whenever he hosted a premiere or holiday party, he’d hire studio musicians and orchestra players. He’d croon an occasional Sinatra ditty and Nelson Riddle arrangement. After he did a Fox variety special in 2009, Universal Republic asked him to record an album of orchestral jazz standards and a Christmas collection.

Then last year, the San Francisco Orchestra approached him to sing at a New Year’s show. This led to a Kennedy Center gig in Washington, D.C. Soon, other orchestras started calling, hungry to tap into MacFarlane’s younger fan base. He found old arrangements of classic tunes and revived them live.

MacFarlane said he was thrilled to get the invite from the ASO. He recalls buying CDs of the ASO recordings more than a decade ago. “Great orchestra,” he said. “You can expect them to play these charts the way they were meant to be played.”

He said he gives the musicians the arrangements a few weeks ahead of time, but he needs only a few hours of work with them in person to prepare: “When you’re dealing with musicians this good, you don’t really need a run-through a dozen times. They have it down. These orchestras just love playing this music.”

MacFarlane admits these concerts are a little outside the box and difficult to promote to his core audience. But he has been buoyed by the reaction. In Baltimore, he did four encores and ran out of songs. “When people hear the music,” he said, “it’s like candy to their ears.”

He said the crowds are mixed, from 17 to 70. “There are a lot of younger people,” he said. “I try to keep it light. I joke a lot between songs. It’s a lot like the audience for my show, which is a fairly broad demographic. And this genre of music appeals to people of all ages.”

One way he often finishes the show is singing the theme to the 1970s schlockfest “Love Boat.” “It oddly requires a large ensemble to do it,” he said. “It’s kind of ridiculous. And fun.”