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Fergus McCreadie
With his second album, Cairn, released by leading European label Edition Records and picking up great early feedback (5 stars from Mojo and tipped as one of the jazz albums of 2021 by prominent radio presenters) Scottish pianist Fergus McCreadie continues to excite listeners across the UK and Europe. A phenomenal technician, McCreadie has developed a deeply personal style that captures Scotland’s musical traditions and landscapes while honouring his American and Nordic influences. His trio with David Bowden (double bass) and Stephen Henderson (drums) has developed into a formidable, superbly cohesive unit. They won the coveted Peter Whittingham Jazz Prize in 2016, and their debut album, Turas, won Album of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2019 and Best Album at the Scottish Jazz Awards 2019.
Awards
Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2019 - Album of the Year Scottish Jazz Awards 2019 - Best Album Scottish Jazz Awards 2018, 2020 - Best Instrumentalist Peter Whittingham Jazz Award 2016 Guy Jones Prize The Joe Temperley Prize (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) The Linda Trahan Memorial Prize (St Andrews University)
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Matt Carmichael: Dancing With Embers
by Neil Duggan
Scottish tenor saxophonist Matt Carmichael captured attention with his first album Where Will The River Flow (Porthole Music, 2021), garnering over 8 million streams. His second album, Marram (Edition Records, 2022), developed his blend of jazz and Scottish folk, winning “Best Album" in the Scottish Jazz Awards. He follows this with Dancing With Embers, which changes focus to concentrate on song structure and a sense of intimacy, rather than improvised solos, resulting in an album that is more biased towards ...
Continue ReadingFergus McCreadie: Stream
by Geannine Reid
Fergus McCreadie's album Stream was recorded with his long-standing trio, featuring David Bowden on double bass and Stephen Henderson on drums. McCreadie explores the natural world, focusing on the element of water. Following the critical success of Forest Floor (Edition, 2022), which garnered both a Mercury Prize nomination and the Scottish Album of the Year award. Stream comprises nine McCreadie compositions with thematic Scottish continuity. McCreadie's compositional approach on Stream is characterized by thematic development and control of ...
Continue ReadingModern Vikings: Tales of the Skald
by Neil Duggan
Modern Vikings are a quintet formed by Stephen Henderson. He is perhaps best known as the drummer in Fergus McCreadie's trio, The quintet keeps that trio, consisting of Henderson, McCreadie and bassist David Bowden, as its core. Together, they have proven to be a formidable unit, both live and in their recorded work. In the quintet format, the musical gamut is widened as they are joined by fellow scots Konrad Wisniewski on tenor saxophone and Graeme Stephen on guitar.
Continue ReadingFergus McCreadie: Stream
by Neil Duggan
Scottish pianist and composer Fergus McCreadie and his trio have carved out a distinctive style. They have reached a point where they are immediately recognisable. Many musicians strive to find their musical identity, but this remarkable trio have achieved this quickly. Their blend of Scottish folk music and contemporary jazz has been crafted and developed over their three previous albums, Turas (Self-produced, 2018), Cairn (Edition Records, 2021) and Forest Floor (Edition Records, 2022). With Stream, the natural themes of those ...
Continue ReadingInspired by Water
by Geno Thackara
Here we have a timeless theme that has been providing inspiration for artists as long as people have made art. It's easy to see why water is a perennial subject, and for something so endlessly changeable, it's no surprise that these works could hardly be more different. Fergus McCreadie Trio Stream Edition Records 2024 If the historical lineage of jazz is a series of classy figures dressed sharply for a night at the ...
Continue ReadingGeno Thackara's Favorites of 2022
by Geno Thackara
As with most years, the list could have easily been twice as long (and that's still without getting into an especially rich trove of archival discoveries, particularly from Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, Esbjörn Svensson and Ahmad Jamal). Still, these are the staples that have just resonated the most. Fergus McCreadie Trio Forest Floor Edition Records This young trio is becoming a one-of-a-kind phenomenon, both in their picturesque blend of jazz with Scottish ...
Continue ReadingMatt Carmichael: Marram
by Chris May
The first thing to register, within the opening few bars of Glaswegian tenor saxophonist Matt Carmichael's sophomore album, is how remarkably similar his sound is to that of New York's emerging saxophone colossus Oded Tzur. In an interview with All About Jazz in summer 2022, the Israeli-born Tzur named his primary formative influence as the great Dexter Gordon. Whether Carmichael cut his teeth on Gordon's Blue Note albums of the 1960s is not known, but it sounds well possible. Like ...
Continue Reading“Think Erik Satie running on Islay Malt rather than Absinthe” – The Scotsman
