The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Acclaimed jazz trio on a high after COP26 gig
The award-winning jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie’s concert with his trio in Kirkcaldy tomorrow is likely to be quite a different experience from their gig at COP26 in Glasgow.
For their engagement at one of Glasgow’s swishest niteries for the major American magazine Time, the trio were in august company, the sort of people for whom the term VIP was coined.
They also had to dress uniformly in black (not their usual attire) and go through stricter security searches than normal, even in these days of almost daily lateral flow tests.
“I can’t think of a gig we’ve played where we had a sniffer dog checking the instruments and cars on arrival,” says Fergus.
“We actually wanted to adopt the dog as the band mascot because it was lovely, a spaniel. And it seemed to really enjoy its work. But I’m sure it’s effective when it has to be.”
Fergus spent a fair few weekends playing jazz standards and pop tunes for drinks receptions and other functions while a student on the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland jazz course in Glasgow. So, when the Time team made it clear what they wanted to hear, he was pleasantly surprised.
“From the start their whole approach was very refreshing,” he says.
“They were really keen for us to play our own music, which is rare in my experience of these things. They liked the idea of jazz with Scottish influences.
“So, our agent sent them some music and they came back and said, ‘Yes, this is the sound we want, and the more energetic numbers the better’.
“Quite often in these situations you’re playing discreetly in the corner and asked to keep the volume down.”
Over two sets – predinner drinks and following some heavyweight afterdinner speakers – the trio played tracks from the two albums they have released so far.
The first, Turas, won Album of the Year at both the UK’s top jazz awards, the Parliamentary Jazz Awards and the Scottish Jazz Awards in 2019; quite a feat for a self-released album.
The follow-up album, Cairn, released earlier this year on leading jazz label Edition, was longlisted (top 20 from more than 300 candidates) for the Scottish Album of the Year Award 2021.
It also made the shortlist for Best Album at the Jazz FM Awards, where Fergus and the trio were shortlisted for the Best UK Jazz Act award too.
Being nominated for awards has become almost routine for Fergus. He wasn’t long back from the Jazz FM Awards when the trio were shortlisted in the Best Band category of the Scottish Jazz Awards 2021 and Cairn was shortlisted for Best Album. They’ll know the outcome when the results are announced in Glasgow on December 8.
“It’s always fantastic to have your music appreciated,” says Fergus, who financed his first album with the prize money from the muchcoveted Peter Whittingham Jazz Award, which he won in 2016.
“I don’t mind if I don’t win an award in the end because you can’t win every time and being shortlisted means that people are taking notice.
“It’s good to win though, as a lot of great jazz musicians have gone through their entire careers without getting any recognition at all.”
So, might a feature in Time magazine be the next step in broadening the audience for the trio’s music?
“We’ve had some really nice comments like ‘fantastic’ and ‘amazing’ from some of the magazine’s people who came to Glasgow for the COP26 event,” says Fergus.
“Obviously, that’s not quite the same as having those comments as quotes from the acclaimed magazine itself, but we appreciated them just the same.”
The trio did get a sense, however, of what it might feel like to feature on the cover of one of the world’s most prestigious publications and made sure they kept photographic evidence.
“The prop that lets people pose for photos like Time magazine cover stars was right next to where we were playing, and it was too good to resist,” says Fergus.
“Only a few jazz musicians – all major figures - have ever appeared on the cover. So it’s a long shot for us to make it, but we can always dream.”