Elgin-bound pianist to rub shoulders with soul stars
Award-winning Scottish pianist Fergus McCreadie brings his trio to St Giles Church, Elgin on February 29 hot on the heels of the group being announced on the bill of Love Supreme, the massive Sussex jazz and soul festival in July, along with Anita Baker, the Isley Brothers and Sister Sledge.
It will be the first time the Strathpeffer-born McCreadie has visited the Highlands since his debut album, Turas won Album of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards in December.
The Parliamentary Jazz Awards success was the third piece of recognition for Turas which won the Album of the Year title at the Scottish Jazz Awards last June. Turas was also shortlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year Award 2019, reaching the final ten from almost 300 contenders, a rare feat for a jazz album.
“2019 had already been an amazing year, with really well received gigs across Northern Europe and an invitation to appear at Ronnie Scott’s International Piano Trio Festival in London in August,” says McCreadie, who won the Best Instrumentalist title at the Scottish Jazz Awards in 2018 at the age of just twenty. “So, to win at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards was an unexpected bonus.”
McCreadie’s trio, which features Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year 2017, David Bowden on double bass and Jazzwise Magazine One to Watch 2018, Stephen Henderson on drums, will be playing music from Turas at St Giles but also previewing tracks from their forthcoming second album, which they recorded in early January.
“’We’re really looking forward to bringing the trio to Elgin,” says McCreadie, whose music is heavily influenced by Scottish traditional music and the Scottish landscape. “We had some great times touring in the Highlands last summer. The concert comes in a run of dates that includes our first appearances at the prestigious Turner Sims Concert Hall in Southampton and one of the great London jazz venues, the 606 Club, so it’ll be good to be on familiar territory.”
Tickets for the Elgin concert cost £15 and are available from Eventbrite.
