FERGUS MCCREADIE TRIO
FERGUS McCREADIE piano
DAVID BOWDEN bass
STEPHEN HENDERSON drums
“One can feel the love they have for their country's natural beauty, for the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains, and what it does to a human being who dwells there.” STEP TEMPEST
TOUR DATES & TICKETS
LISTEN TO 'Forest Floor'
DISCOGRAPHY
FOREST FLOOR (2022)
Shortlisted for the 2022 Mercury Prize with FREE NOW.
“Scottish native Fergus McCreadie ignites his new trio album with a flurry of precisely placed notes, rich harmonies in forest-fire motion.” JazzTimes
If Cairn demonstrates Fergus’ potential, Forest Floor confirms it. The success, accolades and award nominations Cairn earned (including nominations for the Jazz FM Awards and the Scottish Album of the Year 2021) only hint at what Forest Floor will achieve for him.
Whilst Cairn focussed on the permanence and beauty of Scottish stone, Fergus felt that this album had a greater earthiness to it, illustrated by the changes the seasons produce on the forest floor, a perception that fed into the title, music and artwork for the new work.
There’s a greater visceral energy apparent in this album. If Cairn was lyrical,Forest Floor steps up a gear in conviction whilst remaining balanced perfectly with its moments of serenity. It’s this equilibrium that makes Fergus’ music so powerful. His ability to transition from a full flowing, radiant pulse-wash of sound to a tranquil, early morning stillness in a moment is simply breathtaking.
CAIRN (2021)
"A trio capable of rivalling EST or The Bad Plus for sheer excitement...Cairn doesn't so much play jazz with a broad Scottish accent as smother it with Glasgow kisses. Rock on." MOJOUK
Cairn is the highly anticipated follow-up to Fergus’ debut and despite all the hype this new album is gaining, he delivers in spades. Cairn is an album inspired by the tradition and landscape of his native Scotland. It declares itself with an energetic freshness of sound and originality reminiscent of the dynamism and personality with which the likes of piano trios The Bad Plus and EST emerged almost two decades ago. Responding to the circumstances of a vastly changed era, Fergus and his trio, with their profoundly mesmerising and compelling music, look set to evoke similar trajectories in progressing to the global stage. They certainly have the necessary instrumental command, musical maturity, sophisticated communication and native originality to do so.
TURAS (2018)
“…prodigious, cascading technique while communicating warmth of personality and the ability both to convey a sense of place and landscape and make a melancholy phrase somehow spiritually uplifting.” The Herald
'Turas' is the award-winning debut album by the Fergus McCreadie Trio. The title of the album is the Scottish Gaelic word for Journey, and the feeling of travel and place is conveyed strongly throughout the compositions on the record. The trio has travelled a lot across Scotland (having rehearsed intensely in the north of Scotland in the lead up to the recording) and this feeling of place and journey shines through in the playing on the album. The overall result is one of evocative musical landscapes and a satisfying combination of the Jazz and Folk idioms. Winner of Best Album at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, and Best Album at the Scottish Jazz Awards