The Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh is celebrating its 40th year as a music venue this year, and part of that programme sees internationally established saxophonist Tommy Smith given the task of curating some special shows to highlight the wide music base that is Jazz Music.
This show tonight sees Tommy teaming up with long time friend and musical collaborator pianist Brian Kellock and Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes. Opening this evening’s programme was music from one of the sharpest and most original sounds on the young jazz scene – The Fergus McCreadie Trio.
QH40 is not just about celebrating music, but the venue itself and, over the past 40 years, The Queen’s Hall has become a special place for audiences and performers alike. There is something special about this venue, it is very much part of not only the music community, but also the local community. Over the years, many now established musicians have taken inspiration from watching their musical heroes perform on its stage, and that ongoing inspiration and sense of continuity as one generation of musicians inspires the next generation continues. The Fergus McCreadie Trio are part of this story. All of our trio – Fergus McCreadie (piano), David Bowden (bass), and Stephen Henderson (drums) - met whilst studying at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow where Tommy Smith is a teacher and Artistic director of the Jazz course.
The Fergus McCreadie Trio are simply three hugely talented musicians with a skill level that is far past what could normally be expected of their young ages and they are with innovative music cutting their own very distinctive paths through the music world. How to describe their music? Well Fergus McCreadie probably summed it up best himself tonight as “jazz with a Scottish feel”. There is something unique about their music as older music (if we can use such a term for such a young band) and music from their debut album Turas (the Scottish Gaelic word for Journey) with songs such as “The Culearn” and “The Old Harbour” prove. This trio take much of their inspiration from the very landscapes and sounds of Scotland itself, click here to read the full review.