FERGUS McCREADIE - The Beginnings Of An Eventful Journey
It doesn't seem long ago that Scottish jazz musicians were spearheading a resurgence of the music in the UK. It was at the turn of the new Millennium that Tommy Smith started his Spartacus imprint, pianist Brian Kellock released the incredible Live at Henry's set, and Caber Records run by the Bancroft brothers was recording artists quite prolifically. Trumpeter, Colin Steele made a few superb albums for the imprint before being snapped up by ACT, and it was readily apparent that the Scottish jazz scene had a lot to say, and often in its own distinctive vernacular.
It is therefore reassuring to note that this momentum is not just being maintained but being propelled forward by a new generation of musicians, one of which is the gifted young pianist,Fergus McCreadie.
Having won the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year (Under 17s) twice, he is now at the still tender age of twenty and producing music that ranks some of the finest available, as his stunning debut album Turas testifies.It was therefore great to have the opportunity to talk to Fergus about the album and his passion for music.
You have been building quite a reputation for yourself in the past few years. Can you tell us a bit about your debut album, and why you have chosen now to release it?
I’ve always had it in my head that releasing an album was something that I didn’t want to rush. I probably had enough material to release something about 3 years ago, but I wanted my first album to be representative of who I am as a musician and it wasn’t until it came to booking the recording that I felt mature enough to put my own stuff out there. I also wanted to make sure it was with the right musicians, and I think I discovered that the trio felt right in September 2016 – we played a pretty special gig at the Islay Jazz Festival and I’ve felt committed to having them as sidemen since. I think it’s taken me this long as well to find what kind of music I want to make – I’ve gone through quite a few different phases as a musician, but for now I think I’m pretty settled on the Jazz-Scottish Folk idea.
The album itself is a story – I don’t know what it’s about but the most important thing for me was to try and tell a story through the tracks. A lot of the tunes are named after places in Scotland, as they remind me of those places, so ‘Turas’ – Scottish Gaelic for journey – seemed like a fitting title. I also wanted to try and capture landscape in the music. My favourite music is stuff that is really evocative, and takes you to another place, so I wanted to try and do that, not only through telling a story but also by having a vision of what each piece is inspired by, which I hope comes across.
All the tunes are written by yourself. Do you find writing a natural process, and where do you draw the inspiration for your compositions?
Again, writing was something that took me time to get comfortable with – it was definitely strange when I first started composing, but I think it’s a bit more natural now. My old process was a pretty long one, where I’d get an idea and then just keep running with it, editing it until the old idea was pretty unrecognisable. Sometimes that could have taken me a couple of months. I think now I’ve kind of realised that what’s better is just to wait for the right idea to come along, and when it does it usually takes a couple of hours – maybe a days work at the most.
Letting the folk influence come through as well took a bit of time as well. I’d always seen myself as just a jazzy jazz musician, coming through that education system where you transcribe bebop and just aspire to play in the tradition. But I think I’m genuinely a folk musician at heart as well – I don’t know whether that comes from playing the pipes when I was younger, or just because folk music is so prevalent in Scotland. So especially when I was starting out composing, I was trying to fit into a jazz mould – but the more I tried the more tunes eventually just came out simple and folky. I think that’s the most natural way for me to write, although maybe that’ll change.
Usually the inspiration comes for me from finding a musical idea that I like, and then developing that into more of a fully-fledged tune. Naming a piece usually comes after I’ve written the tune, which doesn’t mean that the tunes aren’t inspired by what they’re named after – I try to connect the tune with a memory of mine before I play it publically, so that it’s something that resonates with me emotionally. Most of these memories that I’ve named the tunes after are places in Scotland on this album, which is where I got the name ‘Turas’ from (it’s Gaelic for Journey).
It is therefore reassuring to note that this momentum is not just being maintained but being propelled forward by a new generation of musicians, one of which is the gifted young pianist,Fergus McCreadie.
Having won the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year (Under 17s) twice, he is now at the still tender age of twenty and producing music that ranks some of the finest available, as his stunning debut album Turas testifies.It was therefore great to have the opportunity to talk to Fergus about the album and his passion for music.
You have been building quite a reputation for yourself in the past few years. Can you tell us a bit about your debut album, and why you have chosen now to release it?
I’ve always had it in my head that releasing an album was something that I didn’t want to rush. I probably had enough material to release something about 3 years ago, but I wanted my first album to be representative of who I am as a musician and it wasn’t until it came to booking the recording that I felt mature enough to put my own stuff out there. I also wanted to make sure it was with the right musicians, and I think I discovered that the trio felt right in September 2016 – we played a pretty special gig at the Islay Jazz Festival and I’ve felt committed to having them as sidemen since. I think it’s taken me this long as well to find what kind of music I want to make – I’ve gone through quite a few different phases as a musician, but for now I think I’m pretty settled on the Jazz-Scottish Folk idea.
The album itself is a story – I don’t know what it’s about but the most important thing for me was to try and tell a story through the tracks. A lot of the tunes are named after places in Scotland, as they remind me of those places, so ‘Turas’ – Scottish Gaelic for journey – seemed like a fitting title. I also wanted to try and capture landscape in the music. My favourite music is stuff that is really evocative, and takes you to another place, so I wanted to try and do that, not only through telling a story but also by having a vision of what each piece is inspired by, which I hope comes across.
All the tunes are written by yourself. Do you find writing a natural process, and where do you draw the inspiration for your compositions?
Again, writing was something that took me time to get comfortable with – it was definitely strange when I first started composing, but I think it’s a bit more natural now. My old process was a pretty long one, where I’d get an idea and then just keep running with it, editing it until the old idea was pretty unrecognisable. Sometimes that could have taken me a couple of months. I think now I’ve kind of realised that what’s better is just to wait for the right idea to come along, and when it does it usually takes a couple of hours – maybe a days work at the most.
Letting the folk influence come through as well took a bit of time as well. I’d always seen myself as just a jazzy jazz musician, coming through that education system where you transcribe bebop and just aspire to play in the tradition. But I think I’m genuinely a folk musician at heart as well – I don’t know whether that comes from playing the pipes when I was younger, or just because folk music is so prevalent in Scotland. So especially when I was starting out composing, I was trying to fit into a jazz mould – but the more I tried the more tunes eventually just came out simple and folky. I think that’s the most natural way for me to write, although maybe that’ll change.
Usually the inspiration comes for me from finding a musical idea that I like, and then developing that into more of a fully-fledged tune. Naming a piece usually comes after I’ve written the tune, which doesn’t mean that the tunes aren’t inspired by what they’re named after – I try to connect the tune with a memory of mine before I play it publically, so that it’s something that resonates with me emotionally. Most of these memories that I’ve named the tunes after are places in Scotland on this album, which is where I got the name ‘Turas’ from (it’s Gaelic for Journey).
Has the trio been together as a unit long, and how did you meet David Bowden and Stephen Henderson?
I’ve known David and Stephen for a pretty long time now, coming close to 5 years I think. When I started at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, they were the first people that I played with, and throughout my first year I did a lot of projects where they were the rhythm section. It always felt good to play with them, so when I got offered a gig at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival in 2015 it made sense to ask them to do it. What I like about playing with them is that they’ve both got an interest in Folk music as well as Jazz – both of them play in the Celtic band Dosca, so that means that playing the fusion feels natural for us. Because we’ve played together and hung out so much over the past years, I feel like the interaction has gotten really good now – we just finished a run of gigs.
Are you planning to keep the trio together long-term, and how do you envisage the group developing?
I’ve definitely got no plans to play with anyone different for a while, certainly. They’re both busy musicians and sometimes if they can’t make the gig, a different musician deps in the band, but the current line up is always first choice. I think the only thing I can see changing is our interaction – the more we play together, the tighter it gets, and the more exciting and unexpected stuff happens in the music. Before we recorded the album, we went up north and rehearsed in a cottage for a few days to get away with the music, and that was really helpful – I definitely want to do that again. I’ve written a couple of new tunes which are kind of different, in that they’re a bit more free wheeling and based on how the group is feeling – I suppose I want to try writing a bit less and letting the group improvise together a bit more.
Can you tell us a bit about your musical background, and how you came to take up the piano?
I think I’ve always had an interest in music, since I can remember really. We always had a piano in the house when I was young, and I used to go and fiddle about on it, until I was about 7 when I started lessons. They were definitely a flop to start with though – I really didn’t enjoy the arduousness of practicing, and so for ages never really got anywhere with it. I think maybe it was just the graded world that I’d come into – there’s so much pressure with that kind of thing to do well, so I think in retrospect that was probably quite demotivating. No disrespect to anyone who enjoys that obviously, it just wasn’t for me. So it wasn’t until I was about 12 that I came across jazz, and that was a totally life changing. I think seeing people that were really feeling what they were playing and that fun that they were having just made me really want to do Jazz, and I’ve been obsessed ever since. I toyed with bagpipes while I was in school but I never really got very far with them – I think piano is the right instrument for me.
Who do you listen to and who do you think has been a particular influence?
The first jazz legend that I got really into was Oscar Peterson – he was pretty much all I listened to for years. I don’t really listen to him anymore, but I think that influence is probably still there – I still really respect his deep rooted connection with the groove and he’s undoubtedly one of the greats. Branching out from that I got into the classic jazz pianists – Bill Evans, who’s an influence for absolutely everyone, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and so on. While those guys really influenced my jazz piano playing, I think the three people who’ve really had an impact on my overall musicianship are Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau. The three of them have an amazing ability to tell a story, in various ways, and I just love their aesthetic – they’re all such personal musicians, and I think that’s one of the best things in a musician, when they have a really particular sound and style. Aside from jazz, I’m really into the Irish folk band the Gloaming, who’ve just got such a special and indescribable vibe about them – everything they do is just so beautiful. Sam Amidon is great as well, the American folk singer – he’s got a very strong aesthetic too. A lot of his songs tell stories incredibly well. I also love classical music, and I reckon my favourite pianists in that idiom are Glenn Gould for Bach, Alfred Brendel for Beethoven, and Martha Argerich for Chopin.
You studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. How did you find the course in relation to playing Jazz which is often an instinctive and intuitive form of music making?
I found it really good, honestly – I didn’t feel like it stifled any of my intuitive creativity, if I have any! There’s a lot of freedom in what you do there, and I think a lot of people who’ve done that course have come out as their own musician. You’re not really told how to do anything – you just get general stuff you have to do, and how you do that is up to you really. It’s a really good group of people there too, and you end up gigging about a lot with everyone, which is the best thing to do. I wouldn’t have been able to play so much with David and Stephen if it hadn’t been for the RCS, and it’s the same for a huge amount of people that I play with. It’s also good because you get a lot of freedom to do stuff which isn’t jazz too, which I think is a really positive thing – I’ve done a classical recital, a folk recital, and a free improvised project with the poetry of Seamus Heaney. So I found that because it’s not so strict on what you do, it doesn’t really limit anyone’s creative potential.
You also studied at another well established institution, the Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra. Can you tell us about this experience?
You know I actually haven’t done a great deal with TSYJO. It wasn’t until I was in 2nd year of RCS that Tommy asked me to play with the band, but I think until that point it had been on a bit of a hiatus, I’m not sure. It’s good to be in though - it’s just an excuse to hang out with my friends and play a few jazz gigs, which is absolutely nothing to complain about. It’s good to be around Tommy too – he’s a pretty inspiring musician, and the couple of times I’ve got to actually play with him on those gigs have been really fun.
Maybe the most important youth band that I was a part of when I was younger was the Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra. That was a pretty regular thing, and for 13 year old me it was always the highlight of my week. When I was there it was a really massive band – I think it was split into three different groups at one point – and it was so great to be around so many people who liked jazz. It was the first time I’d really hung out with people who were really into music, so that was pretty motivating for me. My first improvised solos were in FYJO. The director of that band, Richard Michael, is amazing as well – one of the most inspiring educators I’ve ever met. I was also in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland as well, which was great to do too. I did my first tour with them, and formed musical friendships which I’ve still got going today.
As well as your current trio, what other bands/projects are you involved with?
I’d say the other main projects I’m in are Graham Costello’s Strata, and the Mark Hendry octet. In Strata, Graham writes music that combines improvisation with very concrete minimalist ideas, making for a pretty interesting combination. I think he’s an amazing composer, and also an amazing drummer. It’s interesting too because he’s from a pretty interesting background – he came up through the indie and DIY scene in Glasgow so he’s definitely got a strong rock vibe about him. The band rehearses really a lot too so it’s very tight, both in the written parts and in the improvised sections. He’s got an album recording planned for August, so I’m excited to see how that turns out – I think it could do really well. With Mark’s band, he writes a huge variety of music – he’s into stuff from Strauss to Kenny Wheeler to Muse, so he’s got a super diverse set of influences. I think he might be one of the most talented writers I’ve ever met – what he writes is pretty complex and all of his pieces are impressive achievements, but they’re never self-gratuitous or hard to listen to. He always has a thread of his own personality through everything he writes too. He’s just released his first album, Esperance, which I think is great and everyone should check it out. I also play with a tenor saxophonist called Matthew Carmichael, who also writes really cool music and has just released an EP, and recently I’ve been doing a lot with the electronic artist Werkha – we just got back from a gig in Estonia last week.
I think that the scene in Glasgow definitely has more going on in it than people think – a lot of what you see about jazz nowadays seems to be about the London scene to me, but I think that Glasgow really punches above its weight. There’s loads more great bands that I’ve not mentioned that are really killing it at the moment, so definitely hoping Scotland will get a bit more recognition in the coming years!
And plans for the future?
At the moment I’m just focused on trying to get more gigs with the trio. I don’t think I’ll consider another album for a while – I’m really happy with how this one has turned out, and I don’t think I’d be able to say anything new on another album just yet. Hopefully we’ll be able to get down south of the border more often and play more gigs there, and eventually gigging in Europe would be really cool, I suppose that’s the dream really. So just more gigs.
I’ve known David and Stephen for a pretty long time now, coming close to 5 years I think. When I started at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, they were the first people that I played with, and throughout my first year I did a lot of projects where they were the rhythm section. It always felt good to play with them, so when I got offered a gig at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival in 2015 it made sense to ask them to do it. What I like about playing with them is that they’ve both got an interest in Folk music as well as Jazz – both of them play in the Celtic band Dosca, so that means that playing the fusion feels natural for us. Because we’ve played together and hung out so much over the past years, I feel like the interaction has gotten really good now – we just finished a run of gigs.
Are you planning to keep the trio together long-term, and how do you envisage the group developing?
I’ve definitely got no plans to play with anyone different for a while, certainly. They’re both busy musicians and sometimes if they can’t make the gig, a different musician deps in the band, but the current line up is always first choice. I think the only thing I can see changing is our interaction – the more we play together, the tighter it gets, and the more exciting and unexpected stuff happens in the music. Before we recorded the album, we went up north and rehearsed in a cottage for a few days to get away with the music, and that was really helpful – I definitely want to do that again. I’ve written a couple of new tunes which are kind of different, in that they’re a bit more free wheeling and based on how the group is feeling – I suppose I want to try writing a bit less and letting the group improvise together a bit more.
Can you tell us a bit about your musical background, and how you came to take up the piano?
I think I’ve always had an interest in music, since I can remember really. We always had a piano in the house when I was young, and I used to go and fiddle about on it, until I was about 7 when I started lessons. They were definitely a flop to start with though – I really didn’t enjoy the arduousness of practicing, and so for ages never really got anywhere with it. I think maybe it was just the graded world that I’d come into – there’s so much pressure with that kind of thing to do well, so I think in retrospect that was probably quite demotivating. No disrespect to anyone who enjoys that obviously, it just wasn’t for me. So it wasn’t until I was about 12 that I came across jazz, and that was a totally life changing. I think seeing people that were really feeling what they were playing and that fun that they were having just made me really want to do Jazz, and I’ve been obsessed ever since. I toyed with bagpipes while I was in school but I never really got very far with them – I think piano is the right instrument for me.
Who do you listen to and who do you think has been a particular influence?
The first jazz legend that I got really into was Oscar Peterson – he was pretty much all I listened to for years. I don’t really listen to him anymore, but I think that influence is probably still there – I still really respect his deep rooted connection with the groove and he’s undoubtedly one of the greats. Branching out from that I got into the classic jazz pianists – Bill Evans, who’s an influence for absolutely everyone, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and so on. While those guys really influenced my jazz piano playing, I think the three people who’ve really had an impact on my overall musicianship are Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau. The three of them have an amazing ability to tell a story, in various ways, and I just love their aesthetic – they’re all such personal musicians, and I think that’s one of the best things in a musician, when they have a really particular sound and style. Aside from jazz, I’m really into the Irish folk band the Gloaming, who’ve just got such a special and indescribable vibe about them – everything they do is just so beautiful. Sam Amidon is great as well, the American folk singer – he’s got a very strong aesthetic too. A lot of his songs tell stories incredibly well. I also love classical music, and I reckon my favourite pianists in that idiom are Glenn Gould for Bach, Alfred Brendel for Beethoven, and Martha Argerich for Chopin.
You studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. How did you find the course in relation to playing Jazz which is often an instinctive and intuitive form of music making?
I found it really good, honestly – I didn’t feel like it stifled any of my intuitive creativity, if I have any! There’s a lot of freedom in what you do there, and I think a lot of people who’ve done that course have come out as their own musician. You’re not really told how to do anything – you just get general stuff you have to do, and how you do that is up to you really. It’s a really good group of people there too, and you end up gigging about a lot with everyone, which is the best thing to do. I wouldn’t have been able to play so much with David and Stephen if it hadn’t been for the RCS, and it’s the same for a huge amount of people that I play with. It’s also good because you get a lot of freedom to do stuff which isn’t jazz too, which I think is a really positive thing – I’ve done a classical recital, a folk recital, and a free improvised project with the poetry of Seamus Heaney. So I found that because it’s not so strict on what you do, it doesn’t really limit anyone’s creative potential.
You also studied at another well established institution, the Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra. Can you tell us about this experience?
You know I actually haven’t done a great deal with TSYJO. It wasn’t until I was in 2nd year of RCS that Tommy asked me to play with the band, but I think until that point it had been on a bit of a hiatus, I’m not sure. It’s good to be in though - it’s just an excuse to hang out with my friends and play a few jazz gigs, which is absolutely nothing to complain about. It’s good to be around Tommy too – he’s a pretty inspiring musician, and the couple of times I’ve got to actually play with him on those gigs have been really fun.
Maybe the most important youth band that I was a part of when I was younger was the Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra. That was a pretty regular thing, and for 13 year old me it was always the highlight of my week. When I was there it was a really massive band – I think it was split into three different groups at one point – and it was so great to be around so many people who liked jazz. It was the first time I’d really hung out with people who were really into music, so that was pretty motivating for me. My first improvised solos were in FYJO. The director of that band, Richard Michael, is amazing as well – one of the most inspiring educators I’ve ever met. I was also in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland as well, which was great to do too. I did my first tour with them, and formed musical friendships which I’ve still got going today.
As well as your current trio, what other bands/projects are you involved with?
I’d say the other main projects I’m in are Graham Costello’s Strata, and the Mark Hendry octet. In Strata, Graham writes music that combines improvisation with very concrete minimalist ideas, making for a pretty interesting combination. I think he’s an amazing composer, and also an amazing drummer. It’s interesting too because he’s from a pretty interesting background – he came up through the indie and DIY scene in Glasgow so he’s definitely got a strong rock vibe about him. The band rehearses really a lot too so it’s very tight, both in the written parts and in the improvised sections. He’s got an album recording planned for August, so I’m excited to see how that turns out – I think it could do really well. With Mark’s band, he writes a huge variety of music – he’s into stuff from Strauss to Kenny Wheeler to Muse, so he’s got a super diverse set of influences. I think he might be one of the most talented writers I’ve ever met – what he writes is pretty complex and all of his pieces are impressive achievements, but they’re never self-gratuitous or hard to listen to. He always has a thread of his own personality through everything he writes too. He’s just released his first album, Esperance, which I think is great and everyone should check it out. I also play with a tenor saxophonist called Matthew Carmichael, who also writes really cool music and has just released an EP, and recently I’ve been doing a lot with the electronic artist Werkha – we just got back from a gig in Estonia last week.
I think that the scene in Glasgow definitely has more going on in it than people think – a lot of what you see about jazz nowadays seems to be about the London scene to me, but I think that Glasgow really punches above its weight. There’s loads more great bands that I’ve not mentioned that are really killing it at the moment, so definitely hoping Scotland will get a bit more recognition in the coming years!
And plans for the future?
At the moment I’m just focused on trying to get more gigs with the trio. I don’t think I’ll consider another album for a while – I’m really happy with how this one has turned out, and I don’t think I’d be able to say anything new on another album just yet. Hopefully we’ll be able to get down south of the border more often and play more gigs there, and eventually gigging in Europe would be really cool, I suppose that’s the dream really. So just more gigs.
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Click on the album cover to read our review.
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