The landscape of jazz

Award-winning Scottish pianist Fergus McCreadie brings to life the Scottish landscape in his second album - 'Cairn'.

Using his regular trio of David Bowden (bass) and Stephen Henderson (drums), McCreadie achieves a collection of tracks fusing jazz and classical influences with an originality that couldn’t hail from anywhere else. Scotland flourishes in all its beauty in the sounds of these nine tunes.

McCreadie established himself as one to watch with both his debut album Turasi and a finalist slot in the BBC Jazz Musician of the Year in 2018. He’s been nominated for many awards and  collected the Best Instrumentalist accolade at the October 2020 Scottish Jazz Awards.

Now, in Cairn, McCreadie uses his prodigious skills as a composer and as a pianist to convey the listener across the highlands and lowlands, with a sense of purpose and direction. Arranged by the trio, each of the tracks is complex in its simplicity, fresh yet mature. They take intricate musical structures and scales, combined with traditional jigs and ballads with exceptional improvisation.

The shame of 2021 is that it will still be weeks - if not months - before live performances of Cairn are possible.

Cairn is available now on Edition Records. The cover of each format - LP, CD, digital album and single - features a different picture of a rock, collected by Fergus in the Scottish highlands. Together, these rocks constitute a cairn.

*** This review was originally posted on KindofJazz.com ***