Fergus McCreadie Trio

(Octagon Chapel, Norwich. Norfolk and Norwich Competition, 23 Could 2023. Stay overview by Bruce Lindsay)

Pianist Fergus McCreadie remains to be, in his mid-twenties, at the start of his profession, however the musician is already growing a powerful repute together with his third album, Forest Ground,successful the award for the Scottish Album of the Yr and a nomination for the Mercury Prize, and McCreadie himself successful the JazzFM Instrumentalist of the Yr all in 2022.

This live performance on the Octagon Chapel as a part of the Norfolk and Norwich Competition was the Fergus McCreadie Trio’s first look within the metropolis, with bassist David Bowden and drummer Stephen Henderson (each of whom have been with McCreadie for some years and likewise performed on Forest Ground) becoming a member of the pianist for an early-evening efficiency. The trio’s profile is excessive at current, and it drew a big viewers that got here near filling all of the out there rows of pews.

The trio’s one-hour set consisted of simply three or 4 prolonged items, with a brief encore after the viewers’s extraordinarily heat applause. The trio opened with a prolonged improvisation, McCreadie taking part in solo for the primary couple of minutes earlier than Bowden after which Henderson joined in. The affect of Scottish conventional music on McCreadie has been talked about earlier than and this was the piece that the majority clearly introduced this affect to the fore. An as-yet unrecorded tune adopted the improvisation, with drums and bass becoming a member of piano from early on. Then got here ‘Morning Moon,’ a tune impressed, McCreadie advised the viewers, by an early morning stroll he took in the future when he left dwelling in darkness and returned within the mild. McCreadie’s delicacy of contact was once more very a lot obvious on the opening part of this tune, because it had been at the start of the improvisation. Bowden and Henderson additionally displayed a terrific lightness of contact in quieter moments, Bowden transferring easily from pizzicato to arco taking part in, Henderson shifting from virtually imperceptible strokes on the cymbals to highly effective, attacking, stick work.

The Octagon Chapel is gorgeous, but it surely’s very properly blessed with home windows, which implies that on a sunny spring night the venue was bathed in mild from all sides. Such illumination, and the absence of a raised stage, made it troublesome to distinguish the musicians from the viewers, significantly from my vantage level behind the chapel, from which McCreadie and Henderson had been hidden from view and solely the highest half of Bowden and his bass had been seen for the overwhelming majority of the time. It’s to the trio’s credit score that they managed to create an intimate ambiance in such circumstances, a respectful viewers listening intently and exhibiting its appreciation for one of many British jazz scene’s most intriguing younger teams.

Fergus McCreadie is a BBC Radio 3 New Technology Artist for 2022-2024. This live performance was recorded and is scheduled for broadcast on Radio 3 on 6 June 2023 – LINK