SAY Award shortlisted pianist opens Linlithgow concert series

Pianist Fergus McCreadie who was on the Scottish Album of the Year shortlist opens a new series of concerts at St Peter’s Church in Linlithgow High Street on Thursday, 19 September 2019.

The concert with bassist David Bowden is followed by appearances at St Peter’s by Romanian singer-songwriter Lisbett Russo in October. Harp and fiddle adventurers Catriona McKay & Chris Stout, English folk master Chris Wood and Martin & Eliza Carthy all follow in November.

McCreadie, whose debut album, Turas, won the Best Album category at the Scottish Jazz Awards in June as well as reaching the final ten in the SAY, has had an eventful time since graduating from from the Royal Conservatoire
of Scotland’s jazz course in June last year.

He launched his professional career by appearing at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Oslo jazz festivals, then won the Best Instrumentalist title at the Scottish Jazz Awards 2018 before appearing in the final of the televised BBC Young Jazz Musician 2018, which took place at London’s Southbank.

The twenty-two-year-old from Dollar in Clackmannanshire also recently learned that he has been shortlisted in two categories – Best Album and Best Newcomer – in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, the UK’s most prestigious jazz prizes despite their connection to Westminster and all that entails.

On top of this acclaim, McCreadie’s life has been so hectic that his trio recently had to take a rigid inflatable boat to a gig in Tobermory when the Mull ferry was cancelled and his August schedule of concerts included an afternoon concert on the Edinburgh Fringe followed by an evening one in Oslo on the same day.

“It’s been a crazy time,” says McCreadie, whose trio also fitted in an appearance at the world- famous Ronnie Scott’s
International Piano Trio Festival in London last month. “Going to Mull on the R.I.B. was fun but to get from the Fringe gig to Edinburgh Airport, with barely a minute to spare before catching the flight to Oslo, I had to call on a friend of my dad who has a powerful motor bike and gave me a lift.”

McCreadie’s concert at St Peter’s will be more relaxed. He’s playing in a duo with the bassist from his regular group, David Bowden, a former Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year, and is keen to see inside a venue he’s heard a lot about.

“Everyone I’ve spoken to says what a beautiful interior the church has,” says the pianist whose music blends Scottish folk influences with American and Nordic influences. “It also sounds really intimate, which I like. I really enjoy playing for people and being able to see them instead of looking out into a dark theatre. We’re really looking forward to the concert.”