Multi-award-winning pianist Fergus McCreadie launches his third album, Forest Floor with a concert at the Queen’s Hall on Friday 8 April at 8pm.
Following McCreadie’s self-released debut, Turas, which won Album of the Year at both the Parliamentary Jazz Awards and the Scottish Jazz Awards, and its similarly enthusiastically received successor, Cairn, the new album is released on Edition Records, now one of Europe’s leading jazz labels.
The Queen’s Hall concert marks a swift elevation for McCreadie, whose trio previously appeared as the opening act at the venue as recently as June 2019.
“It’s iconic and its piano legacy is amazing,” says McCreadie of the hall on Clerk Street which has hosted pianists including American jazz legends McCoy Tyner and Chick Corea and Jamaican calypso jazz creator Monty Alexander, who was an early admirer of McCreadie’s blending of jazz tradition and his Scottish roots.
“If you think of all the great pianists who have played that Steinway over the years – not just jazz pianists but the classical masters, too, it’s daunting but also inspiring to follow in their footsteps as you walk onto that stage,” says McCreadie, who grew up in Dollar in Clackmannanshire and graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s jazz course in 2018.
The pianist and his trio companions, bassist David Bowden and drummer Stephen Henderson, are also playing a London launch concert at another iconic venue, Ronnie Scott’s on 19th April before playing dates up and down the UK. They also make their debut at one of Europe’s most prestigious jazz events, the Love Supreme festival in Sussex on 1 July.
Forest Floor was recorded in the same studio as its both predecessors, Quietmoney in Hastings, a location that clearly suits the trio and allows them to relax and be creative.
“With this recording, it’s the same studio, same piano and same musicians as before,” says McCreadie. “But I feel the sound we have as a trio has become more developed and rounded somehow. This album has its own journey, its own destination. As we perform this more and more, the music will change and our approach to it will adapt with it. That’s the beauty of this music. It’s all about evolution, not standing still, but listening and adapting with it.”
