Music / Jazz
Review: Fergus McCreadie Trio, Bristol Beacon
Given this was pianist Fergus McCreadie’s first visit to Bristol he wasted no time announcing himself, just piling into a swelling solo cadenza that veered somewhere between Ravel and Esbjorn Svensson. When he reined himself back in readiness for the first tune – The Teacher – there was pin drop silence across the Beacon Foyer’s sizeable audience, recognition that something special was happening.
Fergus McCreadie (piano), David Bowden (bass), Stephen Henderson (drums)(Picture: Tony Benjamin)
It’s been three years since McCreadie was runner-up in the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year and, despite the obvious challenges of the times he has released two albums, twice won the Best Instrumentalist category at the Scottish Jazz Awards and generally wowed audiences wherever he’s been able to play. He has formidable technique harnessed to a reckless imaginative energy that throws him along new trains of thought that his fingers always seem able to keep up with.
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This well-established trio provides a solid context for his impetuousness, drummer Stephen Henderson and bass man David Bowden combining both reliable rhythmic precision and responsive attention. As a result it was hard to separate out solos for the usual applause, as there were frequent duels between piano and bass or drums, with the third player keeping things in musical order. Thus – after another powerful solo piano opening – the minimal bass pulse of Ardbeg enabled McCreadie and Henderson to stoke a controlled slow-burn that boiled over into a crashing ten-fingered piano explosion of chords and runs, echoed in surges of hard-edged drumming. When, inevitably, the tumult fell back it revealed the gently lyrical melody for a triumphant finale, but not before McCreadie and Henderson had exchanged the flashing smiles of players who knew just how well they’d done.
There’s a strong Scottish musical element to the compositions, very noticeable in tunes like The Old Harbour with its Jarretty clarity given a gospel lilt in Bowden’s lyrical bass solo, one moment of beauty among many. Another slow number – An Old Friend – had the schmaltzy jaunt of a Tom Waits ballad embellished with Scotch snaps to pull it back across the Atlantic, while the insistent three-chord boogie and punching monotone running through Cross Flatlands recalled the Bad Plus in their more reflective moments.
It was a nicely varied set that showed the amiable and engaging McCreadie’s respect for the piano trio tradition while clearly establishing his own personality and Scottish heritage in a recognisable style. Above all it was fun to listen to, both for the attractiveness of the music and for the wit and energy of the playing. They made a great first impression on a Bristol stage and it is to be hoped it will not be too long before they can make a second.
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