Winner of Best Instrumentalist at the Scottish Jazz Awards
The 6th annual Scottish Jazz Awards took place in St Luke’s, in Glasgow, and featured the best talents in Scottish jazz and honoured some of the most talented and revered musicians. A part of the Glasgow Jazz Festival, the award asks a panel of industry specialists, including press and promoters, to select the shortlist for the awards before the public then chose the winners by voting online. Over 3000 people voted for their favourites across the various categories.
Fergus will shortly graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, but he has already developed an impressive performance career and collected numerous accolades. He has featured at the Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, Aberdeen and Islay Jazz Festivals for the past four years. And his debut album, Turas, has been praised for ‘reflecting his engagement with the Scottish landscape and musical tradition while also showing a firm grasp of the jazz piano tradition.’ (Jazz In Europe)
He is a member of Graham Costello’s STRATA, which has been described as ‘groovy yet cerebral’ by BBC Radio Scotland, and is also a member of the Mark Hendry Octet and the Matthew Carmicheal Quartet, both of whom have recently released their debut album. Fergus is a winner of the coveted Peter Wittingham Jazz Award, the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the year u17s Prize, the Guy Jones Prize and the Joe Temperly Prize from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Linda Trahan Memorial Prize from St Andrews University. He has also featured on BBC Radio Scotland regularly as a leader and as a sideman, and has appeared alongside Bob Mintzer, Mike Stern, Iain Ballamy, Tommy Smith, Kestustis Vaiginis, Pat from Hue and Cry, Mario Caribe, Paul Towndrow and Alyn Cosker.
He will be performing at the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival on 21 July with the Fergus McCreadie Trio, called ‘the leading group from the new wave of Scottish Jazz. McCreadie is a sensational pianist, and his colleagues, David Bowden (bass), and Stephen Henderson (drums) are the leading players of their generation.’ The website goes on to describe their concerts, saying ‘They…are packed with emotional charge, youthful zest and exhuberance; and they bring an extraordinary level of creative energy and excitement to every performance, with the leader’s compositions combining traditional Scottish music influences with American Jazz in spectacular fashion. Thrilling, uplifting, often rousing music.’
To book tickets for this event, contact 0131 473 2000.
