Fergus McCreadie Trio live streaming from the Jazz Capital of the Globe - Dec. 6

Fergus McCreadie (piano); David Bowden (bass); Steve Henderson (drums).

(Photo by Debra Milne)

Such is the nature of jazz that, from its origins in New Orleans, it spread to Chicago, New York and,  inevitably, Europe, the UK and the rest of the world. The subdivisions formed, British and American jazz  began developing their own separate identities to the stage where, today, those subdivisions are forming even in the UK.

Tonight, on the eve of Brexit, those artistic divides were well and truly demonstrated - the devolution of jazz is here.

The McCreadie Trio are the perfect example of this. Fergus' compositions and his approach have brilliantly interwoven Scottish folklore into English/American/Nordic jazz and created a new language - Jazz Esperanto?

As regards the actual gig, as ever, the conditions at The Globe were perfect (we'll not mention last week!) The Yamaha piano had been lovingly transported downstairs and the sound was great. The visuals were perfect and the actual music itself was a masterpiece in the development of a theme which was, in this case (although not exclusively), the trio's new album Cairn - available at the back end of January 2021.

I struggled for a while, it was so low key that I made a cup of coffee and when I returned the bass player was still playing the same note - Guinness Book of Records?

However, 45 minutes in it all exploded! This was it! This was what I'd been waiting for and it put into perspective the build up that had preceded. 

Once they'd hit this level, the previous somnambulistic moments made sense and when I  play it again I'll be wide awake!

Lance.