Forest Floor Fergus McCreadie

• 1Law Hill06:52
• 2The Unfurrowed Field08:36
• 3Morning Moon05:52
• 4Landslide04:33
• 5Forest Floor04:29
• 6The Ridge10:27
• 7White Water08:16
• 8Glade05:42
• Total Runtime54:47

Info for Forest Floor

Building on the superlative reaction to Cairn, Forest Floor develops similar traits and characteristics but imbued with even greater maturity, interaction and vision. The Scottish folk influences developed in Cairn remain central and define Fergus’ and the trio’s sound.

Occasionally an artist emerges with a talent and sound that throws them directly into the limelight. Demonstrating that the British Jazz explosion is not just a Metropolitan affair and standing up for the UK’s regions and nations, Fergus proves again he is an Artist for the moment, deserving and commanding the attention of audiences worldwide.

Fergus has an ability to communicate beyond his years, a versatility of rhythm and colour from the most delicate to the highest energy that is captivating and vital. His compositions shine a light on the folk traditions and traditional melodies that are rooted in his upbringing.

If Cairn demonstrates Fergus’ potential, Forest Floor confirms it. The success, accolades and award nominations Cairn earned (including nominations for the Jazz FM Awards and the Scottish Album of the Year 2021) only hint at what Forest Floor will achieve for him.

Forest Floor signifies an evolution in Fergus’ trio and sound, as he explains: ”In all my music I’m searching for an idea or a theme, that the composition and performance is based on. It’s a journey and adapts to each live performance. The recording documents the stage of that journey at a moment of time. With this recording, it’s the same studio, same piano and same musicians but I feel the sound we have as a trio has become more developed and rounded somehow. This album has its own journey, it’s 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. Forest Floor, both in its artwork and aesthetic, develops the themes created for Cairn.”

Whilst Cairn focussed on the permanence and beauty of Scottish stone, Fergus felt that this album had a greater earthiness to it, illustrated by the changes the seasons produce on the forest floor, a perception that fed into the title, music and artwork for the new work.

There’s a greater visceral energy apparent in this album. If Cairn was lyrical,Forest Floor steps up a gear in conviction whilst remaining balanced perfectly with its moments of serenity. It’s this equilibrium that makes Fergus’ music so powerful. His ability to transition from a full flowing, radiant pulse-wash of sound to a tranquil, early morning stillness in a moment is simply breathtaking.

“Reflecting his engagement with the Scottish landscape and musical tradition while also showing a firm grasp of the jazz piano tradition” (Jazz In Europe)

Fergus McCreadie, piano
David Bowden, double bass
Stephen Henderson, drums

Fergus McCreadie
is one of Scotland’s most exciting young talents. Born in Jamestown, near Strathpeffer, he grew up in Dollar and graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2018.

As well as winning the prestigious Peter Whittingham Jazz Award with his trio in 2016, he has twice won the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the year under-17s Prize and is the winner of the Guy Jones Prize, the Joe Temperley Prize from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Linda Trahan Memorial Prize from St Andrews University.

His trio has featured at the Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, Aberdeen and Islay jazz festivals regularly and has toured in Norway, Sweden, Lithuania and Estonia. The group has also appeared at Oslo and Stockholm jazz festivals and the Ronnie Scott’s International Piano Trio Festival.

Released in Spring 2018, the trio’s debut album, Turas, has been praised for “reflecting his engagement with the Scottish landscape and musical traditions while also showing a firm grasp of the jazz piano tradition” (Jazz in Europe). Turas won Album of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2019 and Best Album at the Scottish Jazz Awards 2019, following on from McCreadie’s Best Instrumentalist title at the 2018 awards.

The album was also shortlisted for the cross-genre Scottish Album of the Year Award 2019, reaching the final ten from 290-plus candidates, a rare feat for a jazz album.

McCreadie’s music is an innovative blend of jazz and Scottish traditional music. Turas (Scottish Gaelic for ‘Journey’) features eight original compositions which are designed to take the listener on an auditory journey of Scotland. Depicting scenes from the Western Isles to the East Neuk of Fife, the music is evocative of the landscapes from which it has taken its inspiration.

McCreadie, who also works with drummer Graham Costello’s widely acclaimed STRATA, among other groups, performs with bassist, David Bowden, the winner of the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year title in 2017 and leader of the acclaimed, world music influenced band Mezcla, and drummer Stephen Henderson, a Jazzwise magazine One to Watch in 2018.

This album contains no booklet.