FOUR STARS
Fergus McCreadie is one of Glasgow Jazz Festival’s 30 under 30, the cadre of young Scottish talent at the heart of this year’s festival, and he gave everything to this gig except his name.
The still teenaged pianist was the other player in guitarist John Patton’s duo, listed as support, but he was no makeweight.
His compositions took up around half the set and showed more than just youthful promise and his support of Patton’s expressive lines and his own improvisations showed why he’s been talked about since winning the under-17 section of the Young Scottish Jazz Musician competition aged 15.
There’s something exhilarating about hearing McCreadie create often speedy but always logical phrases in the moment and the narrative shape and communication he puts into his soloing shows someone with a genuine aptitude for the jazz tradition.
Norwich trio Mammal Hands are the sort of band that has jazz people asking if their music really is jazz, although there are echoes of Pharoah Sanders and possibly even Dave Brubeck’s world music experiments in their style.
Their strengths are based on mood and arpeggios, with saxophonist Jordan Smart’s swirling, imprecatory tenor and plaintive soprano lines soaring over brother Nick’s repetitive figures while Jesse Barrett’s effervescent drumming and occasional use of tabla add direction and extra dimension.
In the compact space of the Hug and Pint basement it was easy to get caught up in the music’s spiritual qualities and the physical excitement of being so close to its creators.
Whether the CD or vinyl-listening experience has quite the same appeal, I’m not sure but they certainly fired this audience with enthusiasm.
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