We catch up with one of the most exciting young talents out of Glasgow and the new UK jazz scene before he visits Peggy’s Skylight this month...
Your third album Forest Floor was nominated for the 2022 Mercury Prize Award and you won the Scottish Album of the Year too, what’s been the effect of these awards?
What it has resulted in is a lot more people have heard the album than they would’ve done. More niche genres like jazz don’t always get that kind of exposure a lot of the time, so the awards give you a lot of visibility for your music, which is a really good thing. After I won the Scottish Album of the Year award, I read this great tweet, that said ‘This album has made me think that maybe I don’t hate jazz!’ So I thought that was pretty good!
After such a successful 2022, what plans have you got for this new year?
The hard thing is not to get too overwhelmed by the new attention from the awards. So, this year just want to capitalise on that momentum. We’ve recorded another album, but that’s not due out to 2024. So just really want to focus on the live gigs and tour as much as possible.
You played in Nottingham last year with Jazz Steps at Bonington Theatre and you're coming to Peggy’s Skylight this month. Have you played there before, and what can gig-goers expect?
I’ve played a couple of times before at Peggy’s Skylight, its such a great venue. Not to expect anything. Every gig we do by its nature, is really different. Always when we go into the gigs, we never plan a set list, we always go into with a completely fresh scape.
There’s an American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett who I really like, and he talks about going into a concert with your mind being a completely blank canvas. He says he sometimes pretends he doesn’t know how to play the piano. So he’s trying to come at it from a completely fresh mind set.
I think that’s what we always try to do. Always try to make each concert start from a completely different place. It’s always going to be a very different journey by the nature of improvising, so it’ll sound different to the album for sure. Always got the same theme, but with different ideas.
I think that’s one of the unique things of live jazz, in terms of its free, flowing nature.
100%, you’re never going to get the same live gig twice. It means that the experience that you get when you come to a live jazz gig, that’s your experience and unique to you and the people in the room, and I think that’s a really cool thing.
The UK Jazz scene has been thriving, with individual scenes across cities across the country. For those less familiar with the great Scotland scene, who else should we be listening to right now?
Matt Carmichael, a saxophone player is such an amazing player. Someone I’m lucky to play with too. Like me, he has a blend of folk and jazz music, and he’s such a good player and writer. I also really like another saxophone player, who’s not so well known, but he’s really underrated – Norman Willmore. He plays Alto Sax, and he’s from the Shetland Islands. Again, he’s the at the crossroads between jazz and folk, but a bit more intense. But I think he’s amazing and got a very cool live album out which is definitely worth listening to.
You’ve been vocal on the proposals for the cancelling of Jazz Nights on BBC Radio Scotland. Which has recently been followed by potential cuts of BBC Introducing shows across the country. Why do you think such shows important?
When I think about it, some of my first opportunities to be a musician was to play on the radio. I don’t think people realise how big a deal it is to play live radio when you’re starting out. It’s a great learning experience as it’s a lot of pressure to handle, but also a great way for people to find new artists.
It’s also a positive thing for yourself as an artist, the first time I remember really feeling happy with my playing was from a live radio session. It was a big thing, playing live on the radio and enjoying it. Things like that are real stepping-stones for artists, so they can grow into themselves and have spaces where they can play music. They’re so important.
The more that we cut opportunities for young artists, the harder it is going to be for them to breakthrough, and harder for new music to be made. If music isn’t moving forward with new music, then it dies. It’s incredibly important and I think very short sighted of the BBC to be cutting these shows. I really hope they reverse some of these decisions.
Fergus will perform at Peggy’s Skylight in Nottingham on Wednesday 15 February
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