Fergus McCreadie was born 12 July 1997[3] in Jamestown, Easter Ross, Scotland,[4] and grew up in Dollar, Clackmannanshire.[5] McCreadie's first experience playing music was on the bagpipes, though he concedes he "was not good at that at all."[5] He saw a jazz piano performance around age 12, and said it "changed my life. It looked so fun, so free and so creative in the way that everyone interacted with each other."[5] McCreadie's parents paid £20 for a broken-down piano; however, he mostly practiced with a Yamahaelectric piano through headphones in his bedroom after noise complaints from a neighbor.[1]
McCreadie attended Dollar Academy as a teen,[6] then studied jazz at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under Tommy Smith, where he also played in Smith's Youth Jazz Orchestra.[1][7] At the conservatoire, he met bassist David Bowden and drummer Stephen Henderson, the other two players in McCreadie's trio.[1] He graduated from the conservatoire in 2018.[4]
On 6 November 2023, McCreadie announced a 5-track solo piano EP titled Sketches, which was released by Edition Records on 26 November.[8][9] The project was recorded on 21 August at Solas Sound in Glasgow, with Gus Stirrat as recording and mixing engineer.[9]
In January 2024, McCreadie announced his fourth album Stream, which was released on 3 May by Edition.[10][11]Spectrum Culture's Konstantin N. Rega called the album "a forceful work of beauty, patience, stamina and creativity."[12]
Style and influences
McCreadie is known for combining contemporary jazz with Scottish folk music inspired by his homeland's natural landscape.[13][14] McCreadie describes this genre crossover by saying "jazz is kind of a folk music in itself. It has a lot of the characteristics, and it's grown up in a lot of the same ways."[1] McCreadie says he is most inspired by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, and notes his music taste as also including Glenn Gould, Martha Argerich, Oscar Peterson, McCoy Tyner, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, and Mick O'Brien.[1]
In a concert review from 2024, The Skinny's Zoë White described McCreadie as sitting forward facing his audience and speaking candidly about his music in between songs.[15] White noted the "endearing contrast between his down-to-earth anecdotes about hill walks, mountain streams and Scottish weather, and the hypnotic beauty of the music itself."[15]
Accolades
Awards and nominations received by Fergus McCreadie
McCreadie has also won the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year's under-17 category in 2013 and 2014, the Linda Trahan Memorial Prize University of St Andrews, and the Guy Barker Award at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.[17] McCreadie was selected for BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists, becoming the first non-classical musician chosen for the recognition.[25]
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