Fergus McCreadie – Stream Review

What does Fergus McCreadie sound like?

A traditional jazz trio unleashed into contemporary freefall.

The review of ‘Stream’ by Fergus McCreadie

Taking us on a free-spirited trip across Scottish landscapes and folklore, Fergus McCreadie focuses on water with his new album ‘Stream’. Water can take many forms, but it is seemingly always moving forward in Scotland – cascading down through the Scottish highlands. Using the flow of the water as a narrator and tracklisting informer, a majestic contemporary jazz album is born.

The album kicks off with the piano, double bass and drum trio boldly introducing ‘Storm’. Big strident chords, each with their own mini-crescendo light the sonic sky like pulses of sound and ideas. There is a melody here but it’s the rise and fall of the energy that this track introduces you to. Fergus spends a lot of this album exploring momentum. Whilst this opener is more explosive, other songs swarm like pools of water, gathering force and rambunctiously tumbling out of control. As a result, the album is quite elemental despite its water theme.

‘The Crossing’ embodies the art of flow in music and water. Starting at the source of the track, it playfully trickles and flows for its opening minutes as it builds momentum and power. The piano starts to gallop and the percussion and double bass rumble and tumble like cartwheeling waves. As the flow gets out of control, power switches from grace to foreboding surges of bassy low notes and pacier cascades of drums. The 12 minutes spent in this world are magical.

‘Driftwood’ clocks in closer to 6 minutes and it too approaches flow like a rover rapid. The tight ragtime bluesy jazz allows Fergus McCreadie to showcase the speed of his fingers. The piano rolls like a lost boat swallowed by the sea. We run octaves of singular notes in seconds, increasingly being pushed outside the initial melody. All three players are careering out of control in such a satisfying way – it’s a beautiful and uplifting piece. The polar opposite is ‘Snowcap’. Using muted softer percussion and dainty piano, it stands out sonically as a place to rest. The double bass working its upper register is a great touch too – feeling oddly Celtic.

‘Sun Pillars’ is the wholesome track of the album. It reminds me of old-school RPG themes when the main characters have to bring a harvest in. Equal parts sentimental, homely and rousing it’s a beautiful piece. Perfect for contemporary jazz lovers to get up with a smile in the morning sunrise. Home on the Range: Scottish Edition. After the gentle double bass hues and reflective drifting piano of Mountain Stream’ we enter ‘Stony Gate’. This track is like an adventure across the Scottish highlands. It has moments of sensitivity paired with bold moments of bravery. By coincidence, I’ve recently been playing a game called ‘A Highland Song’ where you play as a Scottish lass climbing through the mountains on an adventure seeped in lore. This track could have scored that playful adventurous side nicely.

‘Lochan Coire Àrdair’ is a whopping 13 minutes. It contains some of the most bombastic playing from Fergus as the song ramps up dramatically around halfway from its slumberful start. Blurring the line between jazz and blues at times, a huge shoutout must be given to the wild polyrhythms the percussion explodes into. It is a cascading machine that isn’t afraid to move between awe and forebodingly fierce. The payoff is satisfying and rewardingly uplifting too. With the back seven minutes of that track being so full on, ‘Coastline’ soothes us as the album closes out with a homely folk tale. We’ve come home to rest with a fireplace, a hot dinner and a warm bed to dream about legends in the sky. Deeply nostalgic and motherly whilst feeling of-the-sea too, it’s a wonderful way to close out the voyage.

There is so much crammed into ‘Stream’ that Fergus McCreadie should be proud. He runs the gambit of all kinds of modern jazz whilst not losing sight of his inspirations either. David Bowden on double bass and Stephen Henderson on percussion are also masters of their craft. I’ve often seen Fergus’ music credited as Fergus McCreadie Trio and with Bowden and Henderson alongside him I can see why. There is something magical about capturing performers absolutely in sync with each other and this is one of those rare moments. ‘Stream’ is a sublime album.

Recommended track: Driftwood

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