Pianodrome Live: Matt Carmichael & Marco & Dilek Sollazo
Thursday 11th August 9pm
Marco & Dilek Sollazo
Marco and Dilek Sollazzo reflect on the traditional songs of their mothers from Neapolis and Izmir-Smyrna. They consider these to be their first and the most important musical influences. They will keep those melodies forever in their hearts. Marco is a long experienced jazz performer from Italy who became mesmerized by the sound of the Oud and by the emotions that the eastern modes transmit, this led to him following his passion and relocating to Turkey. He lived there for many years before moving to live in Edinburgh in 2021. For Marco music is “the unexpressed love” that he can not explain by words. Dilek is an expert of traditional music from Turkey. She was influenced by the sounds of her country since she was a child. Music has been for her a way to connect with peoples hearts. Since 2014, when they met they have been bringing the colours they perceived around the many cities they have been travelling. The Mood of the oud, the repertoir will include folk music from Turkey, classical music from the eastern Mediterranean, western classicals and original compositions.
Matt Carmichael & Fergus McCreadie
Matt Carmichael
Heralded by BBC Music Magazine as 'a distinctive new voice in a crowded scene’, composer and saxophonist Matt Carmichael is immersed as much in Jazz as he is in Folk music, blending what he sees as the most interesting aspects of each genre to his own style, resulting in what has been described as 'strikingly organic synthesis of lyrical Jazz and Scottish Folk'. Based in Glasgow, Matt has been writing and performing his own music since his teens performing at Celtic Connections, Ronnie Scott’s, Love Supreme, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival and was a finalist in the televised BBC Young Jazz Musician 2020.
In March 2021, Matt released his debut album ‘Where Will The River Flow’ to critical acclaim throughout Europe including a 5 star review in BBC Music Magazine - it gained over 2 million streams and was long-listed for the multi-genre Scottish Album of the Year Award. Following the release Matt was invited as a guest soloist with the Grammy Award winning WDR Big Band in Cologne with his music being arranged by Bob Mintzer.
His second album ‘Marram’ will be released in October on Edition Records, featuring Charlie Stewart (fiddle), Fergus McCreadie (piano), Ali Watson (bass) and Tom Potter (drums).
Fergus McCreadie
Recently nominated for the Mercury Prize, Fergus McCreadie burst onto the national scene with his self-released debut album Turas in 2018. Rooted in a Scottish folk tradition and expressing advanced rhythmical flair, the album sparked a wake of interest from global promoters and industry, collecting Album of the Year at the Parliamentary and Scottish Jazz Awards and shortlisted for the cross-genre Scottish Album of the Year Award 2019. In 2018 he was a BBC Jazz Musician of the Year Finalist.
With his trio, featuring long term cohorts David Bowden and Stephen Henderson, he encompasses a rare freshness of sound in this well-trodden format reminiscent of the originality and personality with which the likes of The Bad Plus and EST emerged almost two decades ago. In a vastly changed era since then, Fergus and his trio, with their profoundly mesmerising and compelling music, look set to evoke similar trajectories in developing a global audience. They certainly have the necessary instrumental command, communication and originality. Two albums released on Edition Records, Cairn and Forest Floor, confirm that there is still much to be mined from the piano trio format.
Fergus McCreadie is riding high and it’s only a matter of time before he reaches new heights in developing global audiences. If ever there’s a band that can sing, excite and inspire, the Fergus McCreadie Trio is it. A melting pot of originality, freshness of sound and vitality, with all the potential to be one of the standout discoveries of recent times.