Young Glasgow-based saxophonist Matt Carmichael has released a second video single to trail his forthcoming debut album, Where Will the River Flow.
Twenty-one-year-old Carmichael, who reached the final of the televised BBC Young Jazz Musician 2020 in November, recorded a live version of the album track Dear Grandma at the Pianodrome in Edinburgh, adding special guest, fiddler and former BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of the Year, Charlie Stewart.
“I wrote the tune as a dedication to my Grandma after she passed away a few years ago,” says Carmichael, who is currently in his final year at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. “Even though she isn’t here anymore, playing this tune at gigs gives me a special place to remember her and brings back memories.”
Where Will the River Flow is due out on March 12th and includes a number of tracks that Carmichael has written for people and places that have been important to him. As well as the tune he wrote for his grandmother, the area where he grew up on Speyside has inspired tracks such as Cononbridge, The Spey and Firth.
“I always find playing music more meaningful when you can channel aspects of life and real emotions into what comes out,” he says. “As a listener, it is the emotion and feeling in music, and it's power to enrich and bring colour to life experiences, that always draw me in the most.”
The video of Dear Grandma is free to view on YouTube and Where Will the River Flow is available to pre-order on Carmichael’s website.
Matt Carmichael (photo by Arms and Legs Studio)