Rob Adams Journalist

The winners of the Scottish Jazz Awards 2024 have been announced. They include pianist Fergus McCreadie, saxophonist Matt Carmichael and multi-instrumentalist Liam Shortall (aka corto.alto), all of whom feature in the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s upcoming Nu-Age Sounds Planet World concerts.

The full list of winners is:

Rising Star Award, sponsored by Musicians' Union - Laura Oghagbon

Best Instrumentalist Award, sponsored by ESP Music Rentals - Fergus McCreadie

The Fionna Duncan Best Vocalist Award, sponsored by Whighams Jazz Club - Niki King

Best Band Award, sponsored by S.M. Lighting (Scotland) Ltd - Matt Carmichael Quintet

Best Album Award, sponsored by Rightsbridge & EmuBands - Bad With Names by corto.alto

Critics' Choice Award, sponsored by Inhouse Event Productions - Modern Vikings

Guitarist Timmy Allan has won the BBC Radio Scotland Young Jazz Musician 2024 title. The fourth year student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland triumphed in the final staged at the BBC’s Pacific Quay HQ on Sunday 24the November.

His fellow finalists were singer Sam Hancock (20), from St Andrews, and bassist Laurie Moore (22), from Glasgow.

Allan wins a recording session and appearance on Radio Scotland’s ‘The Afternoon Show’; the winner’s performance at next year’s BBC Young Scottish Jazz Musician event; and a concert appearance organised by the Glasgow Jazz Festival or an equivalent prize.

Alastair Robertson, who championed jazz from both sides of the Atlantic through his Hep Records label, has died at the age of 83.

A former art teacher who turned his love of big band jazz into a flourishing business, Alastair founded Hep in 1974 after securing the rights to transcription recordings of some of his favourite bands.

He released albums by Fletcher Henderson, Jimmie Lunceford, Andy Kirk, Boyd Raeburn, Sam Donahue and Slim and Slam (singer-guitarist Slim Gaillard and bassist Slam Stewart) before adding a more contemporary side to the label.

Turning his hand to record production, Alastair encouraged British musicians including pianist Eddie Thompson, saxophonist Bobby Wellins and trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar and although he particularly enjoyed working with the musicians of his own era, he also released albums by younger players including saxophonists Tommy Smith and Bobby Watson and trumpeter Robert Mazurek, whom he heard during a residency at the Edinburgh Fringe. The pianist Jessica Williams was another musician whom Alastair felt deserved greater attention.

One of Alastair’s favourite achievements was the rediscovery of saxophonist Don Lanphere, whose playing Alastair knew from his time with Woody Herman. Lanphere had fallen into drug addiction but with Alastair’s support he returned with half a dozen top quality albums, beginning with the energetic, brilliantly accomplished From Out of Nowhere. Lanphere with Alastair's help, briefly formed a live partnership with British trumpeter Guy Barker.

Saxophonists Spike Robinson, Herb Geller and Joe Temperley were other favourites Alastair got behind and he was proud to have the Glaswegian guitarist Jim Mullen and singer, Tina May, who Alastair rated as "the best", on his label. A live album by Irish guitarist Louis Stewart, which was recorded at the Tron in Edinburgh when Alastair seized the opportunity to capture another musician he greatly admired, was another source of pride.

A particular memory of Alastair is the enormous gramophone horn that seemed to take up virtually a whole room in his top floor flat in London Street, Edinburgh and on which he used to listen to 78 rpm records, although he was also a stickler for good sound quality on the vinyl albums and later CDs that he supervised.

Pianist John Donegan releases the third album by his Irish Sextet, We Will Meet Again, Sometime on Jayde Records on Friday 18^th October.

The sextet, whose previous albums have enjoyed enthusiastic receptions on both sides of the Atlantic, is joined on four tracks by guitarist Hugh Buckley, whose contributions include a feature in dedication to Ireland's late guitar master, Louis Stewart.

Family, friends and geographical features have been the inspiration for Donegan’s compositions over a series of recordings featuring various line-ups and these three touchstones emerge again on Donegan’s latest release with his super-talented Irish group.

The family aspect is underscored by the presence of Hugh Buckley who joins his cousins, saxophone-playing siblings Michael and Richie on the album.

Friendship is celebrated by A Ballad for Louis, which Donegan composed following Louis Stewart’s death in 2016 and has been waiting for the right moment to record it.

“Hugh did a lovely job on that track,” says Donegan. "All the guys had their parts in advance of the rehearsals that took place the day before recording, so they all came prepared and Hugh captured A Ballad for Louis in one take.”

The Irish Sextet represents the cream of Irish jazz. Alongside Michael (alto and soprano saxophones and flute) and Richie Buckley (tenor saxophone) in the front line is Linley Hamilton on trumpet and flugelhorn. Bassist Dan Bodwell and drummer John Daly provide, with Donegan, the assured, spring-heeled rhythms that allow the frontline to flourish and excite.

“It’s great to be able to write arrangements that you know the players are going to deliver,” says Donegan. “But it’s also great to know that these guys will bring superbly imaginative improvising and add character to the tunes.”

In a change of format from the Irish Sextet’s previous albums, We Will Meet Again, Sometime features the musicians in a variety of settings. The sextet features on four tracks, including the bossa-styled Little Miss Cleo, written for Donegan’s youngest grandchild, as does the septet with Hugh Buckley guesting. Two quartet pieces, I’m Just Nearby featuring Michael Buckley’s masterly flute playing, and the title track, with Richie Buckley on tenor saxophone. There are also two solo piano pieces, La Vita e Bella, which has strong gospel music influences, and By the Waters of Glencar, the latest in Donegan’s celebrations of Ireland’s musical tradition and locations.

The album title, We Will Meet Again, Sometime, reflects the uncertainty musicians can feel as freelances coming together in bands that by their very nature are not full-time enterprises.

“You want things to continue, of course,” says Donegan. “But you can’t be sure that they will and I wrote that piece to express thanks to all the guys and to say, let’s hope we can do this again because this is a great bunch of musicians and I’m so happy with the character and commitment they bring to the music.”

Saxophonist Tommy Smith has released Love Unrequited, a reflective album of duets recorded with the late great pianist John Taylor, through the internet music company, Bandcamp.

Recorded in New York in 2003, during the sessions that produced Smith’s Evolution album, with Taylor, saxophonist Joe Lovano, guitarist John Scofield, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Bill Stewart, Love Unrequited features largely longtime favourite tunes of Smith’s.

Billy Strayhorn's A Flower is a Lovesome Thing is a melody that Smith has played and returned to for over 30 years in various settings, including several duos and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. Jimmy Rowles' The Peacocks still often features in Smith’s duo gigs with pianist Peter Johnstone.

Smith's connection to Taylor dates back to 1988 when the saxophonist led a quartet featuring Taylor, Norwegian double bass master Arild Andersen and drummer John Marshall.

Taylor died in 2015, leaving a discography that includes albums with saxophonists Ronnie Scott, Alan Skidmore and John Surman, drummer Peter Erskine's trio and his own group Azimuth, whose song The Tunnel gained unexpected media attention when it was sampled by Canadian rapper Drake.

Smith says of Taylor: “He was an inspirational light that has gone out into the universe and a musician with the purest, most exquisite piano sound. I miss him profoundly and cherish the warm memory he has left behind."