Matt Carmichael - Where Will the River Flow (2021) [Official Digital Download]

Glasgow-based saxophonist Matt Carmichael releases his first album, Where Will the River Flow on Friday, March 12, 2021. The BBC Young Jazz Musician 2020 finalist, who is due to graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland this summer, recorded the album just before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold last March and is looking forward to getting his music out into the world.

“It seems like quite a long time since we were in the studio,” says the twenty-one-year-old who is releasing the album on his own label, Porthole Music, partly with the proceeds from winning the coveted Peter Whittingham Jazz Award for young musicians. “But when the boxes of CDs arrived it suddenly felt like there was something tangible, something more real about having made an album.”

Early reviews have praised the quality of Carmichael’s music – he composed all the tracks on the album himself – and the high standard of musicianship from the saxophonist and his group, which features multi-award-winning pianist Fergus McCreadie, bassist Ali Watson and Tom Potter, a former Young Drummer of the Year.

Carmichael began playing saxophone at school in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire and despite not being especially aware of the instrument or indeed any saxophonists at the time, he discovered a natural aptitude for it. Through playing in the East Dunbartonshire Schools’ Jazz Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland’s jazz orchestra, he made friends with students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

He eventually applied for the RCS jazz course and the course leader, internationally regarded Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith, presently invited him to join his youth jazz orchestra. Smith, who toured internationally with American vibes virtuoso Gary Burton in his teens, has since described Carmichael as “better than I was at that age” and rates Carmichael as world class.

TRACKLIST

1. Matt Carmichael - Sognsvann
2. Matt Carmichael - Firth
3. Matt Carmichael - Cononbridge
4. Matt Carmichael - The Spey
5. Matt Carmichael - Interlude
6. Matt Carmichael - Hopeful Morning
7. Matt Carmichael - Where Will The River Flow
8. Matt Carmichael - Dear Grandma
9. Matt Carmichael - Valley (Improvisation)



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