Lost in Translation: Jazz & Blues

An Exploration of Scottish Jazz

By Aki Sanjay

Picture 19th-century New Orleans: people gathering on hot, humid Sunday afternoons, singing, playing music, and dancing in the open town squares. Jazz has always been a people’s music, born out of a celebration of community and resistance in a time where African-Americans were still largely enslaved in the southern states. Since its introduction, the style has continuously developed, evolving from church melodies to brass bands, adopting scales and rhythms from neighboring genres, and spreading across the globe. In the late 1890s, the blend of upbeat ragtime, mournful blues, and traditional African folk music came together to form a “truly American art form” - the birth of jazz.

It wasn’t until a few decades later that jazz came to Scotland. In 1919, the arrival of two American jazz bands, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and the Southern Syncopated Orchestra, officially brought jazz to the United Kingdom. The following twenty years saw a growing interest in the form from across the country; the arrival of popular American jazz artists, such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, continued to popularise the genre. The first modern jazz club in the UK opened its doors in 1959, run in musician Ronnie Scott’s own home. Throughout the mid-20th century, the genre exploded in Britain, furthered by the arrival of thousands of immigrants from the Caribbean. Known as the Windrush generation, they brought with them music, including reggae, dub, calypso, and the early beginnings of soca.

Where, however, does Scotland fall in this story? Scottish jazz goes all the way back to the 1920s, when aspiring musicians had only one option: move south of the border. Jazz performance existed in Scotland, but it was largely confined to basements in Glasgow and Edinburgh. That isn’t to say Scottish jazz musicians did not leave a mark on the genre as a whole: trumpeter Tommy McQuater, for instance, born in Ayrshire, was one of the top jazz instrumentalists of the 1930s. He played for several of London’s leading jazz and dance bands, such as Jack Payne, Lew Stone, and Ambrose, and played along fellow Scottish musician George Chisholm in the Squadronaires, the big band of the Royal Air Force. It was only, however, in the 1950s and 1960s when Scottish jazz musicians became prominent on the national stage as bandleaders, instrumentalists, and composers.

However, according to Professor Tommy Smith OBE, Head of Jazz at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, a fundamental problem remained: Scottish jazz didn’t return to Scotland. Musicians, especially those who studied jazz at a university level, tended to settle in London, where a jazz scene was already well-established. Smith, an established musician himself, had toured internationally and released four albums before returning home to Scotland in 1993. Upon his return, he became starkly aware of, as he discussed in an interview with Jazzline, the “lack of leadership, jazz infrastructure, and opportunity” present for young Scottish jazz musicians. Three years later, he founded the National Jazz Institute and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra to bridge this educational gap, but it was not until 2008 that Smith was able to introduce a full-time university jazz programme in Scotland.

Since the growth of jazz education in Scotland, numerous musicians have emerged in the genre, putting Scotland on the jazz map. As Barry Didock wrote in The Herald, Scotland’s national newspaper, it isn’t just London that has seen a recent rebirth of jazz, Scotland, especially Glasgow, “is seeing a similar renaissance.” Didock highlights some of Scotland’s emerging talents, beginning with Fergus McCreadie, a pianist and composer based in Glasgow. McCreadie is known for his fusion of contemporary jazz and Scottish folk, and was the first non-classical musician to be chosen as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. He has been described as offering “a giddying fusion of Scottish culture and jazz history.” His 2022 album Forest Floor, is a spectacular appreciation of Scottish landscapes, featuring songs such as ‘Glade’ and ‘Morning Moon.’ McCreadie’s discography pays consistent homage to his heritage; it is “strongly influenced by Scottish traditional music and also draw[s] inspiration from Scottish landscape and folklore.”

Scotland’s jazz scene, however, remains strongest with its students. McCreadie himself got his start as a student, as do many others. The annual BBC Radio Scotland Young Jazz Musician awards highlights several of Scotland’s talented young jazz artists. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland runs several jazz programmes at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels, alongside training opportunities for younger musicians eager to break into the Scottish jazz scene. And audiences are growing - several jazz clubs and bars have emerged across Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other major cities. Arguably the most popular, Edinburgh’s The Jazz Bar is Scotland’s longest-standing independent jazz venue, featuring upcoming musicians all year round.

The journey of jazz from the towns of New Orleans to the performance halls of Scotland is a long one - and it’s not finished yet. Festivals, awards, and programmes designed to encourage the spread of jazz are increasingly common across the country, encouraging not only mastery of jazz music as it is known, but a further evolution of the genre. Like McCreadie, numerous musicians work to bring traditional Scottish music into the already diverse history of jazz. Scottish jazz has only just begun.