Double bass player and composer Ali Watson arrives as the latest part of the thriving Scottish jazz scene with an all-star quartet and assured performances of music from his debut album Terrarium.
Born on the north coast of Scotland and growing up in Glasgow, Watson played with youth jazz orchestras and won the Dewar Jazz Award in 2017. He then went south to seek his fortune (or at least his degree) at the Guildhall School of Music before returning to Scotland in 2022. Watson arrived at a time when a folk-influenced melodic jazz style, led by musicians such as Fergus McCreadie, is coming to the fore. Watson’s music is very much in this tradition, evoking the Highland landscape, flora and fauna.
This quartet has been together for a while and the players know each other well. (Watson quipped that they hadn’t performed together in six months – it didn’t show!) Award-winner, and a band leader in his own right, Alan Benzie is central on piano and provides pulses and ripples along with the juicy harmonic shifts written by Watson. Greg Irons is much in demand behind the drum kit and plays with unswerving sensitivity and colour. Tenor saxophonist Matt Carmichael, another key figure on the scene with two albums to his name (both featuring Watson on bass), adds his melodic and considered sound to the mix.
This show was the first date in a short tour to perform and release Watson’s debut album. It’s a sign of his creativity that three of the numbers were works-in-progress, not recorded yet – simply having enough material for an album is clearly not going to stop the writing and developing. Glen opened the performance, as it opens the album, with piano and bass setting up the theme played by Carmichael. A fine bass solo followed, lots of space and air around the music. And yet, Watson’s tunes have a impressively strong harmonic structures and the band gives off an unwaveringly positive sense of real purpose and focus.
Moss allows Alan Benzie to take the spotlight for a moment, which he does with impeccable style. Snowdrift is a duet for piano and arco bass, with Watson conjuring harmonics and effects from around the bridge of his instrument. Evening Song closed the first half in fine style and was also the first number in 4/4 time – another sign that this music comes from a new direction. The second set continued with two new tunes and the title track Terrarium; Watson spoke about his fascination with these tiny manicured ecologies which can become even more exciting when they are left to grow unchecked. A definite metaphor for the music.
This performance took place at the Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock, on the south bank of the Clyde to the west of Glasgow. Opening in 2013 the Beacon offers a modern space for arts shows of all kinds. (When I visited, the main theatre had Alba Ballet performing Cinderella while the jazz was in the smaller but very well-equipped and acoustically sympathetic Studio). It’s a first-rate venue in a part of Scotland which is easily overlooked; the area has more than its share of challenges and also has wonderful views across the river and adjoining sea lochs, stunning civic architecture and is close to ferries to Argyll, Bute and Arran. Well worth a visit for anyone seeking something a bit different in Scotland’s central belt and beyond.
See the Ali Watson Quartet:
- 25th November – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
- 26th November – The Rumshack, Glasgow (album launch)
