Matt Carmichael, Marram, Edition ****

''It's bloody Brigadoon''. Gareth, Four Weddings And A Funeral. Not at all. And yet jazz with a Scottish twist here is as plentiful a catch as has landed at Peterhead in a long while. The Caledonian sound is up there and personal and straight …

Published: 28 Oct 2022. Updated: 18 months.

''It's bloody Brigadoon''. Gareth, Four Weddings And A Funeral.

Not at all. And yet jazz with a Scottish twist here is as plentiful a catch as has landed at Peterhead in a long while.

rsz_matt_carmichael_solo_1_photo_by_camille_lemoine_

The Caledonian sound is up there and personal and straight off the bat on 'The Far Away Ones' and pervasive throughout Marram. The lilting way with a gracenote from saxophonist Matt Carmichael and pals is fresh and appealing. The sound translates live. Hearing Carmichael back in 2018 proved that well before the big interest in the new Scottish scene really kicked in. Carmichael that time in a gig at the Vortex was with bassist Ali Watson who is here on Marram as is Scottish jazzer of the moment, this year's Scottish Album of the Year winner, pianist Fergus McCreadie. Drummer, the quartet's own Baby Spice, Tom Potter, is in tow and fiddler Charlie Stewart who wasn't there that night we caught the lads in east London is the crucial ingredient as if you like the band's Bez given his mercurial dancing quality. A far more complete and satisfying article than last year's Where Will the River Flow it's true enough that not since the avant Caber scene in the 1990s thanks to Tom Bancroft back in the day has the Scottish scene proved so invigorating. Marram has a chirpy positive folky feel to it that might be an aquired taste for some. But a cèilidh is always seemingly about to break out and kilt wearing is mercifully strictly optional.

Out today

Matt Carmichael, photo: Camille Lemoine

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Today in the podcast we ask in a time of climate crisis if it is time to ditch physical recording formats such as vinyl and CDs for the sake of the planet

Your proudly declarative twitter biog that proclaims ''Vinyl collector. Environmentalist'' may need a rethink as you ponder the future freshly unglued from the high street and pondering the next Rembrandt on your list to splatter with semolina. …

Published: 28 Oct 2022. Updated: 18 months.

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Your proudly declarative twitter biog that proclaims ''Vinyl collector. Environmentalist'' may need a rethink as you ponder the future freshly unglued from the high street and pondering the next Rembrandt on your list to splatter with semolina. Everything we do contributes to the destruction of the planet. But vinyl records ''guzzle the gas'' more than any format. Not only does producing vinyl records use twice as much plastic as CDs the estimated carbon footprint of a vinyl record is over 12 times that of a CD. Streaming is even a culprit too. An hour of media produces around 55g of emissions. Shrink from the physical to be a better environmental citizen - there is a case for it. But go ahead and do just that and you nuke the already paltry income of jazz musicians who get buttons from Spotify.