Video of the Day: Matt Carmichael shares 'The Spey (Live)'

A finalist in the BBC Jazz Musician 2020 and a winner of the Peter Whittingham Jazz Prize, saxophonist Matt Carmichael releases his debut album, Where Will the River Flow, on March 12.

Matt is currently in his final year on the jazz course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where his course leader, internationally regarded Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith has already described him as “better than I was at his age.”

The album features Matt’s regular quartet, with award-winning pianist Fergus McCreadie, bassist Ali Watson and drummer Tom Potter, and by way of a taster the group recorded this track, The Spey, with a special guest, fiddler Charlie Stewart, a former BBC Young Scottish Traditional Musician of the Year.

The Spey is one of several tracks on the album that were inspired by Scottish traditions and the landscape around Conon Bridge, near Inverness, where Matt was born.

“Although I went to school in Lenzie, just outside Glasgow, and haven’t lived in Speyside for quite a few years, I still feel a connection with the area and it comes through in my music,” he says.