Watch: Andrew McCormack Trio share ‘Fragile’ from new album Terra Firma

Terra Firma is the new trio album by internationally renowned pianist and composer, Andrew McCormack. "When the lockdowns came upon us, I found myself working on ideas and skills based around the acoustic jazz piano genre again even though for the past few years I’ve been focussing on my Prog-jazz outfit, Graviton,” explains McCormack. “Musically, this is my home; it’s where I started. Perhaps there was even some comfort in doing that. My instincts tell me that audiences may need the same."

The album features rising British star Joe Downard on bass and American veteran drummer Rod Youngs. “I’ve been playing with Rod Youngs since the early 2000s in Gary Crosby’s Nu Troop and extensively with Denys Baptiste’s epic Let Freedom Ring project. We go way back!” says McCormack. “I’m happy to have become acquainted with Joe Downard more recently. He’s part of a new generation of skilled but forward-looking musicians who also happens to live just round the corner from me in Camberwell. It reminds me of my Prospect Park days in Brooklyn, where all my neighbours were musicians.”

Some of 10 original compositions allude to events of the last few years. ‘Prayer for Atonement’ was written as a response to the killing of George Floyd and the chaos that followed it. “With the current situation in Ukraine, that prayer continues,” says McCormack. “‘Fake News’ is truly the scourge of our times as we all seem susceptible given the algorithms of the internet. But the hopeful ‘Cherry Blossom’ was written in the spring of 2021, where things were starting to look up after a terrible winter and there were finally glimpses of normality on the horizon.”

The album is released on Friday 28 October on Ubuntu Music with its official launch gig on 1 November 2022 at PizzaExpress Jazz Club, Soho, London – watch the video to ‘Fragile’ below