Everybody seems to love Fergus McCreadie, so this EP release of five new solo piano recordings will doubtless find a receptive audience. The evocative skirls, ostinatos and hammered drones so redolent of Scottish folk music are as heavily featured as ever.

But in going solo, this time McCreadie is explicitly inspired by the example of his greatest influence Keith Jarrett, whose famous 1975 solo piano album, The Köln Concert sold four million copies and opened up a whole new audience for improvised piano music. Following Jarrett’s lead, 26-year-old McCreadie certainly isn’t lacking in ambition. And in truth with this material he can almost play the bass and drums parts himself through the piano. The Sketches tunes are all new, with the exception of ‘Glade’ from his 2022 album Forest Floor, here played faster than the original and actually sounding quite different. But the music remains very direct and accessible, hence its popularity: you can appreciate it without a great background knowledge of jazz.

McCreadie is already taking on new challenges in 2024, including an English tour with a string quartet. If he hasn’t already, I hope he also gets to work with saxophonist Joe Wright some time - the two have much in common.