The Herald Review of my show with Fergus McCreadie and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Review: Ayanna’s Hometown Roots, SWG3, Glasgow on 22nd April by Keith Bruce

“It might seem a critical cop-out to describe the music of Ayanna Witter-Johnson as “uncategorisable” but it is really a recommendation – it is hard to imagine any taste not being satisfied.

In this performance with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with the luxury addition of award-winning jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie in a now rare appearance as a side-man, and the bass player from his trio, David Bowden, also in the ranks, she covered that impressive range, guiding the audience with practised charm.

If the concert’s title seemed a bit of a stretch on paper, she explained it eloquently, and the inclusion of two songs by Glasgow’s Jack Bruce, still best known as the bassist in “supergroup” Cream and a mentor to a younger Witter-Johnson, made the local connection. Her version of the classic Rope Ladder to the Moon, from his Songs for a Tailor album, was compelling, and so too was McCreadie’s reading of FM from 1993’s Something Els: exquisitely structured, the pianist at his most expansive at its heart.

He also supplied a lovely prelude to the three movements of Witter-Johnson’s Ocean Floor Suite, which opened the second half and was the most substantial work of the night. Recorded with the percussionists of the London Symphony Orchestra, and performed at the Edinburgh International Festival with them in 2023, this reading sounded sparer although it featured as many players, until it built power incrementally. The story of the work’s conception is integral to appreciation and the composer delivered that beautifully.

The first movement of her Windrush Reflections, Mango Dreams, was another highlight, with a Caribbean Astor Piazzolla flavour, played by harp, bass clarinet and a string quartet of SSO principals. It was one of only two selections the composer sat out, the other being the only symphonic orchestral work of the night, her FAIYA!, a nine-minute LSO commission which is probably more likely to be heard as a concert opener.

Its orchestration is characteristically colourful and built to a glorious climax, but in the middle the conversation between conductor Enyi Okpara and the players seemed less than entirely secure.

Other orchestral arrangements of her songs – Unconditionally, Wooden Woman and Rise Up! – were by Jason Yarde or Katie Chatburn, and the latter also supplied the terrific setting of Erroll Garner’s Misty that closed the first half.”