Jazz At The Merchants House presents Paul Harrison's Trio Mágico and guests

Name: Jazz At The Merchants House presents Paul Harrison's Trio Mágico and guests
Start: 2025-09-07T19:30:00+01:00
Location: 7 West George Street (George Square),Glasgow,G2 1BA,GB

Schedule

Sun, 07 Sep, 2025 at 07:30 pm

UTC+01:00

Location

7 West George Street (George Square),Glasgow,G2 1BA,GB | Glasgow, SC

Pianist Harrison launches his long awaited new album "Encontros" , which brings home to Scotland the warmth and spark of Brazilian music.
Paul Harrison's Trio Mágico
Paul Harrison - Piano
Mario Caribe - Bass
Stu Brown - Drums
with
Laura MacDonald - Alto Saxophone
Rachel Lightbody - Vocals
Paul Harrison's Trio Mágico and guests : ENCONTROS - ALBUM LAUNCH
This concert will celebrate the release of jazz pianist Paul Harrison's long awaited new album "Encontros" - which brings home to Scotland the warmth and spark of Brazilian music, specifically the melodies of Egberto Gismonti. The album is the culmination of years of exploration and discovery through improvising, and brings together a cast of international guest performers including Edmundo Carneiro, Fraser Fifield and Su-a Lee - in intimate duo settings as well as large ensembles - a dynamic tour-de-force.At the core is Paul's group Trio Mágico, three musicians who have played in Scotland, the UK and internationally for over twenty years. Expect the trio to be taken to new highs with the addition of two special guests from the album - saxophonist Laura Macdonald and vocalist Rachel Lightbody, both leading lights of the Scottish jazz scene
- "...has humour, has grace, has freedom to play." Egberto Gismonti
About Paul Harrison
Jazz pianist, organist, composer and arranger Paul Harrison was born in Manchester, England. As a youth he constantly showed an adeptness and interest in musical directions beyond (and counter to) where his teachers were leading him, and he was improvising long before he was exposed to jazz. He settled in Scotland after entering Edinburgh University on a prestigious piano scholarship, where, during his final year he was awarded the Tovey Memorial Prize. After graduating he turned away from his classical background while immersing himself in the burgeoning and supportive Scottish jazz scene.
He won the Scottish regional final of the Young Jazz Musician of the Year competition in 1998 and again in 1999, both years going on to compete as one of six British finalists in London. In recent years Paul has been called on to play with many great outstanding international performers, including Chris Potter, David Binney, Bobby Watson, Jesse Davis, Lea DeLaria, Joe Locke, Ulf Wakenius and Warren Vache.
In 2009 Paul won the award for Best Pianist at the first Scottish Jazz Awards ceremony, and in 2011 received another award for Best Project for his composition The Hospitalfield Suite. In 2010 Paul was commissioned by the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra to write an arrangement of music by Miles Davis for guitarist John Scofield to play. Recent projects include two CDs with contemporary jazz saxophonist and highly distinctive composer Martin Kershaw, and a UK tour with saxophonist and composer Phil Bancroft’s Home, Small as the World show. In 2012 he tackled setting to music to the words of Scots poet William Soutar for a theatre show In a Sma Room. More recently he can be seen in an experimental duet Herschel 36 with percussionist Stuart Brown in which they play extended, freely improvised electronic music.
Paul now teaches on the jazz degree course at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.