Under the Radar: Mama Terra

Over the past few years Scotland has been turning into a bit of a jazz powerhouse, with the likes of Matt Carmichael, Fergus McReadie, Georgia Cécile and Rebecca Vasmant, attracting international attention.

The latest act to break through is Mama Terra, the brainchild of Glaswegian pianist and composer, Marco Cafolla, who wrote album The Summoned during lockdown. This involved enlisting co-band leader Konrad Wiszniewski (saxophones/flute) along with Mikey Owers (trombone), Cameron Jay (flugelhorn) and Rachel Lightbody (vocals), to record their parts remotely, before sending the tracks to New York’s Orangefish Studio, where Derek Neivergelt, Evan Pazner and Jeremy Pelt respectively added upright bass, drums and trumpet.

Last year The Summoned was released on the legendary label Acid Jazz and went straight in at number one on the iTunes jazz chart. Over the next few weeks the band will showcase at leading industry events including SXSW (USA) and Jazz Ahead (Germany) before returning to Scotland to perform at SAMA Takeover in Paisley (25 April) and Wide Days (2 May).

This will be followed by gigs at Glasgow Jazz Festival (20 June) and Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival (19 July), see. www.linktr.ee/mamaterraband

Olaf Furniss and Derick Mackinnon run music industry seminar and social night Born To Be Wide, www.borntobewide.co.uk Find them on X @olafwide and @newfoundsound

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