Arts diary: Success for solo double bass jazz and much-needed funding boost for arts centre

While I was away, I was delighted to hear that Stornoway arts centre An Lanntair, which warned earlier this year it was set to have to cut services following a decimation of arts budget from the local council, has received more funding.

The centre says it has received “significant” new investment from both the Youth Music Initiative Access to Music Making fund and £93,392 from The National Lottery Young Start fund, supporting an expanded programme of music and youth arts activity for children and young people across Lewis and Harris. The funds will increase access to music-making opportunities for young people from birth to 25 living in the area. Planned opportunities include a rhythm club, youth rock sessions, theory classes, piano group lessons and song writing workshops, while the Young Start fund will support a three-year programme of Youth Arts Projects, giving young people aged 12–25 opportunities to develop their creative practice, access training, gain real-world experience, and share their work publicly.

40-year-old An Lanntair, which also hosts Lewis’ only cinema, had warned it would be its community programmes which would take the biggest hit when it was forced to make £47,500 of cuts. Hopefully this will turn things around.

Solo success

He is best known for his work with Scottish jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie's multi-award-winning trio over the past ten years, but now Glasgow-based double bass player David Bowden has struck out on his own - with huge success.

After releasing his solo album last year - a feat carried out by a fairly small number of players of the unwieldy instrument - online jazz platform One Jazz has chosen his Unsung Songs as its Album of the Week for next week.

Having successfully led the seven-piece world jazz ensemble Mezcla, Bowden found himself seeking a new creative challenge in the summer of 2023. He began developing repertoire for solo double bass in creating music that would place the instrument centre stage. Following a first solo gig at Glasgow Jazz Festival in 2024, the music on Unsung Songs was developed through a series of further solo performances at jazz festivals across Scotland and refined in studio sessions.

Bowden’s work is the platform’s first ever solo album chosen for this accolade, saying there is “something of great value in something as simple as a single instrument being played from the heart”.

“When I’ve written music for other ensembles, I’ve always put the other musicians at the forefront, as is natural for a bass player,” he says. “Playing solo, there’s no hiding place, which pushes you to approach the instrument in a different way. It’s a rewarding challenge to combine melodic phrasing, chordal accompaniment and groove playing – all through the one instrument.”