Soundhouse: Matt Carmichael

Matt Carmichael brings his new album Held in the Dark to the Traverse Theatre on Sunday 29 November, with the gig serving as its Edinburgh launch. It's part of the Soundhouse Winter Festival, a series of live, in-person gigs the Traverse is staging in the intimate Traverse Bar, so it's a small-room night rather than a main-stage one.

Carmichael is a saxophonist and composer who describes his sound as Scottish folk-jazz, and Held in the Dark is his strongest album to date, pushing that sound further with more indie influences. He was born just outside Inverness and raised in Glasgow, took up the saxophone at 11, and was hailed by BBC Music Magazine as 'a distinctive new voice in a crowded scene'. His debut, Where Will the River Flow, gathered over 8 million streams; he subsequently signed to Edition Records for Marram, and Dancing with Embers won Best Album at the Scottish Jazz Awards. He also works as a soloist and arranger alongside the Grammy Award-winning WDR Big Band and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, and has played Bimhuis, Fasching, Celtic Connections, Ronnie Scott's and Love Supreme.

For this date, he's bringing a full band: Carmichael on tenor saxophone, Charlie Stewart on fiddle, James Mackay and Chris Amer on guitars, Fergus McCreadie on piano, Ali Watson on bass, and Stephen Henderson on drums. With fiddle and piano alongside the sax and two guitars, the line-up has a folk-ensemble feel to it, and the indie leanings of the new record should sit well in that setting. It's a seven-piece on stage, so it'll be a full sound for the Traverse Bar.

The gig starts at 20:15 on Sunday 29 November, with tickets ranging from £14.50 to £18.50.