James McColl, 1928-2026

James “Jimmy” McColl, the Highland Society of London Gold Medallist and piobaireachd thought-leader and reformer, died at his home in California on March 19, 2026, at the age of 97. He was predeceased by his wife, Betty, only 21 days earlier.

Born in the mining village of Shotts, Scotland, in 1928, piping fame came quickly to this unlikely piobaireachd devotee, who, after 12 years in the ranks of Tom McAllister Sr.’s Shotts & Dykehead, won the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering in 1953, when members of civilian bands rarely competed in solo piobaireachd events.

A precocious 15-year-old who regularly travelled by himself by train to Glasgow, McColl was absorbed into piobaireachd culture and research by attending Glasgow Pipers’ Club meetings and introducing himself to luminaries such as Iain MacPherson, Robert Reid and Willie Ross. Through formal and informal instruction, Jimmy McColl shaped his piobaireachd ability, daily engrossing himself in the music.

McColl’s fortuitous discovery and bargain purchase of a “pile of old music books” in Peter Henderson’s shop in Glasgow led to his personal study of piobaireachd as an art form before Archibald Campbell and the Piobaireachd Society standardized it in the early 1900s. Poring through the published works of Donald Macdonald, Lieutenant John McLennan and William Ross, McColl made sophisticated deductions on how ceol mor was initially played and how it differs from the near-uniform modern approach to the music.

Jimmy McColl’s intellect was substantial, especially for someone with little formal education. He took it upon himself to learn canntaireachd and Gaelic, and his research into Scottish military history, poetry, and literature is remarkable. We must take his conclusions on piobaireachd seriously; his deductions were carefully considered, exceptionally well researched, and further validated by his exceptional piping talent.

“The pipes coming to North America changed that class-consciousness quite a bit. You don’t see the class-conscious thing in North America the way it is in Britain. Class-consciousness is in every aspect of British life, starting with the Queen.” Jimmy McColl, from his May 2002 pipes|drums Interview

Just as Allan MacDonald has established the direct link between piobaireachd and Gaelic song, just as William Donaldson has shown that the Piobaireachd Society of 1900-1950 altered and controlled the music so that it could be more easily judged by relatively unaccomplished gentry pipers, Jimmy McColl, among other things, illustrated the direct relationship between the “GDE Gathering” tunes of the 17th and 18th centuries and the modern 2/4 march.

Here’s a digitized audio clip from the May 2002 pipes|drums Interview with Jimmy McColl

When his parents suddenly passed away in 1955, a 27-year-old Jimmy McColl left the confines of Shotts for the sunshine state of California, where he settled into a burgeoning Los Angeles piping scene.

Jimmy McColl was an essential example to pipers and drummers that “different” can be better, even when “different” simply means trying to determine what occurred before and showing its validity in a modern sense.

While best known for piobaireachd, Jimmy McColl was a member of several pipe bands in California, including the Highland Society, Caber Feidh, Lord of the Isles, and the Los Angeles Scots. He was a frequent judge of solo piping and pipe band competitions in the Western United States and the Pacific Northwest.

Living in California, Jimmy McColl’s views were not heard as clearly as they would have been had he stayed in Scotland. Then again, if he were in Scotland, the piping establishment of years gone by would probably have universally discredited and disowned him as a heretic. Some still do.

Our sympathies are with Jimmy McColl’s family, friends and many pupils at this sad time.

Be sure to learn more about Jimmy McColl and his piobaireachd theories through the several articles and his May 2002 pipes|drums Interview at the links below.