Emma Rawicz - Live 2024

At the age of just twenty-one, Emma Rawicz has already laid many of the important foundations for a great career, even though she is still a student in the jazz department of the Royal Academy of Music in London. In fact, she can already be considered part of the wave of young British jazz that is attracting worldwide attention. The North Devon-born saxophonist, whose Polish surname comes from her grandfather who came to Britain from Warsaw during the Second World War, has already led her band in performances at festivals in Istanbul, Eilat in Israel and Strasbourg. She has also independently organized and led a seventeen-concert UK tour for her quintet. She has headlined at Ronnie Scott's, won the Newcomer of the Year Award at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2022. Emma Rawicz has been nominated for the Jazz FM Awards and was a finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician competition. "Chroma", her debut album on ACT, marks a new and important step.

The album title "Chroma" (the Greek word for color or painting) is very significant: Emma Rawicz is a synesthete, which means that she always experiences music involuntarily and simultaneously through a second sensory channel, color. "I can't do anything else while I'm listening to music because there's always a sensory overload while I'm listening," she says.
The band is largely made up of the in-demand British musicians found in many contexts: Drummer/percussionist Asaf Sirkis, pianist Ivo Neame and bassist Conor Chaplin can already be heard on ACT albums: Sirkis with Gwilym Simcock, and Neame and Chaplin in bands led by Marius Neset. Guitarist Ant Law has already made a name for himself with his own albums and his work with Tim Garland. The lesser known name on "Chroma" is Emma's friend from the same student circle, singer Immy Churchill, another rising star. Rawicz: "Immy has an incredibly wide range of influence, from a whole host of songwriters to being deeply rooted in the jazz tradition. She has the knowledge and open mind to enter any musical situation without prior knowledge of the context and bring her own voice to it." Her interaction and empathy is one of the joys of this album.