Qobuzissime

With an energy that is sometimes a little scrappy, but animated by a youthful verve that is perfectly salvific in these times of morose moulds, the vibrant and eclectic British jazz scene never ceases to reinvent itself. Among them, the music of young prodigy Emma Rawicz draws on unusual sources and tackles issues in its own way.

Emma Rawicz emerged from nowhere in the spring of 2022, barely 20 years old, with the release of her first self-produced album, Incantation, which immediately earned her unanimous praise from British critics (Jamie Cullum even called her “an astonishing new talent” on BBC2). Born into a rural family in North Devon, a far cry from the electric, multicultural atmosphere of trendy London or Birmingham, it was not until the age of 15 that she discovered jazz and the saxophone, somewhat by chance.

Nourished by folk and classical music, which she studied from the age of 7, she quickly revealed her exceptional talent for the instrument, which she perfected first at the Junior Guildhall (where she won First Prize for saxophone), then at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and finally in the prestigious jazz section of the Royal Academy. Benefiting from the Jazz Exchange programme of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, she also started performing at the famous Ronnie Scott’s in London and formed her first ensembles. Following the success of her first album, Emma Rawicz was invited to perform as a soloist with the BBC Concert Orchestra, as well as with the highly acclaimed trio of Polish pianist Marcin Wasilewski.

With the release of Chroma (‘colour’ in ancient Greek) on the prestigious German label ACT, the young saxophonist is set to make a name for herself far beyond her country’s borders. At the head of a new line-up featuring guitarist Ant Law (already present on Incantation), the young singer Immy Churchill with her fine vocal palette, and a powerfully organic rhythm section made up of Ivo Neame (piano), Conor Chaplin (bass, double bass) and Asaf Sirkis (drums), Emma Rawicz authoritatively lays the foundations for a richly aesthetic universe that links post-Coltranian fusion inherited from Michael Brecker, the compositional flair of Wayne Shorter and a certain Blue Note tenor saxophone tradition going back to Dexter Gordon and Joe Henderson.

Moving from tenor saxophone to bass clarinet and flute with a great sense of timbre and nuance, Emma Rawicz develops an art of composition based on her own chromesthesia. This neurological phenomenon, one of the many forms of synaesthesia - a much better-known term - makes coloured sensations appear, without effort or control, when listening to sounds, and vice versa. Many artists, from Duke Ellington to Messiaen and Scriabine, have already expressed their chromesthesia in their creations. In Chroma, Rawicz makes it the central theme. Each piece is named after a rare colour that she admits she has never heard before, such as Falu, the red used to paint fishermen’s huts in Sweden. At once extraordinarily varied in mood and remarkably coherent in form, this second album truly marks the birth of a new star in the jazz galaxy.