Emma Rawicz is a London-based

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...

Career

Rawicz won Jazz Newcomer of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2022, won a Drake YolanDa award in 2021, was a finalist in BBC Young Musician Jazz Award 2022 and nominated for Instrumentalist of the Year at Jazz FM Awards 2021. Emma Rawicz has

chromesthesia Chromesthesia or sound-to-color synesthesia is a type of synesthesia in which sound involuntarily evokes an experience of color, shape, and movement. Individuals with sound-color synesthesia are consciously aware of their synesthetic color associ ...

, a type of

synesthesia Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with sy ...

which involves seeing colours when hearing sounds. On

ACT Music ACT is a German record label founded in 1992 by Siegfried Loch. It is a division of ACT Music + Vision founded by Loch and Annette Humpe in 1988. ACT started as a pop music label but folded soon after it started. Loch turned it into a jazz labe ...

, her second album of original compositions, “Chroma”, is named after the Ancient Greek word for colour. Emma Rawicz grew up in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, playing classical violin and then switching to the saxophone from the age of 15 years old, studying at Junior

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

Chetham's School of Music Chetham's School of Music () is a private co-educational boarding and day music school in Manchester, England. Chetham's educates pupils between the ages of 8 and 18, all of whom enter via musical auditions. The music school was established i ...

and then the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

, with support and guidance from various experienced performers including Gareth Lockrane,

Ivo Neame Ivo Michael Beale Neame (born 13 March 1981) is a British jazz pianist and composer. In addition to leading his own bands he is a member of several European jazz groups including Phronesis, the Marius Neset Quintet, and the Kairos 4Tet. H ...

and Nikki Iles. The Emma Rawicz Jazz Orchestra has performed self-composed music at

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959. History The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was set up and managed by musicians Ronnie Sc ...

, at which Rawicz also is one of the regular hosts of the Late Late Shows. Jazz FM broadcast a radio episode in which Emma Rawicz performed and was interviewed as an expert in the life and works of

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

. Rawicz has some Polish heritage through her grandfather and is also known by the full name Emma Rawicz-Szczerbo.

References

{{Authority control British jazz bandleaders British jazz composers British jazz saxophonists British women jazz saxophonists British women jazz composers British jazz violinists Women jazz violinists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people