Emma Rawicz
Photo courtesy of @DrakeYolanDaAWD
Photographer @mariolazoladz
NYJC Short Course 2017
NYJC Summer Schools 2018 and 2019
Recent awards/prizes:
Drake Yolanda Award
Brubeck Jazz Summit attendee 2022
Parliamentary Jazz Awards – Best Newcomer 2022
Emma Rawicz is an award-winning young saxophonist and composer, already making waves on the UK music scene. She has been described as ‘a force to be reckoned with’ (Jazzwise) and ‘a fast-rising star’ (London Jazz News). At the age of 20 she has already recorded an eagerly awaited debut album featuring Ant Law, made up entirely of her original compositions, the first singles Voodoo and Mantra were released in February and March 2022, and the album Incantation in May 2022. Emma has also created a name for herself both as a bandleader and a sideman. A new arrival on the scene, she has already made an impact, regularly playing at major London jazz venues with a wide range of established musicians. Emma is a recipient of the 2021 Drake Yolanda Award and was voted Best Newcomer at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards in 2022.
Emma’s influences range from modern jazz and fusion to folk and soul, key figures in her musical development including Chris Potter, Ari Hoenig, Kenny Jarrett, Joe Henderson, Chick Corea and more.
Growing up in rural North Devon, Emma didn’t discover jazz until the age of 15, and didn’t pick up a tenor saxophone until a year later, but had spent her childhood otherwise immersed in largely folk and classical music.
Emma is a natural performer. Her music has a unique sound, fusing all her many influences, and her compositions range from lilting Afro Cuban inspired grooves to hard hitting modern jazz and funk numbers.
I love the fact that being a musician doesn’t feel like I’m going to work when in fact I am. I feel very lucky to be doing what I love every day. I really enjoy being creative and spending so much of my time working with other like-minded creative people. I also love performing and sharing my music with others and get a real buzz from playing for an audience.
NYJC really started me off on my ‘jazz journey’. My first NYJC course was really the first experience of playing collaboratively with people of my own age, prior to that I had only really played with my saxophone teacher and in a school orchestra. The experience of meeting others who enjoyed this music and seeing how great it was to play it alongside them was inspiring and really spurred me on to practise and seek out other opportunities for playing when I went home. I also found meeting and getting to know the various tutors on the courses really inspiring. Some of them have been real role models for me and I still keep in touch with them. At the time of attending the NYJC courses the jazz world seemed, to me, to be male-dominated and it was great to meet and be able to watch the careers of some brilliant and very active female jazz musicians that were tutors at NYJC.
