instrumental electronics modern jazz progressive jazz
Emma Rawicz, saxophone // Gareth Lockrane (opt), flutes // David Preston, Guitar // Scottie Thompson, keyboards/synths // Kevin Glasgow, electric bass // Jamie Murray, drums
Now it's time to build on this brilliant start and explore new possibilities for artistic development. Emma Rawicz quickly landed on the scene, studied at the Royal Academy and tried to take in as much input as possible that could point her in new directions. This includes the sextet with which she has now recorded INKYRA: "The album means a lot to me. It's something special; I've been playing with this band for more than three years. We took our time recording the album. The musicians are well known here in England; they are very strong artistic personalities with individual voices.
The influences come from many sources, including some that you wouldn't expect and can only hear with a little prior knowledge: "Some of the inspiration for the music comes from Joni Mitchell. That sounds far-fetched at first, because the pieces don't sound like singer/songwriter music. Nevertheless, I immersed myself in her music before composing the programme. I'm fascinated by the way she structures melodies, how she uses harmony, special tunings and unusual chords that you don't hear in jazz. This influenced me on the piano and, in turn, shaped my work as a composer. It gave rise to my own identity. I also drew inspiration from the lyrics, which reappear in the titles of the pieces."
Musically, INKYRA sounds at least as colourful as its predecessor CHROMA, which was recorded with another band. The anthemic intro, for example, has its roots in the spiritual sound of the sixties. There are densely layered textures that reach into prog rock, as in ‘Moondrawn (dreaming)’, or references to Brazilian rhythmic roots, as in ‘Marshmallow Tree’. Some tracks, such as ‘Anima Rising’, sound as if they were played not by a sextet but by an entire jazz orchestra, while others, such as ‘Time, And Other Thieves’, sound like a mixture of heavy indie beat and shimmering psychedelia, especially thanks to Gareth Lockrane's far-reaching flute.
The album thus feels a bit like a spaceship with which Emma Rawicz is now heading in new directions after her years in London: ‘Sometimes it felt like we were leaving orbit, boundless in our improvisations. As if we could just take off and leave the rest behind. For me, it's like a cosmic journey. We don't know where we'll land, only that we'll arrive together again.’
The past three years have seen a meteoric rise for 23-year-old Emma Rawicz. Like many up-and-coming musicians, her career was independently self-managed and slowly growing. By the start of 2025, however, Rawicz had graduated, signed to German label ACT and released her second album, Chroma. She amassed close to 50,000 followers on her Instagram page, won the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Newcomer of the Year and played over 100 dates in 12 months around the U.K. and Europe.
With her latest release, the fusion-adjacent Inkyra, Emma Rawicz comes in full-bloom, an artist with a great vision and voice that uplifts the spirit and taps the soul. ****
Dreamily cinematic soundscapes, snappy polyrhythmic tenor-sax groovers and atmospherically songlike meditations.
