Emma Rawicz: Chroma

Emma Rawicz Ivo Neame, Ant Law, Conor Chaplin, Asaf Sirkis, Immy Churchill

The choice of the album title "Chroma", Greek for "color", has a very personal reason: Emma Rawicz is a synesthete. In addition to hearing, she always experiences music involuntarily via a second sensory pathway, color vision. The special focus that this entails could be one reason for her rapid artistic development. She says: "I can't do anything else while I'm listening to music. For me, listening always means sensory overload and I block out everything else." And so many tracks on the album, such as Phlox, Xanadu, Rangwali, Viridian, Falu, also have a reference to colors. The core quintet on Chroma, together with Emma Rawicz, is made up without exception of musicians from the top British jazz league: Israeli-born drummer and percussionist Asaf Sirkis was part of the "Lighthouse Trio", also released on ACT, together with Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock. Pianist Ivo Neame is a founding member of the highly acclaimed trio "Phronesis" and, like bassist Connor Chaplin, a member of saxophonist Marius Neset's band. And guitarist Ant Law has been called an "innovator" of his instrument by the British Guardian. Then there is Emma Rawicz's close friend and fellow student - the singer Immy Churchill, for many another rising star of the British scene. These strong musical personalities characterize the way Emma Rawicz leads the band. She says: "I feel lucky to play with such great, experienced musicians and that's why it's extremely important to me to give their musical personalities plenty of space." So the first notes we hear on the album, "Phlox" (the title refers to what Rawicz calls "a rather unpleasant pink"), come from Asaf Sirkis, a specialist in konnakol chanting. A common thread running through the album are three readings of the same 12-bar melody "Xanadu" (the title refers to a grey-green color) - beginning with a first version of rapt tranquility, through a more energetic version, to a third, almost prog-rock version. The cheerful "Rangwali" (a term for a bright purple color) showcases the sonic versatility of Emma Rawicz on flute and bass clarinet and evolves into a lively melodic conversation between the entire band. "Middle Ground," the only piece not named after a color, begins with the wonderful up and down of the Neame/Chaplin/Sirkis rhythm section and a clear melody from Rawicz and Churchill. "Viridian" (blue-green) is a complex composition with echoes of Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler. And the playfully extremely demanding "Falu" (a deep red) concludes with altissimo, multiphonics and wild fingerwork, impressively demonstrating once again that "Chroma" is not only an extremely multi-layered, colorful album in the truest sense of the word, but also a statement from its creator: There's no such thing as impossible!

Price: $29.98

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