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Emma Hedrick
Emma Hedrick is an award-winning jazz vocalist, composer, and bandleader from Indianapolis, Indiana.
Known for both voice and composition, her songs have been awarded Semi-Finalist in the International Songwriting Competition and Honorable Mention in the Jazz Education Network’s Young Composer Showcase. In 2019, she was awarded 3rd place in the Ella Fitzgerald vocal competition. She received 7 Downbeat Student Music Awards for Jazz Voice throughout high school, undergraduate, and graduate school. In 2017 and 2018 she was a National YoungArts Winner in Jazz Voice.
She has performed nationally and in Europe including performances at the Indy Jazz Fest (IN), Rochester International Jazz Festival (NY), Elkhart Jazz Festival (IN), Telluride Jazz Festival (CO), St. Petersburg Jazz Festival (FL), as a part of the Aspen JAS Academy directed by Christian McBride, and in the Jong Metropole tour of the Netherlands and Germany conducted by Chris Walden to name a few.
Emma was originally introduced to jazz music through the Indianapolis Children’s Choir in elementary school and was raised through the mentorship of many Indianapolis-based musicians. She is especially grateful to Gary Walters, Erin Benedict, and Rob Dixon who helped guide her early career.
She completed her Bachelor's of Music at the prestigious Frost School of Music Magna Cum Laude and Presser Scholar and her Master’s of Music at the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, Cum Laude, on a Holland Scholarship both in Vocal Jazz Performance. At Frost, she sang in the esteemed Frost Extensions directed by Dr. Kate Reid, and at the Royal Conservatoire, she was the first-ever Teaching Assistant for the Vocal Jazz Choir.
Her artistic research, “Collected Creativities”, an investigation into the start of the creative process through the lenses of choreography, writing, and visual art, will be published as an interactive online exhibition soon. The research was supported in part by the Stichting De Zaaier Foundation. In 2024, she was invited to present this research at the International Rhythm Changes Conference in Graz, Austria.
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Emma Hedrick: Newcomer
by Pierre Giroux
In the competitive world of young jazz vocalists, Emma Hedrick stands out as an artist who both respects tradition and offers a distinctive personal voice. On her confident debut album Newcomer, she channels seven years of lived experiences into 10 original compositions that serve as a musical memoir of that period, while never losing sight of her influences, namely Duke Ellington for his sense of orchestral colour, and Ella Fitzgerald for her impeccable phrasing. Accompanied by a group ...
Continue ReadingEmma Hedrick: Newcomer
by Kyle Simpler
As long as there are songs, there will be singers to sing them, but there is a slight difference between a singer and a vocalist. Singers, no matter how talented, tend to remain in the foreground with the band in support. A vocalist, however, uses the voice as an instrument, becoming an integral part of the ensemble. Emma Hedrick fits that definition completely, and with her debut album Newcomer, she arrives with a voice honed through years of training and ...
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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson
