Emma Rawicz: Paintbox

Emma Rawicz is a British saxophonist and bandleader who has been remarkably busy since 2021, winning Jazz Newcomer of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, a Drake YolanDa award and becoming a BBC Young Musician Jazz Award finalist. She was also nominated for Instrumentalist of the Year at the Jazz FM Awards. Paintbox is her fifth record and the fourth for the ACT Music label. 

"Cowboys and Aliens" opens the record with a repetitive riff that would not be out of place in a Steve Reich piece, which is perhaps an intentional cowboy reference. It soon opens out into a fascinating period of interplay between the quartet, with Rawicz pushing them to greater exploration and intensity until suddenly everything jerks to a halt, leaving just Elliot Galvin's spare piano and a few well judged ticks and taps from Asaf Sirkis. Again the track builds, incrementally turning up the dial until the opening riff returns more powerfully than before. It is a great piece of writing that shows the ensemble from a number of different angles and sets out an ambitious agenda for what is to come.

Rawicz has taken the admirable decision to release a truncated EP version of the record digitally and through streaming platforms, while offering a full LP on either vinyl or CD. If you buy the physical media, you get to hear "A Wide Wide Sea," a really interesting and substantial piece of music that makes much of Galvin's melodic piano playing. Kevin Glasgow's six-string bass is capable of covering much of the register of a guitar, which he makes full use of here, adding another interesting flavour to this ensemble. His jazz guitar tone is, for a bass, pretty authentic.

Buying the full record also gives you "Honeydew Ginger," a track that shows that Rawicz is equally comfortable playing harmonically lush ballads as she is firing off scorching modern improvisations. This is not a side to her that we have really seen before, and it is one we could enjoyably see more of.

And there is so much here to enjoy. "Waldeinsamkeit" starts meditively with hushed sax and light watercolour strokes of percussion and piano, evolving gradually into a more intense reflection. The title translates as a soothing forest loneliness, which is entirely in keeping with the mood here. Changes of pace and texture keep the music enthralling and show an impressive confidence in the willingness to keep changing things up and not rely on a central groove or riff to get the piece through. Ideas come and go, turned around like leaves and stones picked from the floor; observed, explored and gently replaced. It ends as quietly as it began, as if half way through a sentence. It is wonderful.

By contrast, "Quirky" is a fiercely rhythmic piece not dissimilar at times to some of Nik Bärtsch's work, but where Bartsch goes long on a mechanical, clockwork vibe, Rawicz's quartet is always warm and human. She says that the title of the record, Paintbox, evokes for her ideas of play, creation and joy, and boy can you hear that here. They are having a great time.

We are led into "The Oak Tree" by another great groove and before long the band are again blazing off in all directions, with Rawicz front and center. She plays beautifully, hurling out phrases like fireworks, her solo twisting and turning around the rhythm section with a composure and confidence way beyond her 24 years.

That confidence is seen again in the opening of "Walking on Grass" which starts with a laugh. Not a giggle or a demure chuckle, but a big, bold laugh. The track that follows is short and curious, playful and sinister in equal measures, like a really odd musical mobile in a child's bedroom, and it is absolutely charming.

Throughout this set, an idea which another writer might make last for a whole piece is thrown around between these four excellent musicians in short order before they move on to the next, though without things ever feeling underdeveloped. The sheer pace of creativity is dizzying. 

Rawicz's records so far in her short but increasingly glittering career have each had a particular, unique feel, as if she were trying out different styles and approaches to find which fit her best. This time it feels as if she has chosen to make a record that sounds just like it sounds, and in doing so has allowed her own authentic voice to come through more clearly than before. 

The record closes with "Duenda" (again, only available on physical media). After a set this strong, there is a lot of expectation on these last five and three quarter minutes. Although the piece starts simply enough, the body of it is a rhymically and harmonically satisfying workout, the first third of which is played on piano, bass and drums alone. Rawicz comes in simply and effectively, signally the beginning of another fantastic ensemble piece. "Duenda" translates as a ghost or goblin, but can also describe a raw artistic force. What an apt way to end a set of wonderfully creative, emotionally engaging music.

This record is modern and hip without being self-conscious or forced. It is varied and coherent. The decision to release the full album only on physical media may be a divisive one, but if it encourages more artists to do the same and starts to challenge the streaming platforms' vice-like hold on artist wages, then who could complain? The vinyl edition, in translucent blue, looks and sounds terrific.

Rawicz is a once-in-a-generation talent who is growing from record to record. She is an accomplished bandleader, a gifted composer and a stellar saxophonist. This would be an excellent record from any artist. That it is by someone not yet at the midpoint of her 20s is remarkable. If she continues to develop at this pace, what can she not achieve?