Big Visit Emma Rawicz & Gwilym Simcock

• 1 His Great Adventure 07:30
• 2 The Shape of a New Sun 07:29
• 3 The Drumbledrone 06:39
• 4 Optimum Friction 08:47
• 5 Visions 09:44
• 6 You've Changed 05:01
• Total Runtime 45:10

Info zu Big Visit

Das Duo von Saxofonistin Emma Rawicz (*2002) und Pianist Gwilym Simcock (*1981) vereint zwei der wichtigsten Figuren zweier Generationen des britischen Jazz. Rawicz und Simcock, beide Leader eigener Bands und großer Projekte für Bigband und Orchester lieben das kompakte, intime Duo-Format. „Das ist eine wirklich beglückende Erfahrung“, sagt Simcock, „wir harmonieren sehr miteinander, Emma schreibt so avanciert, ihr Blick für Details ist außerordentlich.“ Er bewundert Rawiczs technische Meisterschaft auf dem Tenor- und Sopransaxofon, besonders ihre Leichtigkeit in den oberen Registern: „Bei ihr fließen die Ideen unmittelbar ins Instrument, dieses Ideal streben wir alle an.“ Die Begeisterung beruht auf Gegenseitigkeit. „Ich war schon lange Fan von Gwilym“, erinnert sich Emma Rawicz, „deswegen geht mit unserem Duo für mich ein Traum in Erfüllung.“ Obwohl beide unterschiedlichen Generationen entstammen, gibt es in ihrer musikalischen Geschichte starke Berührungspunkte: Simcock and Rawicz studierten sogar bei den gleichen Lehrern an den gleichen Hochschulen. „Deswegen haben wir sehr ähnliche Vorlieben in unserem Musikverständnis“, sagt Rawicz. „Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Ralph Towner, ebenso die folkbeeinflusste britische Jazzfamilie von John Taylor und Kenny Wheeler bis Norma Winstone. Das alles hatte großen Einfluss.“

Die passende Gelegenheit für eine erste Begegnung ergab sich bei einem Konzert im Februar 2023 in der Royal Academy of Music bei einer verspäteten Feier von Simcocks 40. Geburtstag, für die er neue Musik schreiben sollte. Rawicz erinnert sich gern, wie enthusiastisch sie war, als sie für dieses besondere Projekt ausgewählt wurde. Im Gespräch danach waren sie begeistert von der Idee eines Duos, worin sie Andreas Brandis von ACT bestärkte und unterstützte. Das Duo bedeutet für beide Hingabe, Freude und viele Impulse für Weiterentwicklung. „Unsere Begegnungen sind etwas sehr Besonderes“, sagt Simcock. „Wir treffen uns so oft es geht und das Duo entwickelt sich mit jedem Treffen weiter“, teilt Rawicz diese Begeisterung. Die Kritiker liebten schon die ersten Auftritte. „Rawicz and Simcock sind exzellent, sowohl in den ruhigeren Stücken als auch in den energetischeren Aufbrüchen. Ihre Interaktionen und ihre Kommunikation waren superb“, schrieb der polnische Kritiker Krzysztof Komorek über ihr erstes Konzert in London. Für Deutschlandfunk Kultur war ihr Jazz Baltica-Auftritt 2024 ohne Zweifel ein Höhepunkt des Festivals.

Das gemeinsame Album „Big Visit“ entstand im idyllisch gelegenen „Curtis Schwartz Studio“ in West Sussex, England. Die Stimmung während der Session war „entspannt und unbeschwert“, erinnert sich Simcock. So entstand ein Album voller faszinierender Kontraste zwischen Momenten der Einkehr und Einstellungen in der musikalischen Totalen – eine Herangehensweise, auf die der Albumtitel anspielt. Alle Stücke auf „Big Visit“ leben von spielerischen Elementen. Den Eröffnungstrack „His Great Adventure“ hat Simcock seinem Sohn gewidmet, Rawiczs „The Drumbledrone“ nutzt das Wort ihres Heimat-Dialekts für Hummel und ist eine Erinnerung an ihre frühe Kindheit in der Grafschaft Devon, als sie lernte, die Sprache ihrer Großmutter vom Standard-Englisch zu unterscheiden. Der Titel von Simcocks „Optimum Friction“ bezieht sich auf dessen spannungsreiche Harmonik. Aber es gibt auch eine eher nachdenkliche Seite: „Shape of a New Sun“ zitiert den Roman „Die Hälfte der Sonne“ der nigerianischen Schriftstellerin Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, ein Buch voller Schmerz und Hoffung. Stevie Wonders „Visions“ beschreibt den Traum von einer besseren Welt und die Ballade „You’ve Changed“ erzählt von erloschener Liebe.

Mittlerweile ist das Duo Rawicz-Simcock von einer naheliegenden Idee über eine inspirierte Aufnahmesession zu einem lebendigen, atmenden, sich stetig weiter entwickelnden musikalischen Organismus geworden. Das Repertoire wächst stetig, das Duo ist in ganz Europa unterwegs und es wird spannend sein, die nächsten Kapitel seiner Geschichte zu erleben.

Emma Rawicz, Tenor- und Sopransaxophon
Gwilym Simcock, Klavier

Produziert von Gwilym Simcock & Emma Rawicz
Aufgenommen in Großbritannien im Curtis Schwartz Studio von Curtis Schwartz am 29. und 30. Juli 2024, editiert und gemischt von Gwilym Simcock, gemastert von Curtis Schwartz

Emma Rawicz
Despite her young age of 22, she has already achieved an enormous amount: at 19 Rawicz independently released her critically acclaimed debut album, “Incantation” and singlehandedly managed an extensive UK release tour, including headline appearances at prestigious venues including the Jazz Cafe and Ronnie Scott's. Since then her international career has flourished, playing in over 15 countries, with extensive tours in Germany and Scandinavia in particular. In 2023 she made her label debut with one of the most important jazz labels in the world today, ACT, releasing her album “Chroma” to international acclaim, notably with the album being selected as the Guardian Album of the Month: “With ‘Chroma’ young British jazz star Emma Rawicz is taking admirable risks and continuing her warp-speed evolution ****” . ​

Rawicz’s achievements have been recognised: she is a winner of a Parliamentary Jazz Award, finalist at the Jazz FM Awards and the BBC Young Jazz Musician Competition. The Royal Academy of Music recently awarded Rawicz the Musician’s Company Silver Medal for excellence and contribution to the institution, an award not previously given to a jazz student. ​

Rawicz’s musical endeavours are broad: she tours with a range of projects, from duo with internationally renowned pianist Gwilym Simcock, to her regular touring quartet made up of stars of the UK jazz scene, to her 20-piece Jazz Orchestra, which she singlehandedly manages as well as composing and arranging exciting original music. ​

Rawicz has already had the privilege of working in important roles with some high profile festivals and established ensembles: in 2023 she was the Cambridge Jazz Festival’s Artist in Residence, a role that involved multiple appearances in the festival programme, culminating in a concert leading the Cambridge University Jazz Orchestra in a triumphant end to the festival, playing an all-original programme of Rawicz’s jazz orchestra music as well as a brand new commission for the ensemble. In addition to this, she has featured as a soloist with the BBC Concert Orchestra at Queen Elizabeth Hall in the 2022 London Jazz Festival, and with the German SWR Radio Big Band at a sold out Berlin Philharmonie in February 2024. ​

Looking ahead to later in 2024 and beyond, the future already promises to be exciting for Rawicz, as she heads into the studio twice more to record new music with previously unrecorded ensembles. 2024 will also see Rawicz graduate from the prestigious Royal Academy of Music and throw herself into a busy touring and recording schedule as her career continues to develop.

Rawicz is also a passionate educator, and is already in demand as a masterclass leader, most recently leading workshops in Denmark, Lithuania and Norway, as well as having a strong educational presence in the UK for musicians of all ages.

Jamie Cullum calls British saxophonist Emma Rawicz "an astonishing talent", Jazzwise Magazine "a force to be reckoned with", and the BBC: "the name Emma Rawicz is on everyone's lips right now".

Gwilym Simcock
has carved out a career as one of the most gifted pianists and imaginative composers on the European scene. He moves effortlessly between jazz and classical music, with a ‘harmonic sophistication and subtle dovetailing of musical traditions’. Gwilym has been hailed as a pianist of ‘exceptional’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘dazzling’ ability, and his music has been widely acclaimed as ‘engaging, exciting, often unexpected, melodically enthralling, complex yet hugely accessible’, and above all ‘wonderfully optimistic’.

Gwilym’s influences are wide ranging, from jazz legends including Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius and Pat Metheny, to classical composers including Maurice Ravel, Henri Dutilleux, Béla Bartók and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Although principally a jazz artist, Gwilym has composed numerous works for larger Classical ensemble that combine through-composed elements with improvisation, creating a sound that is distinctive and very much his own.

In the last few years, Gwilym has become renowned for his solo performances, releasing a critically acclaimed album ‘Good Days at Schloss Elmau’ in 2011 and touring throughout Europe and to places as far afield as Australia, the USA, Canada, Korea and China to name but a few.

Gwilym has toured extensively with the cream of British and international jazz artists including Dave Holland, Kenny Wheeler, Lee Konitz, Bill Bruford’s Earthworks, Bob Mintzer and Bobby McFerrin. He co-leads the Anglo-American Supergroup ‘The Impossible Gentlemen’ with British Guitar legend Mike Walker, Steve Rodby and Adam Nussbaum. He has toured with Classical virtuoso Nigel Kennedy. He toured for five years with U.S. guitar legend Pat Metheny, Antonio Sanchez and Linda May Han Oh. In 2024 he celebrates 20 years working with Tim Garland’s Lighthouse Trio and is about to release an album with rising star saxophonist Emma Rawicz.

Gwilym’s career is unique in spanning a huge range of musical settings. Testament to this is the fact that he was the first BBC New Generation Artist from a Jazz background, and that his album “Good Days at Schloss Elmau” was an album of the year in 2011 at the prestigious British music award the ‘Barclaycard Mercury Prize’. He has performed with orchestras, choirs, big bands, dancers as well as performing with musicians from diverse backgrounds including the classical, jazz, folk and rock traditions. Gwilym has also written music that has appeared on television and on stage, most recently composing the music for an adaptation of Edward Albee’s classic ‘A Delicate Balance’ at the Almeida theatre in London. He has frequently appeared on British television and radio and was guest presenter on ‘Saturday Classics’ on BBC Radio 3, and recently mentored and accompanied the finalists at the first BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year awards on BBC4 TV.

Gwilym has led and recorded a variety of different projects. His debut album “Perception” was nominated for Best Album in the BBC Jazz Awards 2008 and has been critically acclaimed at home and abroad. Subsequent albums have featured various projects, and have been universally praised with reviews citing his work as “sublime”, “flawless”, “impressive” “a marker that few others are likely to equal”.

Awards include ‘Best Band’ at the Perrier Award, ‘Rising Star’ at the BBC Jazz Awards and the British Jazz Awards, and both “Jazz Musician of the Year” and “Best Band” (with The Impossible Gentlemen) at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. His impressive formal education includes Trinity College of Music (London), Chetham’s School of Music (Manchester) – where he studied classical Piano, French Horn and composition – and the Royal Academy of Music (London) where he graduated from the jazz course with first class honours and the coveted ‘Principal’s Prize’ for outstanding achievement. Gwilym is Professor of Jazz Piano at the Royal Academy of Music, and is very much in demand for his teaching and masterclasses.

Booklet für Big Visit