There’s no shortage of incredible musicianship on the international jazz scene today, but when it’s paired with a serious drive to build a career on one’s own terms—and the consistent work ethic to back it up—that’s when the magic really happens, as today’s interview guest proves.
I’ve been aware of British saxophonist and composer Emma Rawicz for some time now.
Although still in her early 20s, she’s already released two acclaimed albums on the prestigious ACT label, toured in more than 15 countries, and led projects ranging from a collaborative duo with pianist Gwilym Simcock, a long-running quartet and her own 20-piece jazz orchestra.
Hailed as “a force to be reckoned with” by Jazzwise magazine and “the name on everyone’s lips” by the BBC, we recorded a video interview for the Jazzfuel PRO community a few weeks back, covering everything from booking your own gigs to growing a 50k-strong social following, working with mentors, managing multiple projects, and staying grounded in a world obsessed with polished perfection.
So much of it was too good not to share more widely, so I’ve pulled out some of the key talking points—with takeaways—here.
Stay tuned for a selected transcript of the session, beginning with Emma’s intro in her own words…
“I’m a saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist and composer. These days I’m mostly touring with various projects—some collaborative, like with Gwilym Simcock, and others like my jazz orchestra.
Before this, I studied at the Royal Academy of Music on the jazz course and before that at Chetham’s School in Manchester. I’m originally from North Devon, where there isn’t much jazz going on, but it’s a great place to go back to.
Alongside all that education, I was also trying to get things moving career-wise—playing my own music live, getting gigs. I think I was quite driven to make that happen.”
Fast forward to 2025, you’ve got a team in place. What does that look like?
I’m signed exclusively to ACT, the German jazz label.
I’ve released two albums with them and have more coming. I have a booking agent and manager who handles my tour scheduling and bookings. I also get support from the label team, particularly with social media, though I still manage that myself.
The ACT Agency also works with me, so there’s a collaborative structure with different people involved. But my main point of contact is Jolanda, who started out as my booking agent and later became my manager.
How did you get started booking gigs and building momentum before having a team in place?
I was fiercely independent for a while. I was one of those people that didn’t really see themselves working with a label—especially not quite a big one like ACT. So it came as a bit of a surprise to me. I had this attitude of, “I’m doing it myself. I’m doing it on my own schedule. I’m handling everything.”
That was cool for a while. I booked a lot of gigs, booked two UK tours, and had just started booking international stuff when ACT reached out.
A few months earlier, I’d recorded my second album, Chroma, which became my debut with them. Up until that point, I was really doing everything.
I’m really grateful to have had that experience. I understand a lot more now about how all of those things work, and that feels reassuring. But it’s also nice not to have to do it all anymore.
Jazzfuel Takeaway: Booking your own gigs and self-managing is not just something most musicians have to do; it provides valuable skills and understanding for the future, regardless of whether you continue alone or start building a team.
I remember Kurt Rosenwinkel talking about self-booking a tour in Spain in his earlier years—I’d be willing to bet many of the modern ‘names’ have similar stories.
What helped you get ‘good’ at booking gigs?
I was very lucky to be pretty much given my first gig at Ronnie Scott’s when I was 18 or 19.
It was through the National Youth Jazz Orchestra—they were curating nights there and asked if I wanted to do one. Of course I said yes. That was my first big opportunity.
Everything kind of built from there. I knew I wanted to make an album, and I built everything around that.
I had the privilege of working with guitarist Ant Law early on, and he gave me some really fab advice. He helped me understand what the UK touring circuit looked like, introduced me to people, and explained what promoters want to know and how to speak to them.
From there, it was trial and error.
I enjoy writing—I like the written word—so I didn’t find emailing people to be a huge chore. That helped a lot. And of course, the more you do and the more people you know, the easier it gets. You start building relationships.
So much of the jazz world is based on human connection. It’s so niche, and so many of the people involved are volunteers or doing things for the love of it. Knowing a promoter, getting on well, and having that trust is huge. That’s how it works.
Jazzfuel Takeaway: The best shortcut to understanding a new territory or scene is by learning from musician colleagues who’ve already done it. Alongside that, communication skills—especially written—are key. Start small, be human, and keep learning through doing.
You have a following of more than 50K people on Instagram; how did that happen?
Funnily enough, I started my Instagram account because I grew up in the middle of nowhere in North Devon.
I didn’t have close friends who were into jazz or music seriously, and I wanted to reach out to people online who were. So I just started sharing practice videos.
It started off almost like a hobby page—even though I was serious about the music. But over time I realised it could be a tool, not just to connect with like-minded people, but also with people who might want to hear my music—venues, promoters, audiences. I started sharing what I was doing more consistently.
I noticed there’s quite a big saxophone community online.
A lot of my followers are in South America—Brazil, Argentina, Peru—people who just love the saxophone. That encouraged me to keep sharing. Around four or five years ago, I tried to close the gap between what I was doing online and in real life.
Then in 2021, I did the “100 Days of Practice” series. That changed everything.
One video of me doing a vocal transcription—explaining how I learned solos—blew up. I gained 10,000 followers overnight. It was absolutely insane. I still don’t really understand what happened there. But from then on, I just kept it up.
It can be all-consuming, though. You have to be careful not to get sucked into endless scrolling. If it’s well directed, it can be super positive.
I won’t post how I’m feeling every day, but I do share some hobbies. I post about the books I read or powerlifting—I’m quite into that—and people seem to like that there’s more to me than just polished music content.
Jazzfuel Takeaway: When it comes to social media, whilst content is important, it’s nothing without consistency and relevance—share what you’re already doing and aim to serve a niche, not just yourself.
You have multiple projects at any given time—how do you make that work?
It really came from wanting to work with specific musicians.
My main touring setup is my quartet—especially internationally, because it makes financial sense and it’s creatively satisfying.
But writing for different formats keeps me going creatively. The duo with Gwilym Simcock has become a band in its own right. We both treat it seriously. The jazz orchestra came from me having a wild idea to write for 20 people. I just wanted to see what would happen.
I think it’s more accepted now that artists have multiple projects. Audiences are fine with it—they’ll come see you in different formats. I suppose I’m just a bit overambitious and easily excited by new ideas and musicians.
Jazzfuel Takeaway: These days, managing multiple projects is widely accepted and even a benefit in terms of building an audience and showcasing your creative identity. There’s a big ‘but’ though: it has to be done with intention and strategy.
What final advice would you give to independent musicians building a career?
Retain as much individuality as you can. We’re constantly shown perfect musicians with everything together, and it’s not real. Even people trying to be “real” online still curate what they share.
Let things develop at their own pace. Social media, mailing lists, labels—none of it needs to be forced. Keep doing your thing, share it properly, have a good website and newsletter, and trust that things will come when they’re meant to.
Jazzfuel Takeaway: It sounds so cliché, but keep going. From artistic decisions to audience development and touring, don’t chase every opportunity: decide on a strategy, build foundations and trust the timing.
Big thanks to Emma for taking the time to chat and for sharing so much insight.
You can connect with her in all the usual places, which you’ll find via her website emmarawicz.com.
To me, it’s a reminder that building a career in jazz today requires more than just talent. It’s about initiative, relationships, resilience, and doing the work even before the opportunities appear.
Whether you’re in the early stages of your career or have been on the scene for decades, I hope you’ll agree there are some valuable takeaways for career-building in the 21st Century! .
Which part of Emma’s story resonated most with your own experience? Feel free to use the comments section below, or if you’re a Jazzfuel PRO member log into the forum for a deeper discussion.
More interviews—including with musicians such as Christian McBride, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Dave Liebman—are here.