Having been described as ‘the greatest gift to Australian jazz vocals in the last decade’ by James Morrison, Emma Pask is certainly not your average songstress.
In fact it was James Morrison himself that discovered Emma Pask’s heavenly voice when she was singing at a high school concert, and ever since that day, Emma Pask has been living and breathing jazz. “I was into singing big band music with my school band. I was 16 and my music teacher who was heavily into jazz hired James Morrison and his band to come out to do a workshop with our school band,” Emma says.
“Later that night we had a big concert for all of the parents and families and half way through his concert he called me up on to the stage and asked me to sing as part of his band in front of all the people. No rehearsals. No preparation. Just straight up.” It was a fateful evening for Emma. From this point on, Emma went from being a high school girl to being a professional musician almost overnight.
“I think what James heard in me or saw in me was potential. Obviously I was 16 and in my mind I had no idea what I was doing. I was just loving it and pursuing it. James gave me the opportunity after seeing my potential and it was like learning my craft on stage – actually learning while I was doing it.”
Being James Morrison’s protégé undoubtedly shaped Emma’s singing and performance style, and Emma says James isn’t just a good musician, but a great entertainer and frontman overall. “I’m heavily influenced by him. I mean, I've stood by his side for 20-odd years soaking up everything he does on stage and watching how incredibly talented he is with entertaining an audience; both musically and also verbally entertaining them as a performer and as a frontman of the show. He really embodies the perfect performer, so I'm hugely influenced by him today...”
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James' gamble to take Emma on as his musical apprentice when she was 16 certainly paid off. Having performed around the world to crowds of up to 80,000 people, Emma has had an illustrious career. She was the wedding singer for Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman and has even performed for royals including the late Diana, Princess Of Wales and Princess Mary Of Denmark. Even though she’s played to stadium-sized crowds, Emma says sometimes it’s the smaller, more intimate gigs that she walks away from feeling absolutely amazing. “There's also really small jazz clubs that you could be playing for 50 people and you walk off stage having had such a wonderful night and that's an incredible feeling...”
Another of Emma’s favourite gigs on the annual calendar is the Noosa Jazz Festival, which she is due to play at again later on this year. “The Noosa Jazz Festival ranks highly on my radar. I enjoy performing there every year. I've been fortunate enough to perform at the festival over the past 15 years. Alongside James Morrison for most of those years at the wonderful Berado’s restaurant in Noosa.”
After more than a decade of playing alongside James at the Festival, last year Emma played alongside her very own hand-picked band and is due to do the same again this year. “It was last year that I took the festival for the first time on my own, brought my own band up and played at the park. That went so well they've asked me back this year to do the same thing so I'm really flattered.”
Although Emma is the main headlining act of this year’s Festival, she says she’s still not used to it. “I'm not used to it, but of course it’s a great feeling to see my name on the list among my contemporaries and people who have the same passion for what I do.”
Emma Pask plays the Noosa Jazz Festival, 3-6 September.
