Spotted and recruited by Australian jazz trumpet player James Morrison at the age of 16, Emma Pask has been gracing eardrums the world over with her expansive voice for some time now.
Her illustrious credentials include such highlights as performing for Princess Diana, several ARIA nominations, and being requested to perform the bridal waltz at Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman's wedding.
Ahead of the release of her new album 'A Latin Fiesta', Emma outlines a few pieces of inspiration for her new project. “There are quite a few different avenues that have inspired me," Emma says.
“Primarily I'm a jazz vocalist, that's what I've been doing for the last 20 years and that's the genre that, if I can be so bold as to say, I'm good at. It suits me well. Within the huge realm that is jazz there is obviously a strong Latin component throughout, so I've always been doing lots of Latin jazz over the years. And then three years ago I took myself on that little TV show 'The Voice' and my coach was originally Joel Madden, and then halfway through I was swapped onto Ricky Martin's team.
“So I got to meet and interact with Ricky Martin throughout the limited time that I was on the show and he encouraged me to sing a wonderful tune that was written by Jorge Ben, made famous by Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66, called 'Mas Que Nada'.
“It's a tune that I'd known for many, many years and had heard many fantastic singers sing it but it's not something that was in my repertoire because originally the song is in Portuguese. There was an English lyric written many years later which is completely irrelevant to the Portuguese lyric. It's not a translation at all. So when I was offered this tune it was offered to me in Portuguese and I said absolutely I need to do that as homage to the origins of the tune.
"It was a really big leap for me to do that, to study and not just learn the lyrics phonetically. I studied with a girlfriend across the road from me, one of my best friends. She's a Brazilian girl who speaks Portuguese, so she helped me with the translation and what the song was about so when you're singing you can have the emotion. I really loved it and it was a huge inspiration so I thought I really wanted do something more with that.
“After I finished that song Ricky Martin announced to the world that he was recording a Brazilian album and he'd love to have me be a part of it and I was knocked for six. I thought: 'Oh my goodness are you for real? That amazing!' That was three years ago and it still hasn't happened. I followed up with him as much as I could and kept putting my hand up every few months. They were really lovely but it just never ended up happening, which was so so sad for me. I was completely pumped, but there was no clear cut time when someone said to me 'This isn't happening'. So I thought 'I'm going to turn this into a positive and go and make my own Latin album'.
“And here is where my third huge influence comes in, which should be my number one really, my husband is South American. I'm married to a Latin American man from Uruguay. When we first met five or six years ago, he knew I had such a huge passion for music, and he did too and he brought to the table this whole world of Latin music that I'd never heard.”
Emma will join Darren Percival and Katie Noonan later this month at the Jazz & Shiraz festival in Brisbane. In contrast to her performance with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Emma will being taking a more minimal approach. “That's going to be with my trio; we're going to have guitar, bass and drums, and play a swingin' jazz and blues set.
"I've got a jazz standards album I released before my recent Latin release, but [at Jazz & Shiraz] we'll definitely play all the Latin material as well – mix it up in a 45-minute set. The bill up there is great, it's got Darren Percival and Katie Noonan, who is a dear friend, so I can't wait to get up there.”
A true purveyor of the music, the allure of some of the country's finest wine seems to have little appeal to Emma. “I'm not a huge drinker, I must admit. Having said that, my husband will be mortified because he's a sommelier. So I need to somehow pretend that I like shiraz. I would definitely partake in a little sample, after we play perhaps.
"[But] I want people to come along and let go and forget about their cares for the day and just come and have a dance to this music. I guarantee that they'll be up, or they'll be moving some part of their body for sure.”
Emma Pask plays 'A Latin Fiesta' at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival 16-18 June as well as the Jazz & Shiraz Festival (Brisbane) 25 June.
