Emilia Martensson Quartet at Sheffield Jazz

Vocalist Emilia Mårtensson, whose music crosses the borders between Scandinavian folk, jazz and art pop, brings her new band to Crookes after a great gig in early 2020. The haunting, ethereal tones of her voice and the dark melancholy of her story telling has earned her a well-deserved reputation as one of the most original vocalists on the UK jazz scene and Vocalist of the Year in the 2016 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Emilia’s highly personal sound and compositions, which are rooted in the folklore of her native southern Sweden, add to the appeal of this distinctively original artist.

“..ethereal voiced Swedish singer Mårtensson effortlessly mixes delicate folkish melodies with swoonsome jazz lines to create her own bewitching sound”… – Time Out

In her early years Emilia Mårtensson immersed herself in the recordings of jazz greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Anita O’Day and with a group of friends played live jazz in her parents’ restaurant, which she would later transform into one of the most successful jazz cubs in southern Sweden. Since moving to London to study at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Emilia has featured as vocalist and composer in several projects with musicians such as Iain Ballamy, Kit Downes, Barry Green and Jasper Hoiby while her collaboration with the British group ‘Kairos 4tet’led to a MOBO Award. Her first two solo albums, ‘And So It Goes’ and ‘Ana’ were in the top ten albums of the year by Jazzwise while her acclaimed third album, ‘Loredana’ earned numerous 4 star reviews. Emilia is also the founder of ‘Beyond Vocals’, a platform and community for aspiring and experienced singers. www.emiliamartensson.com/

“Loredana is a collection of heart-stopping songs filled with music of enormous delicacy, subtlety and imagination”  – 4 star review, Jazzwise