Curious, musically interested in many different styles of music, loving the freedom jazz gives to music and to people, Nicky Schrire is a brilliant talent on today's jazz stage. She has two albums – two LPs and one brand new EP, that reveal her as an artist believing music is a key to our emotions. “I want the listener to feel,” she says in an interview by Jazz FM’s Miroslava Katsarova and Svetoslav Nikolov, describing the inspiration she would love to give her audience. And adds: “I’d like my music to make people feel calm and give them a moment where they can go on a journey and then come back.”
Nicky Schrire doesn’t want to impress, but to touch. Singing, she makes it so clear with her music, is not an end to itself, but is to give meaning. As the most important elements in the song she singles out the lyrics and the story they tell. This is why her approach to songs from the Great American Songbook are sometimes so unusual – she elicits the inherent dramatism in songs like Say It Isn’t So, I Wish You Love and Someone To Watch Over Me. “I look at the lyrics first and decide whether I can relate to the story. That helps me interpret the song and rearrange it”, says Nicky Schrire.
The peace in her singing, composing and arranging stems from her approach to music – with a light heart and deep thought. And also in the company of artists that she shares common passion with. One of her partners in music is Bulgarian drummer Borislav Petrov that she has many compliments for: “He is a wonderful person and an absolutely incredible musician.” Among the other like-minded people Nicky Schrire has worked with, are Gerald Clayton and Shai Maestro – she just loves and admires them. For the people she creates music with she says: “If we are both happy, the music comes to life in the way that it should be. Then someone who is listening gets a sense that the music really flows and feels very natural. So then it has worked.”
Welcome to the music world of Nicky Schrire on Jazz FM and on our Singin’ & Swingin’ programme this Sunday at 11 a.m. and next Wednesday at 9 p.m. This is a special edition of the show, dedicated to the International Jazz Day – the 30th of April.
