Bio
Bio
ELMA - Elma Kais bio
Trained in classical music, Elma Kais finally turned to jazz and graduated from the Krakow School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in the vocal class under Marek Bałata. During her school years she received awards in several jazz vocal contests.
Her professional life is constantly organised around musical improvisation: from her artistic and stage activities (as a soloist, a band leader, as well as a composer of music for her own projects and for theatre), through her academic research (her doctoral thesis focused on psychological aspects of musical improvisation), to her therapeutic work (as a music therapist in improvisational approach). For her interdisciplinary actions Elma was appreciated and awarded the prize by the Foundation for Polish Science.
All those multidimensional activities have been inspiring and forming her musical sensitivity and visions, personal language of composition and improvisation, as well as distinctive vocal expression.
Finally, all of these materialized in a phonographic debut. „Hic Et Nunc” in quartet with Verneri Pohjola (tp), Dominik Wania (p) and Maciej Garbowski (b) (iMp 2014) has become a new chapter of the story. The album was enthusiastically acclaimed by jazz reviewers, including top notes by Jazzarium and JazzPress, and found its place on the podium of the Polish Jazz Top Ten ranking. The second album of Elma Kais with V. Pohjola, D.Wana & M.Garbowski, "Ad Rem" released by Hevhetia (2016) received excellent international reviews. The newest one, "Licentia Poetica" (Hevhetia 2022) with Knox Chandler (g), Daigo Nakai (b) and Klaus Kugel (dr) was released on 8th of April 2022 .