SALT LAKE CITY — This rising Christian artist is bringing “Jesus to jazz.”
Emma Nissen is living her dream: viral scatting, writing music and creating real personal connections with people all over the world who’ll listen.
But it wasn’t always the whole world.
Nissen first got her love for music growing up in Arizona, before serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where she discovered her love for writing music — in Sweden, all the way up in the Arctic Circle, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emma Nissen preforming live. (Emma Nissen)
“So, nobody was doing normal missionary work. Everyone was trying to figure out a way to connect with people that was, like, normal and natural, (that) was the phrase we used,” Nissen said. “And I think I was anything but normal or natural. Honestly, my whole life, but especially in those two years.”
She got the idea for her first song when she was thinking about how much they needed faith during this time while plucking out chords on a church piano.
“I remember making a voice memo of it and being like, ‘Oh, I really like, I want to record this again,” Nissen said. “So, I went back the next day, and I recorded it, and I posted it on Facebook, and I was like, wasn’t for anyone other than just like for the plot, I suppose.”
And people did love it. Nissen credits the initial success to the uniqueness of Jazz in the Christian music world and how vulnerable and authentic she is. She doesn’t ever claim to know all the answers, she just has a feeling that it will all turn out okay in the end.
“Some people are blessed with, like, just great faith all the time. I think I’m blessed with great curiosity all the time,” she said.
When Nissen returned home from her mission, she started recording her songs with a producer just down the street from her. Soon she was meeting with producers in Nashville.
“I had no idea what it was going to turn into or what it would be for people or how lucky I would be and blessed to be able to record it all and perform it and, you know, go on tours and stuff,” she said.
Emma Nissen preforming live.(Emma Nissen)
Why Jazz?
Nissen is a self-proclaimed “old soul.”
“I love my geriatric crafts. I do a lot of … things that I feel like my grandma did, and one of those is I listen to a lot of jazz and like doo-wop from the 60s in high school,” Nissen said.
On top of that, she said she loves making noise and loved learning how to scat by listening to other Jazz artists.
But the term “Jazz and Jesus” really stuck when she was invited by a musical director to a jazz club in New York a couple of years ago.
“He was on stage and he was like, ‘It’s like Jesus … it’s like Jazz.’ And then someone in the audience was like, ‘Oh.’ And he was like, ‘Jesus and Jazz.’ And I was like, ‘Thank you,’” Nissen said.
She said that both really resonated with people.
“It was just kind of funny because there was always someone in the audience that either loved Jesus or loved Jazz and a lot of times we would get both. And so it just kind of stuck,” Nissen said.
The new song
Nissen said her latest single, “Live and Let Live,” came from her desire to create a safe space for people who are finding their own way on their faith journey.
“I was experiencing online a lot of hate from people that were saying there’s only one way to be a Christian,” Nissen said. “Or one way to get into heaven or one way to be doing things right … It was just so absolute and there was no room for grace. There was no room for individuality.”
Nissen said she feels passionately that everyone is just trying to learn how to live and how to love and we have to allow people to live their life.
She hopes her listeners get whatever meaning they need from the song and wants them to know there’s always room for curiosity and uncertainty with her.
“The first thing I want them to know is just, like, you’re allowed to process being a human around me. And I want to do that too,” Nissen said.
Gigs, tour dates and the future
Nissen is set to perform at the 28th Annual Ella Fitzgerald Music Festival with Roberta Lea on Saturday in Virginia and then take off to tour Europe, performing her music starting June 4.
As for any potential upcoming American tour dates, she said it’s in the works. There’s just a lot to figure out for her small team of two.
“The thing that people should know is that the team is me and Tom,” Nissen said. “Tom is the best. He’s my manager. And so I’m the graphic designer … I made my website. I don’t know how to make a website.”
Nissen said she has made a lot of mistakes along the way but it’s been rewarding because she has been able to have vulnerable one-on-one conversations with fans.
“You know, like people have just shared like, ‘Oh, I lost my mom and then I found you.’ Or like the amount of women that have told me I’m on their birth playlists. I’m like ‘That’s insane. Your child’s first song is me. That’s crazy.’”
Right now, Nissen feels so blessed for the opportunities she’s received and is looking forward to what the future has in store.
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