Like most people involved in Australia's jazz and blues scene, Emma Pask regularly keeps an eye on the line-up, award results and health of Wangaratta's annual festival.

This year, she will be able to do so from close quarters, as one of the artists performing at the annual event.

"I have been to Wangaratta over the years, and I am a huge fan; even from a distance, watching the outcome of the jazz award with its different focus each year," she said.

"I love that you can arrive in a place where, for a few days, people are listening to music and walking around between shows.

"It means a lot that audiences have that opportunity in a regional location, and we want festivals like this to have longevity."

The award-winning vocalist will perform at the festival on Saturday, 1 November, when she takes the stage at the Wangaratta Performing Arts and Convention Centre as part of the Emma Pask Quartet, with Kevin Hunt on piano, Gordon Rytmeister on drums, and Ben Robertson on bass.

"All four of us have played together at some time, but not together as a quartet for some time," Emma said.

"I think of it as a real collaboration - every person in a quartet plays a crucial role."

The WPACC show, from 7.30pm on the second night of the festival, will be a chance to hear one of Australia's finest voices interweave storytelling through timeless swinging jazz standards, upbeat Latin rhythms, tender ballads, and of course some raucous blues.

Emma said it would be "a pleasure and a joy" to perform for a Wangaratta audience, and to present the style of music she loved from an early age.

"We had those sounds around at home, and it was something I was drawn to," she said.

"Music has always been it for me - I studied it as a youngster in school, and then found out I could do it as a job.

"I remember in my teens, working in a bar and in a clothing store and a health food store, I was definitely taking too much time off to gig, then it turned into doing session work, and I discovered a world where I could use my voice beyond singing and jazz - such as voicing Dorothy the Dinosaur."

Known for being discovered as a teenager by Australian jazz musician James Morrison, for appearing on The Voice in 2013, and for performing the bridal waltz at the wedding of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Emma's life has taken on a different focus over the past couple of years.

Her husband Rod was involved in a motorcycle accident in December, 2023 which left him paralysed from the waist down, and the couple have worked together on his recovery, with Emma documenting his progress on Instagram.

Of course, music has been a great support, but has also produced some emotional moments.

"There are a lot of songs in my repertoire which take an emotional toll; I remember a year ago when I sang 'The More I See You', I got really emotional thinking of my husband," she said.

"He is incredibly supportive of me, and we are making it work; he's impressed me so much.

"While I haven't been focusing on recording projects, I've been working with my trio and duo and doing gigs with the Pops Orchestra with John Foreman, and also sinking my teeth into a few things, including a Burt Bacharach tribute.

"I can't wait to bring music and joy to people in Wangaratta - and to ourselves."

For more information about the Emma Pask Quartet show at WPACC, and other performances at the festival, visit https://wangjazzblues.com.au