Talk about making lemonade out of lemons. The young and great jazz pianist, Emmet
Cohen, has created a Monday night streaming jazz session from his Harlem
apartment which is nothing short of sensational. He has an irresistible personality,
prodigious talent, and a reverence for the history of jazz and its legendary performers. It all converges at Emmet’s Place.
It is probably sacrilegious to observe that in many ways
these live, streamed performances are at least as soul satisfying as seeing him
and his bassist Russell Hall and drummer Kyle Poole in person. Streaming those performances mandated getting
a Fire Stick as soon as Amazon got them back in stock. Now we can enjoy these on the “big screen”
with surround sound in the comfort of our home, as good as seeing them in a Club
but without people talking, serving distractions or viewing obstructions. The first time we saw Emmet perform was in NYC at Dizzy’s Club and honestly, we were blown away.
It’s just so special to watch him perform in the intimacy
of his apartment and interface with his group and with special guests remotely
or, more recently, in his apartment, such as the jazz vocalist and scatter
supreme, Veronica Swift. Most recently he hosted jazz legend, singer
and pianist, Johnny O'Neal who sang his iconic “I'm Your Mailman.” O’Neal also displayed his virtuosity on the
piano.
The last time we saw Emmet and Trio live was on the Jazz Cruise back in February, where we made sure to catch as many of his gigs as
possible, sometimes having to bypass other sets to get a seat reasonably close
to the stage.
We also admire Emmet the man: he is self effacing in
spite of his remarkable talent. His
reverence for his predecessors and mentors greatly impresses us along with his genuine
admiration for his fellow artists. But
putting those aside, he is one of the best and most versatile jazz pianists we’ve
ever seen and he just turned 30. Yes,
30. We wish we could be around to witness
his full maturation.
We’ve been blessed over the years to see some of the jazz
piano greats in person: Oscar Peterson, Claude
Bolling, Bill Mays, Admad Jamal, to mention a few. I should add Benny Green and Tamir Hendelman
to the list, both of whom we saw on the ship.
Oh, I also used to see Dave Brubeck but that was in my dentist’s office
in Westport!
The Emmet Cohen Trio has coalesced over a five year period
to the point where they can playfully hand off to one another at unexpected
times and in unexpected ways and it’s never quite clear whether anyone is in charge.
They just sense when to dive into the musical conversation or pause and
it makes for interesting, mesmerizing listening. His side men bassist Russell Hall and
drummer Kyle Poole are outstanding performers in their own right and sometimes
carry long solos.
Emmet has given himself over to a Jazz Masters series,
playing with some of the greats. He
channels them as well as those who are no longer with us, with strains of Bill
Evans, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum, Nat King Cole, Bud Powell, Duke Ellington, and
Thelonious Monk. The point is, he can
and does play all styles, straight jazz, stride, swing, rhythm’n’blues, and in
synthesizing these, he creates his own unique, soulful style. He can transition from block chords to light;
fast improvised ascending and descending arpeggios which definitively land on
the base note. Just listen to him paying
homage to the King of Ragtime, Scott Joplin, playing his "Original
Rags" at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola @ Jazz at Lincoln Center some four years
ago (when he was only 26!).
This is indeed what makes this young man so special. In addition to his talent he has a genuine
outgoing personality and a kilowatt smile.
A couple of months ago he was soloing at Emmet’s Place, taking requests from the audience via the YouTube’s
streaming comment feature and I was typing “please play Johnny Mandel’s ‘Where
Do I Start?’ and I wasn’t but a few keystrokes into the message, and he played
it! I almost fell out of my chair at how
serendipitously that happened! I emailed
him afterwards about the strange coincidence and expressing my love of Mandel’s
music (and wishing him a happy 30th birthday which was just coming
up, noting that it coincided with my wife’s, who is a mere 49 years older) and
he was good enough to reply “That's so crazy!! Wonderful when the universe
works wonders... Thanks for all the kindness, and happy bday to Ann!!” That’s a mensch.
This last week Johnny Mandel passed away. Perhaps Emmet will mark his passing with
another Mandel medley in his next session. I hope so. The afternoon before I learned of Mandel’s
death, I felt this strong compulsion to play some of his songs on my
piano. I ended up playing ALL of them
(at least all of my favorites), even including “Song from M*A*S*H (Suicide Is
Painless).”
It was as if something drew me to his music and that
night reading the NYT, I learned that
he died. Now that is just plain bizarre.
I couldn’t help but think of that
stunning medley Cohen played but a few weeks before, and the entry I wrote, now, more than two years ago about Mandel’s place in The Great American Songbook.
As we are self quarantined until there is an effective
vaccine, which, who knows, could be for the rest of our lives, we’re hoping
that Emmet’s streaming sessions will continue as it is our only way to be so
close to the music we love and to preeminent musicians who bring it to
life. It’s one of the reasons we’ve
joined Emmet’s “Exclusive” Club. It
gives members access to a “unique and ongoing creative feed’ and more significantly
allowing us to feel that we’re part of his and his group’s journey, one well
worth supporting, particularly as their tour revenue has dried up in these
times of COVID-19 and uncertainty. This
support provides “a path for new innovative and creative endeavors to come to
life.” Indeed it does, and thank you
Emmet for sharing your creative genius at Emmet’s
Place.
