Emmet Cohen is a multi-talented and innovative musician/pianist who captivates his audiences with style, panache and good humor. He began studying the piano at the age of three using the Suzuki Method. He also studied European art (classical) music early in his career. “Music is something that was built into my life at an early age.” He discovered jazz in his teens and attributes listening and learning from other jazz musicians as a hallmark of his early development.
He attended the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami where the eminent pianist-educator Shelly Berg became his mentor. While still a student, he recorded and self-released his debut album, In the Element. In his senior year, he won a national competition for undergraduate and graduate students throughout the United States. In 2011 after placing third in the Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition held annually at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center, Cohen and the other two finalists were invited to the White House where they met then-President Barack Obama.
Returning to the New York City area to study at the Manhattan School of Music on a full merit scholarship, he received a Master of Music degree in 2014. Jazz Times noted, “Lots of young pianists have chops and energy, but Emmet Cohen also has an instinct for meaningful aesthetic form. His spilling runs and chiming resolutions are necessary to an overall design.”
High-in-demand Musician
Since becoming a professional musician, Cohen has become a high-in-demand jazz pianist and recording artist. He has achieved a comprehensive position in the world of the creative arts that extends beyond keyboard performance. While admitting that reading music is not this strong suit, he always strives to capitalize on the talent he has while constantly looking to take advantage of the opportunities that may become available. He is devoted to teaching and presenting new concepts to students, serving as an international clinician, visiting schools and colleges offering master classes, hosting performances, and giving lectures. He has supported developing artists through his work with Jazz at Lincoln Center and the YoungArts Foundation, of which he is an alumnus. He creates an educational atmosphere which encourages student performers to be responsive to their audiences.
Emmet Cohen is committed to the intergenerational transfer of the knowledge, history and traditions of jazz. His Masters Legacy Series is a celebratory set of recordings, live performances and interviews honoring legendary jazz musicians. He has determined that jazz “is enriched immeasurably by connecting and studying with jazz masters, forging backward to the very creation of the art form.” Five volumes of the Masters Legacy Series have been released, spotlighting Cohen’s collaborations with Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Tootie Heath, George Coleman, and Houston Person.
Live from Emmet’s Place
In 2019, Cohen took first place in the American Piano Awards competition that earned him the 2019 Cole Porter Fellowship and a $50,000 grant, a recording contract with Mack Avenue Records, and a two-year Artist-in-Residence at the University of Indianapolis.
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, Cohen developed “Live from Emmet’s Place,” a signature series of regular performances by his trio and guest artists, live-streamed from his New York apartment (two hours every Monday) that recall the Harlem rent parties of yesteryear. It emanates from his 600-square-foot apartment on the sixth floor of a building that has no elevator.
“One of our main goals is to invite people into the music who may not have known they liked jazz. We like to make it fun and accessible, but also find ways to challenge the listener as well. We love to provide a link back to the American masters.” The series observed its fifth anniversary this past March and has become an integral part of Cohen’s musical outreach, having produced 129 episodes and generated 11million followers on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
Cohen has also established the “Emmet Cohen Exclusive” membership program which provides subscribers access to previously unseen concert recordings and other creative offerings, including his personal commentary and observations. In 2021, he initiated “Emmet’s Place Education,” a series of free online master classes curated by Cohen and presented by various jazz artists that provide an alternative place of gathering, learning and discussion for musicians from around the world.
“It’s About Communicating”
Emmet notes that performing jazz is “about communicating the deepest levels of humanity and individuality; it’s essentially about connections,” Possessing a fluid technique, an innovative tonal palette and an extensive repertoire, Cohen fashions musical statements that reveal command, elegance and intensity. As Benny Golson asserted, Emmet Cohen “has a lot to say.”
Always on the move, his busy schedule for the balance of the year has him performing in multiple states in the United States, including an August 1 appearance at the Newport Jazz, Festival; in Canada and eight European countries and the United Arab Emirates. In the past, he has been known to perform nine gigs in 10 days in China, Japan, and Korea as well as 20 gigs in Europe and the USA in a month. Earlier this year, he was host for the 25th anniversary sailing of the Jazz Cruise, which involved 100 musicians and 1,800 passengers.
Emmet always performs in informal attire and communicates with his fellow musicians with a sly look or smile. His advice to aspiring musicians: “Just take one step at a time, but always try to figure out what’s next. Do the best you can. Play with energy, but stay relaxed and always keep the music in focus.”
“Jazz brings my generation closer to the legends. It is important that my life and my music be seamlessly authentic in all moments and embody all the infinite attributes that life has to offer.”
As one critic assessed the fast-moving career of this rising musical superstar: “When Emmet Cohen is in full flight, he reminds me of Ahmad Jamal. Not the genteel Jamal you hear on records, but the wall-banging Jamal in concert a few years ago, who rolled across the keyboard like a thunderstorm.”
Visit Emmet Cohen online at www.emmetcohen.com.
Lew Shaw started writing about music as the publicist for the famous Berkshire Music Barn in the 1960s. He joined the West Coast Rag in 1989 and has been a guiding light to this paper through the two name changes since then as we grew to become The Syncopated Times. 47 of his profiles of today's top musicians are collected in Jazz Beat: Notes on Classic Jazz.Volume two, Jazz Beat Encore: More Notes on Classic Jazz contains 43 more! Lew taps his extensive network of connections and friends throughout the traditional jazz world to bring us his Jazz Jottings column every month.
