Emmet Cohen: Hail The Piano Player // All About Jazz Interview

In a plain, gray building off Edgecombe Avenue in Harlem, pianist, Emmet Cohen, gently hammers on his instrument, head bopping to the drum hits and bass thuds that reverberate along the plant-lined walls of his apartment. Thirty years old and one of the finest piano players to emerge in decades, the Miami-born and Montclair, New Jersey-raised musician is not just the poster man for contemporary jazz, breathing 2020s finesse onto early twentieth century swing, he is a supremely gifted and impassioned artist of the highest order. The fact that he can also rollick on this warm spring night, transmitting sweet sounds to thousands of homes via his fifty-third webcast of this grave coronavirus year, only underscores his deep love for jazz and his innate will to play.

Swing Time: Cameron Graves // Relix Feature

Cameron Graves knew exactly where he wanted to go on his second album. Following his 2017 debut as a bandleader, Planetary Prince, and his work with the hyper-talented LA-based collective the West Coast Get Down—most notably on saxophonist Kamasi Washington’s groundbreaking 2015 triple album, The Epic—the keyboardist was ready to introduce another side.

“I live in jazz, but I also live in metal,” he says. “I wanted to develop a record that’s got the same intensity as a metal record, but with me on piano.”

Mack Avenue Artists Receive 8 JJA Jazz Awards Nominations

Mack Avenue Nominees (8)
Jazz Journalist Association (JJA) Nominations
Mack Avenue - Record Label of the Year
John Beasley - Arranger of the Year
John Beasley MONK’estra - Large Ensemble of the Year
Warren Wolf - Mallet Instrumentalist of the Year
Christian McBride - Bassist of the Year
Joey DeFrancesco - Keyboardist of the Year
Emmet Cohen – Upcoming Musician of the Year
Veronica Swift – Female Vocalist of the Year

Veronica Swift: This Bitter Earth (CD Review)

It seems jazz vocalist Veronica Swift has been in the music business all of her life, and for good reason: There is the well documented fact that she is the daughter of jazz pianist Hod O'Brien and singer Stephanie Nakasian, and she debuted on record at nine years old with Veronica's House of Jazz (SNOB, 2004). Since that time, Swift has recorded in a variety of settings, including on the uniformly excellent The Birdland Big Band Live (CD Baby, 2018), before producing her full-bore Mack Avenue debut with Confessions (2019), recorded with the trios of pianists Emmet Cohen and Benny Green. With Confessions, Swift gained both commercial traction and critical purchase, all by the deceptively tender age of 25-years old. The singer returns with the socially serious and finely crafted This Bitter Earth.

Cameron Graves – ‘Seven’ (CD Review)

Batten down the sub-woofer, hold on to your trousers … here comes thrash jazz – 11 songs in a tumultuous 33 minutes. Thrash jazz? That’s what Cameron Graves, keyboardist with LA saxophone star Kamasi Washington, terms these high-speed, high-velocity forays. Imagine Metallica having a crack at cosmic Return To Forever.

Graves and Washington, friends from high school, honed their craft in the West Coast Get Down collective. And just as the saxophonist’s music pays its dues to jazz past, these brief blasts are propelled by drum fusillades from Mike Mitchell that echo Billy Cobham and Lenny White in their fusion pomp. The space-themed artwork and song titles (Sons of Creation, Super Universes) also nod to Chick Corea’s electric RTF.

Emmet Cohen –  Future Stride - Review

It’s my guess that, at the moment little Emmet was born, his designated guardian angel was a clumsy klutz who slipped and accidentally showered the entire contents of his gift cupboard all over the bassinet. As a result, not only was baby Emmet fitted with a matched set of epic ears, ten obediently flexible fingers, faultless time and commanding swing, but also an appreciation of the past and abiding respect for the achievements of elders. And even a sympathetic bassist and drummer in attendance, close by his elbow.

I’m sticking to my guess because pianist Emmet Cohen‘s Future Stride is an unusual album by an unusual musician who disregards fashion’s strict dictates by embracing the total potential of jazz piano, technically and stylistically. Refreshingly, he dishes out well-earned dues to the glittering legacies of James P., Willie ‘The Lion’, Tatum, Hines, Wilson, Nat Cole, Buckner, Bud, Erroll, Monk, Garland, Herbie, Jarret and loads of other worthy pianists I’d unfortunately overlooked.