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A highly-sought after performer on the festival circuit, pianist Emmet Cohen is considered a contemporary master of swing music. With his ‘Live at Emmet’s Place’ series on Youtube, he gave himself and jazz music considerable exposure, and has been dazzling audiences both online and in person for years.
PAN M 360: Hey Emmet, great to speak with you. Where are you tuning in from?
Emmet: Victoria, BC. You happened to catch me at a time where we’re either flying or driving every single day now.
PAN M 360: So you’re doing a little Canadian circuit then?
Emmet: Yeah, yeah. We started in Seattle, we took the ferry today to Victoria, and we play Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, and then Montreal. From there we are headed to Europe.
PAN M 360: Just curious but do you notice any differences between Canadian and American audiences at all?
Emmet: Well they say ‘eh’ a lot more. Just kidding. You know, I think I was actually in Canada last week too. We played Winnipeg, Regina and Minneapolis in the United States. But I mean, my general feeling is that audiences are the same who come out to hear this music. They’re good, warm people who want to see positive things for the world and want to see the world be a better place and care about other human beings. Jazz is about community. It’s about looking around and saying, how can I do something for the people around me? And that’s what it means to be an accompanist. That’s what it means to play in a group together.
PAN M 360: Your house concerts were a big part in creating that sense of community, both physically, and virtually. When you started those shows was that a kind of statement of intent on your part, or were you just doing what you love to do and everything fell into place naturally?
Emmet Cohen: I think there was a confluence of some different things. We live in Harlem, and there’s a history of Harlem rent parties that date back at least a 100 years into the roaring 20s of last century, and here we are in the roaring 20s of this century! There’s such a concentration of musicians in that area, and I’ve been playing with a lot of them for almost 10 years at that point, you know playing different gigs, different jam sessions, and just hanging out. When the pandemic started, we had a lot of collaborations, especially the trio,with so many of the great musicians that lived nearby. So I think that was the first thing that we noticed. And so then when we started doing it, it was just us, but then after about 10, 12 weeks, we started to get guests and it became more kind of like, you know, let’s do this thing for the community.
Now it’s cool because I can have jazz masters there, or older musicians, and then kind of celebrate them, or I can have younger musicians who maybe people don’t know about, and the exposure on the show can help them. And so, you know, it’s taken a very, very many twists and turns. But I think, you know, the underlying thing is that we’re just trying to have a good time and share the music and share a little piece of New York with the world.
PAN M 360: I’m so glad you started that series. I would say those concerts have a lot to do with bringing jazz and swing back into the mainstream again, especially with the younger generation, have you noticed that yourself?
Emmet: I think it’s always a bit cyclical, you know, Esperanza Spalding won the Grammy a number of years ago for her album, or for Best New Artist or something like that. And then it kind of paved the way for Jon Batiste to win all the Grammys that he won, which paved the way for Samara Joy to win. And, you know, I mention the Grammys because those are associated with pop culture. I think I have noticed a resurgence in younger musicians wanting to swing, and I think maybe we had something to do with that, but, you know, we just show the joy in the music and people relate to it and that’s the way it is.
PAN M 360: The joy you play with is contagious, and you make it look so easy. Last night I saw Brad Mehldau, and I was wondering, at this level, what is the work that you do on the piano?
Emmet: You know, it’s funny, I admire Brad too, and he always says Bach in the morning. Really though, I think that it’s all about time management at this point. When you’re on tour, half of your life, you know, I’m in a hotel room speaking to you now, there’s no piano around here. It’s harder for me to get a chance to work on stuff but I like to do other things like read, do yoga. I like to play chess, and even just listen to music. But I think composition is a big one, so when I do have some time I spend it writing some music or maybe putting some things together, arranging, or learning other people’s music. I know we did a lot of those Emmet’s places and some people would send me music and I’d have to get working on that for the show. I think that learning songs is one of the main parts of the folklore of music. Seeing how many songs can you play without the sheet music in front of you, and to get into the music and just jam. That’s a big thing for me.
PAN M 360: Perhaps you could tell us more about what we can expect in Montreal, maybe a little bit about the repertoire?
Emmet: Yeah sure, we’ll be playing trio. We have a vast repertoire and kind of suss out what the vibe is before we play. We like to be free and to get some original stuff in there. We have some arrangements. We like to play some stuff from the 1920s and kind of bring it alive at this time, you know, kind of the Harlem stuff. We try to do the best we can in communicating our feelings to the audience that’s there and creating some feeling of joy and hope and happiness and prosperity. That’s what the music’s about, it’s about spirit and energy.
PAN M 360: Really looking forward to it, Emmet. Thanks again and all the best.
Emmet: My pleasure!
