As jazz musicians have been forced to give up in-person performing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many have turned to the Internet and live video streaming in order to keep the music (and their careers) going, raise fans’ spirits, and promote various charitable activities. Earlier this week, pianist Emmet Cohen decided to get his regular trio together and stream a performance from his home using Facebook Live. “I got some good traction—40,000 views,” he told JazzTimes. “My fanbase really loved it, and it seems to be the forward-thinking move in this new era.”
This coming Monday, March 30, Cohen and his rhythm section of Russell Hall and Kyle Poole will take to the WiFi waves again—this time in partnership with JazzTimes. If you’re interested in checking out their show, all you have to do is head to our Facebook page at 7:30 p.m. EDT. (The concert will also air on Cohen’s personal Facebook page.)
If you like what you see and hear, there’ll be more where that came from. Cohen’s trio intends to make the 7:30 Monday night concerts into a regular weekly occurrence: a series called Live from Emmet’s Place, to last through our period of quarantine.
Last year, the 29-year-old Cohen won the prestigious Cole Porter Fellowship as part of the American Pianists Association’s biennial awards competition. He has performed or collaborated with Debbie Allen, Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb, Lea DeLaria, Kurt Elling, Billy Hart, Jimmy Heath, Ali Jackson, Bill T. Jones, Brian Lynch, Christian McBride, Herlin Riley, Veronica Swift, and many more. His discography includes two albums as a co-leader (with Herlin Riley and Brian Lynch) and seven albums as a leader, the most recent being Masters Legacy Series, Vol. 4: George Coleman, part of a continuing series in which he joins forces with some of jazz’s most acclaimed veteran artists.
For more information on Emmet Cohen, visit his website.
