Early in his career, pianist Emmet Cohen had the opportunity to share a tour bus with a nonagenarian jazz saxophone legend, an experience that would forever shape his trajectory as an artist.
" I was sitting across the aisle from Jimmy Heath, who was almost 90 years old at the time. And I got to ride down and listen to all of his stories and listen to him talk about all of his experiences," Cohen said.
During a 2018 visit to the KNKX studios, Cohen talked about how this encounter led him to seek out other jazz legends, and how learning from the masters has played a key part in his blossoming career.
It all started when Cohen arrived in New York City when he was just 23. He joined the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Band, which exposed him to jazz legends of the '40s and '50s, like Heath. Cohen explained that Heath alone taught him incredible things.
"Stuff that I never really could fully grasp until I heard this man say it from his heart. And I realized that, you know, I needed to be around the jazz masters and needed to be able to learn from them in some capacity," Cohen said.
In 2016, Cohen made good on his promise, launching his Master's Legacy Series, which includes interviews, performances, and recordings with recognized jazz masters 50 to 60 years older than him. He's released five albums in the series so far.
"It focuses on the intergenerational transference of knowledge and experience and ideas," Cohen said. "Not only what we get as the mentees, but they get some sort of vitality and some sort of just, overall love for what they have done and what they're doing and what they will continue to do."
Cohen's learned about more than music from his time spent with jazz masters. He learned about their lives. In their prime during the mid-20th century most of these musicians dealt with racism across the country.
"You know, America in the '60s was not a comfortable place to live in for a lot of people. And I think that message is very serious. And I take that to heart every time I play the instrument," said Cohen.
Cohen also learned how his mentors dealt with this adversity. With Tootie Heath, it was humor. With Ron Carter, seriousness and focus.
"Each master has their own lessons that they've formed over the years, through their experiences, through their lives and everything, and they're all undeniably themselves, right? It gives us this yearning to be undeniably ourselves, too," Cohen said.
Cohen's Master's Legacy series started almost 10 years ago now, and has become more than a creative project for his trio. It's a purpose.
"It's become kind of like a life mission for us and informs the way we play and the way we talk to others and the way we live our lives through the music," he said.
Several years later, Cohen is still living his life through the music from the past to the present. He's continued to build on the Masters Legacy series, while also presenting streamed concerts from his own living room for Live From Emmet's Place, and touring widely in support of his most recent record, Vibe Provider, which combines originals with his spellbinding versions of several jazz classics.
Songs heard in this episode:
- "Braggin' in Brass"
- "Knozz-Moe-King"
- "Symphonic Raps"
