After receiving wide acclaim for his inaugural album In the Element (2011) recorded when he was just 21 and an equally successful follow up collaboration with trumpeter Brian Lynch entitled Questioned Answer (2013), Emmet Cohen has embarked on an important new mission: to celebrate the last remaining legendary jazz artists from an era long gone by. He is documenting, featuring, and preserving these icons’ artistry and excellence and creating a platform for and drawing attention to the intergenerational transfer of knowledge between the oldest and youngest generation of jazz musicians.
Cohen conceived of The Masters Legacy Series as a multi-album project, the first of which is dedicated to drummer, Jimmy Cobb. Cobb’s most famous work on Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue (1959), needs no introduction. Fast forward almost 60 years, and Cobb is the last surviving member of Davis’ band. Cohen considers himself fortunate to have met Cobb in a private session while Cobb was teaching at the New School. Today they are neighbors in the Harlem section of New York and colleagues in music.
“By playing with Mr. Cobb on a regular basis,” says Cohen, “I absorb something that can’t be gained from practicing my craft, listening to any recording on repeat, or reading any book or historical document. Mr. Cobb deserves to be honored for his excellence and the humanity he manifests today, not just for his work from 50 or 60 years ago. He is a living legend of the jazz world and a historical treasure.”
To celebrate Cobb’s ripened mastery of the drums, Cohen carefully curated selections for the album that would feature Cobb’s indomitable swing groove. Two Bass Hit, On the Trail, and Hard Times are all tunes Cobb played throughout the decades with the likes of Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, and Wynton Kelly. Cohen’s own compositions also express genuine affection and respect for Jimmy himself with a dynamic sense of exuberance and optimism from deep within.
Christian McBride with whose Tip City Trio Cohen toured says of the young artists: “What sets Emmet Cohen apart is that he plays with maturity beyond his years, demonstrating technical expertise and sophistication in musical choices. In this recording, Emmet’s own compositions and chosen repertoire display a nuanced appreciation for who Jimmy Cobb is as a drummer and a man.”
Cohen’s realization, having pursued a formal music education at both Miami University’s Frost School and Manhattan School of Music, is that the majority of his fellow young jazz musicians these days are largely concerned with their own technical “chops” or with creating new esoteric or contrived themes for the jazz idiom. Cohen has chosen instead to focus on harnessing the connection between living jazz masters and emerging jazz artists to preserve America’s jazz lineage, historical context, and spirit.
He says of Cobb, Miles told him to play soft and make it feel like it’s “floating.” He does just that, uplifting any band he’s playing with, not just floating but soaring! He breathes life and motion into every beat with his distinctive swing feel. He brings to life his predecessors, from Baby Dodds to Papa Jo Jones to Philly Joe Jones, and plays with the nuance and intrepidity that influenced those who came after him like Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette.
Emmet Cohen’s Masters Legacy Series, Volume 1, featuring Jimmy Cobb was recorded in front of a live studio audience on March 16, 2016 at The DiMenna Center in New York City. He appears with his Trio, featuring Jimmy Cobb on drums, on the Litchfield Mainstage for the third time, not so very long after a solid stint at Litchfield Jazz Camp where he resolved as a teen to become a professional jazz musician. The Trio’s bassist is Russell Hall.
Emmet is a Yamaha artist
