From Archive to Improvisation
Emmet Cohen turns jazz history into living sound, connecting generations of artists and audiences
By Rudy Malcom
For pianist Emmet Cohen, jazz flows through time—shaped by the past, alive in the present, and always reaching toward the future. He believes that only by learning from earlier eras can musicians bring the genre forward.
To that end, he’s been listening to and learning from other jazz artists since he was young. And for nearly a decade, he has produced the Masters Legacy Series, a collection of interviews, recordings, and performances showcasing some of the most renowned figures in jazz. Available on Cohen’s Spotify, website, and YouTube, he describes these portraits of “mentorship, history, and friendship” as “living archives.”
According to Cohen, who frequently headlines major festivals and venues, the goal of the series is to enable the “passing of the torch” between veteran artists and emerging ones, filling a vital gap.
“This preservation work feels especially urgent now because many of these masters are in their later years,” he says. “Jazz has always been an oral tradition—learning by doing, by listening, by being in the room—and I feel a deep responsibility to help document and share that wisdom while we still can.”
Drawing on their technical, theoretical, and practical expertise, the masters share the stories, lessons, and “unwritten folklore” of the lineage, Cohen says—“the kind of knowledge that doesn’t exist in textbooks or formal music education” and that can be transferred only “through lived experience and mentorship.”
For example, the late Jimmy Cobb, drummer for Miles Davis’s sextet, recalled the jazz titan’s “economy of sound and focus on space.” Ron Carter, bassist for Davis’s Second Great Quintet, described the rhythm section’s role as engaging in conversation beyond simply providing accompaniment. And saxophonist Benny Golson, who passed away in September 2024 and played with the iconic John Coltrane in high school, highlighted the “depth of purpose and spirituality” that the musician “brought into every note.”
“These aren’t technical lessons,” Cohen says. “They’re human lessons that reveal the essence of this art form,” including the beauty of imperfection, flexibility, and collaboration.
Whenever he plays, he tries to channel what he’s learned from the elders—the stories, the values, and “the idea that swing, communication, and generosity are at the heart of all music.”
That applies to his upcoming concert at Strathmore, which will commemorate Davis’s and Coltrane’s would-be 100th birthdays. “The centennial isn’t just about songs and notes,” says Cohen, who went viral livestreaming performances from his apartment during the pandemic. “It’s about channeling that legacy forward, in real time, by honoring the past while paving the road into the future.”
“To honor the originality of two of the most original artists ever,” adds Cohen, who will be joined onstage by saxophonist Tivon Pennicott and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, “we will be tapping into our own originality.”
The Emmet Cohen Trio will pay homage to how their predecessors’ pioneering approach which broke new ground in the landscape of American music—continues to inspire fellow artists riffing between tradition and innovation. They’ll bring to life influential pieces from both artists’ repertoires, from Coltrane’s virtuosic Giant Steps and Davis’s genre-defying Sketches of Spain to Coltrane Plays the Blues and Davis’s electric years.
Cohen, winner of the 2019 American Pianists Awards and a 2011 finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition, says he will also seek to channel the “connection to a higher power that both Davis and Coltrane embodied.”
“Music is a type of temple or church—a type of experience people can have that heals them, or connects them to something greater,” he says. “It changes your life. That’s why you can remember a single moment, or even one note, from a concert forever.”