Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County presents
Emmet Cohen's 'Live From Emmet's Place'
Emmet Cohen
Photo courtesy artist management.
Multifaceted American jazz pianist and composer Emmet Cohen is in the vanguard of his generation's advancement of music and the related arts. A recognized prodigy, Cohen began Suzuki-method piano instruction at age 3, and his playing quickly became a mature melding of musicality, technique and concept. All About Jazz observed that "[Cohen is] not just the poster man for contemporary jazz, breathing 2020s finesse onto early 20th century swing, he is a supremely gifted and impassioned artist of the highest order."
Cohen notes that performing jazz is "about communicating the deepest levels of humanity and individuality; it's essentially about connections" among musicians and with audiences. He leads his namesake ensemble, the Emmet Cohen Trio; is a vibrant solo performer; and is in constant demand as a sideman. Possessing a fluid technique, an innovative tonal palette and an extensive repertoire, Cohen fashions musical statements that reveal command, elegance and intensity. As Benny Golson asserted, Emmet Cohen "has a lot to say."
During the 2020 lockdown, Cohen developed Live From Emmet's Place, a series of regular performances by his trio and guest artists live-streamed from his New York apartment recalling Harlem rent parties of yesteryear. These concerts are noteworthy for employing sophisticated production values that set the standard for live internet jazz performance. Live From Emmet's Place has received tens of millions of views on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, and has become an integral part of Cohen's musical outreach.
Cohen has also established the Emmet Cohen Exclusive membership program, which provides subscribers access to previously unseen concert recordings and other creative offerings, including Cohen's personal commentary and observations. In 2021, Cohen initiated Emmet's Place Education, a series of free online master classes curated by Cohen and presented by various jazz artists; the sessions provide an alternative place of gathering, learning and discussion for musicians from around the world.
Cohen is committed to the intergenerational transfer of the knowledge, history and traditions of jazz. His Masters Legacy Series is a celebratory set of recordings, live performances and interviews honoring legendary jazz musicians. Cohen serves as producer and pianist for each album in the series. This landmark, ongoing project provides musicians of multiple generations the means to share the unwritten folklore that is America's artistic idiom.
Cohen has determined that jazz "is enriched immeasurably by connecting and studying with jazz masters, forging backward to the very creation of the art form." Five volumes of the Masters Legacy Series have been released, spotlighting Cohen's collaborations with Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Tootie Heath, George Coleman and Houston Person.
Cohen has achieved a comprehensive position in the world of the creative arts that extends beyond keyboard performance; he is devoted to teaching and presenting new concepts to students. Cohen serves as an international clinician, visiting schools and colleges offering master classes, hosting performances and giving lectures. In years past, Cohen has supported developing artists through his work with Jazz at Lincoln Center and the YoungArts Foundation, of which he is an alumnus. He creates an educational atmosphere that encourages student performers to be responsive to their audiences.
Cohen is the winner of the 2019 American Pianists Awards and the Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association; as such he served as artist in residence at the University of Indianapolis. In 2023, the Jazz Journalists Association named Cohen Pianist of the Year and Live-stream Producer of the Year for Live From Emmet's Place. He won the 2014 American Jazz Pianists Competition and the 2011 Phillips Piano Competition at the University of West Florida and, as a finalist in the 2011 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition, he was received in the Oval Office by President Barack Obama.
Cohen has appeared at many international jazz events, including the Newport, Monterey, Detroit, North Sea, Bern, Edinburgh and Jerusalem jazz festivals, as well as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. He has also performed at the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, Dizzy's Club, Birdland, Jazz Standard, London's Ronnie Scott's, Jazzhaus Montmartre in Copenhagen, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Rose Hall, the Cotton Club in Tokyo and Washington's Kennedy Center. For many years he was Hammond B-3 organist in residence at Harlem's SMOKE jazz club.
In addition to leading the Emmet Cohen Trio, Cohen has appeared regularly with Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Jimmy Cobb, George Coleman, Jimmy Heath, Tootie Heath, Houston Person, Kurt Elling and Billy Hart, among others, and is a member of Christian McBride's "Tip City" trio and the "Herlin Riley Quintet." He is a Mack Avenue recording artist whose premier releases on that label demonstrate his 21st century recalibration of Harlem's "stride" piano style: "Uptown in Orbit" (2022) showcases trumpeter Sean Jones and saxophonist Patrick Bartley, and "Future Stride" (2021) features Marquis Hill and Melissa Aldana.
Cohen's other recordings include Vibe Provider (2024), a tribute to Funmi Onanaiye; Masters Legacy Series Volume 5: Houston Person (2023); Masters Legacy Series Volume 4: George Coleman (2019); Masters Legacy Series Volume 3: Benny Golson and Tootie Heath (2019); Dirty in Detroit (2018); Masters Legacy Series Volume 2: Ron Carter (2018), a Downbeat top-rated album; Masters Legacy Series Volume 1: Jimmy Cobb (2017); Questioned Answer (2014), co-produced with Brian Lynch; Infinity (2013), featuring his Italian trio: and his acclaimed debut album, In the Element (2011), with bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Rodney Green.
Cohen holds a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a bachelor's degree from the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, where he studied with esteemed pianist and educator Shelly Berg. In his formative years, Cohen was tutored in classical piano at the Manhattan School of Music's Pre-College Division.
A dynamic and charismatic performer, Cohen possesses wide-ranging talents that are invigorating the contemporary arts world in the United States and abroad and are received enthusiastically worldwide. Emmet Cohen is a Yamaha artist.
“When Cohen is in full flight, with Poole slamming the kit around the room behind him, he reminds me of Ahmad Jamal: not the genteel Jamal you hear on record, but the wall-banging, holy-shit Jamal I saw in concert a few years ago, who rolled across the keyboard like a thunderstorm,” Phil Freeman of Stereogum says.
Bruce Harris
Photo courtesy artist management.
Bruce Harris is a trumpeter, educator and curator from the Bronx whose warm tone, melodic clarity and deep-rooted connection to Black American music have made him one of the most compelling voices of his generation. A skilled bandleader and storyteller, Harris has released acclaimed recordings including Soundview, Beginnings and Thank You, Barry Harris, a tribute to his mentor that showcases his deep understanding of bebop, blues and swing.
He has collaborated with leading artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Emmet Cohen, Jazzmeia Horn, Samara Joy and Melissa Errico, appearing on celebrated recordings and stages ranging from the Village Vanguard to the Monterey and Detroit Jazz Festivals. Internationally, Harris has performed and taught with Jazz at Lincoln Center in China and Doha, and in 2024 he served as a featured artist and clinician for International Jazz Day in Accra, Ghana.
In addition to his performance career, Harris is the creator and host of YouTube series To Be or Not to Bop, a listening-focused show dedicated to deep engagement with classic and lesser-known jazz recordings. Through close listening, historical context and musician-centered analysis, the series invites seasoned listeners and new audiences into the richness of the jazz tradition.
Harris currently serves as artistic director of programs at the Louis Armstrong House Museum, where he leads initiatives including the Armstrong Now series and the Louis Armstrong Big Band. Through his work as a performer, educator, curator and media creator, he remains committed to preserving the legacy of jazz while inspiring its future.
Patrick Bartley
Photo courtesy artist management.
Grammy Award-nominated saxophonist, composer and bandleader Patrick Bartley Jr. has experience in a wide range of situations, most notably for appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and being featured in the Emmy Award-nominated HBO special Wynton Marsalis: A YoungArts Masterclass, which premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Although a South Florida native, Bartley has spent the majority of his professional music career in New York. As an on-demand sideman, he has performed and recorded with musicians such as Louis Hayes, Jonathan Batiste, Mulgrew Miller, Jeff Coffin and Wynton Marsalis, and has performed at world-renowned venues such as the Staples Center, Madison Square Garden and the Black Sea Jazz Festival.
Born and raised in Hollywood, Bartley owes much of his success to his primary, secondary and post-secondary education. While in middle school, under the tutelage of Melton Mustafa Jr.—son of world-renowned trumpeter Melton Mustafa—Bartley became the youngest musician to perform at the Jazz in the Gardens festival in Miami Gardens, as well as the only musician to have performed on the stage twice. It was with Melton Mustafa Jr. and Sr. that Bartley got his first professional recording opportunity, this time at age 17. The recording session included Mulgrew Miller, Essiet Essiet, Ray Mantilla, Jason Jackson and Victor Lewis. While attending high school, after making the Grammy High School Jazz Ensembles for two consecutive years, Bartley was given the opportunity to perform with the Dave Matthews Band live on the 52nd annual Grammy Awards. He was also a YoungArts Gold Award recipient in jazz.
A focus on Jazz Roots
Miami-Dade photographer Daniel Azoulay has been shooting Jazz Roots concerts since the series began nearly 20 years ago. His subjects have included pioneering jazz and blues artists such as Sonny Rollins, B.B. King, Paquito D'Rivera, Patti LaBelle, Dr. John, Al Jarreau, Arturo Sandoval and Cecile McLorin Salvant. Azoulay continues to photograph Jazz Roots performances, including this season's Kind of Blue tribute to Miles Davis in November featuring Ravi Coltrane, Veronica Swift and others.
Azoulay's photos documenting the Adrienne Arsht Center's construction from 2003 to 2006 were recently on display in the Ziff Ballet Opera House and Knight Concert Hall. An exhibition covering two decades of his Arsht performance photos will go on view in the fall. You can read more about Azoulay's work and his long relationship with the Arsht at Arsht Magazine.
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