Emmet Cohen Trio at Samueli Theater

“Cohen is not just the poster man for contemporary jazz, breathing 2020s finesse onto early twentieth century swing, he is a supremely gifted and impassioned artist of the highest order.” ALL ABOUT JAZZ

Multifaceted American jazz pianist and composer Emmet Cohen is one of his generation's pivotal figures in music.   

A dynamic and charismatic performer, Emmet Cohen possesses wide-ranging talents that are invigorating the contemporary arts world.  Cohen’s fluid keyboard artistry and innovative tonal palette, along with his command, precision and passion, has garnered international acclaim, including winning the 2019 American Pianists Awards, and being named a finalist in the 2011 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition.

During the 2020 lockdown, Cohen developed "Live From Emmet's Place," a series of weekly performances by his trio and special guests live-streamed from his NYC apartment that recall the Harlem rent parties of yesteryear. These concerts, which have received millions of internet views worldwide, are noteworthy for setting the standard for live internet jazz performance. 

Along with headlining regularly at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Village Vanguard, and Birdland, Cohen is a dedicated educator committed to the intergenerational transfer of the knowledge, history, and traditions of jazz. His signature professional undertaking is the "Masters Legacy Series," a celebratory set of recordings and interviews honoring legendary jazz musicians, for which he serves as both producer and pianist. This landmark, ongoing project provides musicians of multiple generations the means to share the unwritten folklore that is America's unique artistic idiom. Cohen has observed that jazz "is enriched immeasurably by connecting and studying with jazz masters, forging backward to the very creation of the art form."

Join us in the intimate Samueli Theater and experience why All About Jazz says Cohen is “one of the finest piano players to emerge in decades."