artist info

"Thirty years old and one of the finest piano players to emerge in decades…” - Zachary Weg, All About Jazz

"Cohen, 30, has a breezy, phlegmatic command at the keyboard, and a deep well of historical jazz references at his fingertips. If he wasn’t already an obvious heir apparent to the neo-traditional jazz mantle, his win at last weekend’s 2019 American Pianists Awards ought to make it official." - Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times

Multifaceted American jazz pianist and composer Emmet Cohen is one of his generation's pivotal figures in music and the related arts. Downbeat praised the "nimble touch, measured stride and warm harmonic vocabulary" he employs to communicate with other musicians and audiences at what he terms "the deepest level of humanity and individuality." Leader of the "Emmet Cohen Trio" and creator of the "Masters Legacy Series," Cohen is an internationally acclaimed jazz artist and dedicated music educator.

Emmet Cohen is the winner of the 2019 American Pianists Awards and the Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association, and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Indianapolis. Cohen was a finalist in the 2011 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition. He has appeared in the Newport, Monterey, Jerusalem, and North Sea jazz festivals, among others, and at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall and Washington's Kennedy Center. Cohen has headlined at the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Birdland, Jazz Standard, and Jazzhaus Montmartre. He is Hammond B-3 organist-in-residence at Harlem's SMOKE jazz club.

A Suzuki piano student at age three, Cohen holds jazz piano degrees from the Manhattan School of Music (M.M.) and the University of Miami (B.M.). Emmet Cohen has performed, recorded, or collaborated with Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Jimmy Cobb, George Coleman, Jimmy Heath, Tootie Heath, Houston Person, Christian McBride, Kurt Elling, Billy Hart, Herlin Riley, Lea DeLaria, and Bill T. Jones.