The New York-based Emmet Cohen Trio kicked off the Gilmore Festival’s noon series Monday at the Kalamazoo Civic auditorium, delighting the crowd with their take on a variety of classic jazz tunes, paying homage to some of the jazz greats.
Connecting older generations of musicians and historical figures to younger musicians and audiences is one of Cohen’s major projects, and it has come to fruition on his Master Legacy Series Albums — the first of which was a collaboration with Jimmy Cobb, who played drums on Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue,” and the second, released this year, with Ron Carter, the most recorded jazz bassist in history.
Much of what they played came from their most recent album, including “Hatzi Kaddish,” a Hebrew prayer, Cole Porter’s “All of You,” Sy Oliver’s “Opus One,” and Artie Shaw’s “Any Old Time.” Though they also veered from recently recorded songs with Cedar Walton’s “Mosaic” and Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Darn That Dream.”
The trio included Emmet Cohen on the piano, Russell Hall on stand-up bass, and Evan Sherman on drums. Cohen and Hall met in high school; Cohen and Sherman met in college; and the three play together as if they’ve known each other and been playing together for even longer than that. Well-rehearsed and perhaps less improvisational than other jazz trios featured in the festival, they took turns taking the lead, each with terrific virtuoso solo moments, and overall gave an upbeat and light-hearted performance, at turns gentle, lilting and lively, yet ultimately very cool with hints of Ragtime and Bossa Nova among other powerful influences.
Sherman was especially innovative on percussion using hands and elbows as well as drumsticks and brushes on the drums, making noise on the skins, rims and a closed hi-hat as well as using cowbells and zills. Dressed in a suit with sunglasses and Chuck T hi-tops, his big personality was on full display. His playing complemented Cohen’s staccato playing in several numbers to terrific effect.
Cohen displayed wonderful range in terms of mood, tempo and style, though somewhat understated and with charming humility rather than fanfare. He kept the focus on the music rather than himself.
Hall took off his shoes before taking up his bass and barely cracked a smile the entire performance, though he plucked, slapped, strummed and dragged a bow across the strings with wonderful passion.
Passion, excellence and unwavering commitment to their jazz lineage pervaded every part of the excellent performance.
“This music is close to our hearts as you can tell,” Cohen said from the stage. “We live and breathe it.”
Emmet Cohen Trio
Kalamazoo Civic
May 7
thegilmore.org
