Emmet Cohen - Universal Truth

 

Emmet Cohen — Universal Truth

Logging onto Zoom, pianist Emmet Cohen laughs that there's "an emergency in jazzland every day."

Between touring, livestreams, collaborations and a new record, he should know.

Thanks to the success of his Live From Emmet's Place livestream series, Cohen has become one of the most recognizable figures in jazz today. Constantly touring, a festival mainstay, a connector between generations, part pianist, part ambassador, part host.

But beneath all that activity, Cohen says he's really searching for something more introspective, what John Coltrane called "universal truth."

His new album, also called Universal Truth, was inspired by the dual legacies of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, both of whom would have turned 100 this year. He made it with his trio of the moment, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Joe Farnsworth, as well as guest appearances by bassist Ron Carter and saxophonist George Coleman. Those two are reunited on record for the first time since they appeared on the 1964 album My Funny Valentine: Miles Davis In Concert.

While the inspiration behind the album is to pay tribute to Coltrane and Davis, the material is anything but recycled. Universal Truth nods to both artists through its repertoire, opening with "Budo," associated with Miles Davis and Birth of the Cool, and closing with Coltrane's "Blue Trane."

But at the center of the piece is a three-part suite of original music. That speaks to Cohen's philosophy for the project. Instead of recreating Miles and Trane, Emmet says the real tribute is more personal.

"In order to celebrate Miles and Trane, you have to celebrate your own artistry," he said.

In reflecting on Coltrane's legacy, Cohen found himself returning again and again to a phrase Coltrane often used: universal truth.

"John Coltrane would always talk about searching for a universal truth in his music or the universal truth," he explained. "Everyone has something different, and I think that right there is the universal truth. It's like that we all have some belief and some love and some care for something in the world. And music is just the best tool we have to search deep within ourselves and pull that out."

 

1. Budo

2. Well You Needn't

3. My Funny Valentine

4. Gingerbread Boy

5. Eternal Glimpse

6. Compassion

7. Universal Truth

8. Blue Trane

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