Emmet Cohen’s Universal Truth
It’s a big subject, but Emmet Cohen has taken the leap to discuss it.
Just released by Mack Avenue Records, “Universal Truth” is a timely follow-up to Cohen’s Miles and Coltrane at 100 Tour. In a brief interview with the Boise Jazz Society, Cohen said that “Miles Davis and John Coltrane have influenced me less as stylistic templates and more as models of artistic courage. Miles showed us how to keep moving forward—how reinvention and risk are essential parts of the music. Coltrane embodied devotion: to sound, to spirit, to truth. Together, they remind me that jazz is not about preservation alone, but about inquiry, growth, and honesty.”
Emmett has put these ideas together in this album. He combines compositions that Miles and Coltrane wrote or put their stamp on with his suite of three compositions, “Universal Truth.” In doing so, he honors the jazz tradition in his own unique style, but at the same time is charting a musical path that is true to his spirit.
Check out this album and remember how Emmet and his band mates wowed us all in Boise.
Tracks:
Budo (Miles and Bud Powell)
Well, You Needn’t (Thelonious Monk)
My Funny Valentine (Rogers & Hart)
Gingerbread Boy (Jimmy Heath)
I Eternal Glimpse (Emmet Cohen)
II. Compassion (Emmet Cohen)
III. Universal Truth (Emmet Cohen)
Blue Train (John Coltrane)
Personnel:
Emmet Cohen: Piano (All)
Joe Farnsworth: Drums (All)
Yasushi Nakamura: Bass (1, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Ron Carter: Bass (2, 3, 4)
Jeremy Pelt: Trumpet (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
George Coleman: Tenor Saxophone (3, 8)
Tivon Pennicott: Tenor Saxophone (5, 6, 7, 8)