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Emmet Cohen Trio and Houston Person

I was lucky to attend the Emmet Cohen Trio and Houston Person concert at the Center for

Performing Art (Schwab Auditorium) on September 12, 2019. The concert was purely jazz and

involved the Emmet trio jazz maestros Cohen, Russel Hall, and Kyle Poole. Hard bop jazz

saxophonist, Houston Person, accompanied them. Houston person has recorded nearly everything

ranging from disco and gospel music to pop and RnB. The auditorium was packed to capacity

and the acoustics always bring out the best music from the stage. The music played in this concert

was beautiful and was enriched by Person’s saxophone addition of the tenor saxophone. The

legendary saxophonist matched smoothly with the Cohen trio whose music is purely based on

improvisation. The sound setting of the Schwab Auditorium was great and gave the audience an

opportunity to get all musical details of each piece.

The most interesting piece in the concert was ‘if this isn’t love.’ The piece begins with a

solo piano introduction that plays some chords that are later accompanied by the drummer and

then the bass. The rhythm changes as Cohen plays the melody and then the harmony synchronize

with the rhythm of the bass and the music takes off as each performer takes their role. The

drummer plays a vital role in ensuring the ensemble is within the desired rhythm. There is

rhythmic independence in some parts as the drummer sustains his rhythm on the snare drums.

The melody played by the bass in some passages is related to the piano melody that plays at the

introductory section. There is an obvious walking bass in this piece and the entire performance as

the trio’s most productions and performances rarely miss this feature.
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Houston Person’s ‘Jazz Everywhere’ was another incredible piece that features in the

concert. The beginning of the piece presents a beautiful swing melody that is accompanied by the

trio. The melody has gaps that are filled by the piano and drums. There is a sense of enjoyment

from the performers and the audience. The technical abilities of this group is way above the

expectation of a common jazz enthusiast. The saxophone playing techniques employed by Person

are just incredibly good and made the piece sound new and refined. The melody material was

mainly contained in the saxophone parts. However, there was a harmonic blend with the bass and

the piano passages. The posture of the performers was easy and showed great confidence.

In the music played in this concert, numerous jazz features were identifiable. For

example, the swing rhythm in Person’s ‘Jazz Everywhere’ was obvious and easily identifiable.

The 12-bar blues chord patterns were clear and the walking bass. The blue scale mainly was used

in the melodic and harmonic sections of all the pieces. There was evident syncopation that

created the swung rhythms. The melodies played by Person mainly used glissando, as it is

common in jazz music. The swing and syncopation gave a forward momentum to the

performances. There was melodic improvisation in the piano and saxophone sections of the

pieces and these showed the musical capabilities of the players. The concert contributed greatly

to my understanding of jazz. The opportunity of listening to jazz maestros and notable musicians

in the jazz genre has helped me gain an understanding of the building blocks of jazz and the

innate features of the style. It was a great concert.