Emmet Cohen: Master Legacy Series, Volume 2

Let's not mince words. Everything you want from a great jazz trio recording -electricity, pacing, innovation, dynamic virtuosity and interplay, flights of fancy and passion -are found in great abundance on Emmet Cohen's newest Master Legacy Series Volume 2.

Recorded live June, 2017 in Vancouver, B.C., pianist Cohen, featured elder and bassist extraordinaire Ron Carter and drummer Evan Sherman (who, though in his mid-20's, plays here like an old master) lock in and swing mightily. Cole Porter's "All of You" a delicious opening salvo of rhythm-ning, launches from the gate, setting the tone for the entire run. Speaking of swing, the bold trio re-invents Tommy Dorsey's big band hit "Opus One" scaling back while charging forth. Three nods to the lyricism of fellow pianist and Carter peer Cedar Walton follow, with the explosive, rumbling blues "Holy Land" and the wistful romanticism of "Dear Ruth" allowing the players to expose all their creative synergy. Carter's playing here like he was back at Van Gelder's in Hackensack, growling, seductive, rooted to the groove one moment, pirouetting around his young partners the next. Cohen, whose energy, dexterity, and seemingly boundless inventiveness makes him the man to listen for years to come, bounces snatches of Monk to and fro.

Though named for the Jewish prayers of mourning, "Hatzi Kaddish -Intro" and "Hatzi Kaddish" both composed by Cohen and Sherman, are rousingly joyous, highlighting Sherman's sense of groove, atmosphere, and impeccable time keeping. Cohen's desire for jazz generations to mingle and conspire is the driving force behind Master Legacy Series (last year's Volume 1 featured drummer Jimmy Cobb) and certainly on these two tracks the youngsters have taken the torch and run wildly forward with it. Carter's "Light Blue" is given an anthemic reading, as if Cohen and Sherman have have waited their whole lives to partake of this delicate theme alongside its creator. "Ron Carter Speaks" a bass solo that encompasses all of Carter's moods and manners, leads seamlessly into the dancing and elegiac "Joshua" the Victor Feldman/Miles Davis gem from Seven Steps to Heaven. What a way to open 2018.

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