This week in the 8495: Milestones!
Emmet’s grand finale (kinda), birthdays and anniversaries in Hartford and Poughkeepsie
Emmet Cohen’s Harlem apartment was chock full of big time jazz talent Monday night at the grand finale of Live From Emmet’s Place, the Monday night YouTube livestream Emmet started during the early days of the COVID pandemic. But fear not – he’ll be doing his streams from a new venue starting in December (photo courtesy Emmet Cohen)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I don’t think any single entity has done more in the past five years to bring jazz to more people worldwide than Emmet Cohen’s Live From Emmet’s Place Monday night livestreams on YouTube – not Newport, not the Grammys, not Wynton, not Montreux, nobody. Emmet’s YouTube channel has 233,000 subscribers. For jazz, that is one amazing number.
Well, all good things come to an end – or, in the case of Live From Emmet’s Place, a change in direction. It seems that Emmet’s jam sessions from his Harlem apartment, beloved by jazz fans around the world, were not so beloved by the neighbors.
“We had an official meeting of the building, and they said we can not do this anymore,” Emmet said in the grand finale stream, recorded Monday night.
Ah, but wait – that doesn’t mean Emmet’s streams are going away. Starting December 1, he’ll be streaming from Power Station at BerkleeNYC, in partnership with Open Studio.
How beloved was the series, which Emmet launched as a kind of vitrual rent party as the COVID pandemic closed the world down in 2020, by both fans and musicians alike? Well, here’s a comment from a Facebook follower: “You literally saved my life during COVID. I was so sick and always had your music to look forward to. Thanks a million.”
Or this from the same string: “Thank you for your vision to bring the music to your fans. It was so appreciated when we could not go out to hear live music.”
And it isn’t only fans whose lives were tremendously enriched by Emmet’s brainchild. Trumpet player/vocalist Benny Benack III said the impact of Live From Emmet’s Place for him was “monumental!”
“I sort of inadvertently stumbled into a ‘recurring guest star’ role just by nature of living down the street and being there so much in the early days when there was nothing else to do and we were limited in who we could see and be exposed to during the pandemic,” Benny told 8495Jazz in an email.
“As the stream gained popularity and the world opened its gates again, I was so surprised to hear comments from fans and audiences worldwide at shows in person saying how they had become familiar with me through the web series. I know for a fact many artists who came on the show often say the thing they get recognized most from is their episode of Emmet’s Place – it became the best advertising any of us could ever imagine, and that wasn’t even remotely the intention when it started.”
Jazz fans in the 8495 are also extremely lucky in that we often get a chance to see Emmet, Benny, and many more of the extraordinarily talented folks he’s featured, live and up close. Emmet, regular 8495Jazz readers know, is an alumnus of the Litchfield Jazz Camp and has headlined the Litchfield Jazz Festival numerous times. He was just in Pittsfield, MA, Friday night and he’ll be at MoCA/CT in Westport, CT, Dec. 11.
And Benny is no stranger to us, either. He headlined last year’s Manchester Jazz Festival and played Boston’s Regattabar Friday night. He’s a regular at The Side Door in Old Lyme, CT, where his calendar says he’ll be playing Dec. 13.
Oh, and Russell Hall, who held down the bottom for many an edition of Emmet’s Place, will be leading his quintet Halloween night at The Side Door. Another Emmet’s Place regular, trumpeter Bruce Harris, who is also program director at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, brought his band to the United Theatre in Westerly, RI, in July.
So here’s wishing Emmet the best in his next chapter, and wishing that the talent we see on screen keeps making the short journey to the great venues we have in the 8495. Thanks, Emmet.
Happy birthday, Hartford Jazz Orchestra!
The weekly show by the Hartford Jazz Orchestra is yet another Monday night jazz staple in the 8495 – and the HJO is celebrating its 60th birthday this month every Monday at its regular home, Elicit Brewing Company in Manchester.
The HJO began its existence at King Philip Middle School in West Hartford in October 1965, and its homes over the years before they landed at Elicit in 2022 have included Manchester Community College, Newington High School, and Hartford’s fabled 880 Club.
Some of the region’s top jazz players have been and are on the HJO roster or have been featured guests, and, as their show listing says, “Fresh beer + the HJO = a great night out!”
Here’s wishing the HJO many more years of bringing top-notch jazz to us.
PJP Celebrates Lucky 13
And last but not least milestonewise, we have the Poughkeepsie Jazz Project, which will celebrate 13 years of weekly Tuesday night jams at Mahoney’s Irish Pub and Steakhouse on Main Street.
Bassist Ben Basile, a founding member of the PJP, had a short but sweet announcement on his Facebook page: “My official press statement is: ‘That’s a lot of Blue Bossas.’” Well said, Ben, and may the PJP bring the swing to the Mid-Hudson for a long time to come.
Do yourself a favor: cast this to the biggest screen you can at your home and sit back and enjoy one of the best “house concerts” you’ll ever see. It’s Emmet Cohen’s farewell Live From Emmet’s Place YouTube stream.
Out and About with 8495Jazz
These listings are a curated sampling of shows in the region. As an independent resource for jazz news, 8495Jazz does not receive any consideration, free tickets, or affiliate fees for these listings. Please confirm events are still happening directly with the venue.
We are slightly tweaking the gigs listings; we’ll now go out to the Sunday following publication. That will give you a full week instead of a couple hours to ponder whether you would like to go listen to some fine music.
8495Jazz Wild Card Gig of the Week
Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
Instantiations (combo improvisation), today, 2:30 pm. GA $16.50 including service fee.
Other Shows This Week
University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
Jazz Combos I concert, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 7:30 pm. Free.
Groton Hill Music Center, Groton, MA
Frank Vignola’s Birdland Guitar Trio (combo), Sunday, Oct. 19, 7 pm. GA $39 including service fee.
VFW Post 399, Westport, CT
Chris Coogan Meets the Jazz Rabbi (piano, sax, combo), Thursday, Oct. 16, 7:30 and 8:35 pm. GA $10.76-$20.76, student/vets $15.76 for 7:30 show.
Firehouse 12, New Haven, CT
Bobby Previte’s SECOND ARROW (eclectic combo), Friday, Oct. 17, 8:30 and 10 pm. GA $20 for 8:30 show, $15 for 10 pm show.
Jazz Forum Arts, Tarrytown, NY
Lew Tabackin Quartet (sax-flute, combo), Friday, Oct. 17 and Saturday, Oct. 18, 7 and 9:30 pm. GA $37.75, child/student $32.50 including service fee.
The Side Door, Old Lyme, CT
Jonathan Barber and Vision Ahead (drums, combo), Friday, Oct. 17, 8 pm. GA $54.45, students $27.98 including service fee.
River Room, Willimantic, CT
Al Copley Quintet (piano, combo), Saturday, Oct. 18, 8 pm. GA $44.52, students $23.18 including service fee.
New England Conservatory, Boston, MA
NEC Jazz Orchestra presents Dreamkeeper: The Music of Carla Bley, Thursday, Oct. 16, 7:30 pm. Free (registration required).
Jams
Cafe Nine, New Haven CT
New Haven Jazz Underground jam, usually 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month: free admission
(Note: October NHVJU jams will be at The Cannon, 135 Dwight St.)
Saturday jazz jam most Saturdays, 4 pm. Free.
Blackeyed Sally’s, Hartford, CT
Jazz Wednesdays, featured set 7 pm, jam session afterward.
Carmine’s, East Hartford, CT
Paisley’s All Star Memorial Jam, 3rd Tuesday of the month, 7:30 pm. House band set followed by jam. Free.
Mahoney’s, Poughkeepsie, NY
Poughkeepsie Jazz Project, every Tuesday, 7 pm. Free.
Park City Music Hall, Bridgeport, CT
Scott Cushman and Friends followed by jam, first Wednesday of the month.
Jazz Societies and Organizations (great info on events, festivals, and more)
Jazz Society of Fairfield County
Jazz Fridays at Three Sheets New Haven 1st/3rd Fridays from 6-9pm
Jazz Thursdays at The Cannon New Haven every other Thurs from 7-9pm.
8495Jazz takes its name from the two Interstate highways that cross our region, I-84 and I-95. Within short driving distances from either, you can find incredible entertainment, from local jams to world-famous festivals in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. 8495Jazz: From Newburgh to Newport!
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