A big Baristaville High Five goes to jazz pianist Emmet Cohen, who'll be making the scene in Los Angeles to perform at the 2008 Grammy Awards in February. Emmet, a senior at Montclair High, won a national competition - and was singled out from hundreds of high school jazz musicians to play in the Grammy Jazz Band. He was selected to play in a 4-person combo - the highest award.
17-year-old Emmet gigs locally, and jams on Tuesday nights at Cecil's in West Orange on the Hammond B3 organ. He started playing piano at the age of three-and-a-half, and just recently switched from classical to jazz.
We got to listen to a DVD of his rendition of "Cheek to Cheek," submitted for the competition - it blew us away. Now, we'll plan to catch a local performance.
You can also catch the Emmet Cohen Trio performing at the Shanghai Jazz Club, Madison, on Wed., Jan. 2nd Thursday, Jan. 3.
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GREAT story! Congrats to this guy--very impressive to be at that level at his age!
And Barista, more stories like this one would make for a better blog, imo...