Emmet Cohen
Piano Solo on
The Nearness Of You

About

Emmet Cohen takes one chorus of piano on Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness Of You" at a gentle 47 BPM, opening the solo section on this ballad from the Live From Emmet's Place session. The 36-bar AABA' form in F unfolds with intimate tenderness, Cohen's voicings and touch drawing out the composition's romantic warmth. His single chorus demonstrates the sensitivity and harmonic refinement that characterize his ballad playing, each phrase given room to breathe within the spacious tempo. As the first of two soloists, he establishes the contemplative mood that Chad Lefkowitz-Brown continues in the subsequent tenor saxophone feature.

Emmet Cohen was 30 to 31 years old at the time.