Emmet Cohen
Piano Solo on
Along Came Betty

About

Emmet Cohen's piano solo is the second of nine solos in this WBGO broadcast concert, following Melissa Aldana's tenor saxophone on Along Came Betty. He takes two choruses of the 34-bar ABCD form at 122 BPM, bringing harmonic awareness and rhythmic clarity to Benny Golson's distinctive non-repeating structure. Cohen's approach reflects his deep engagement with the post-bop piano tradition, finding inventive pathways through the composition's avoidance of conventional dominant-to-tonic resolutions. The medium swing tempo allows space for both melodic development and harmonic exploration within the tune's winding, through-composed architecture.

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