"You Already Know" is an original composition by pianist Emmet Cohen, a modern hard bop burner written in AABA form. The tune is characterized by its breakneck tempo and minor-key tonality, creating an edgy, relentless intensity that serves as a vehicle for virtuosic improvisation. The melody features declarative, charging lines that evoke the style of Cedar Walton and other hard bop composers while reflecting Cohen's own voice as a contemporary jazz pianist-composer. Cohen first recorded the piece with his trio featuring Russell Hall on bass and Kyle Poole on drums, released around 2019. A notable later version appears on drummer Joe Farnsworth's 2025 album The Big Room, recorded live at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club with an expanded sextet including Cohen on piano, Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Sarah Hanahan on alto saxophone, Joel Ross on vibraphone, and Yasushi Nakamura on bass. That performance showcases the composition's capacity to accommodate multiple soloists at extreme speeds while maintaining ensemble cohesion. Unlike many tunes in the jazz repertoire, "You Already Know" has not yet entered wide circulation as a standard. It remains closely associated with Cohen's working groups and collaborators, representing the kind of original material that contemporary jazz musicians compose for their own ensembles rather than drawing from the traditional songbook.
