Deep-Dive into Live From Emmet's Place performance of "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" with Gabrielle Cavassa

Emmet Cohen Two Chorus Solo (4:04-5:40)

Chorus #1 (4:04) Triplet Energy

Emmet immediately grabbed onto Benny’s energy through entering with 4 bars of pentatonic triplets. Kyle accompanied on the drums with intense quarter notes on various cymbals, the trio immediately after settling on a groove.

Once in the groove, Emmet settles into his solo, adding space and communication with the rest of the band.

Towards the end of the first half of the chorus, Emmet laid down some loud octaves in the left hand. Perhaps this was to shake up the solo?

In the second half of the first chorus Emmet revisited the triplet phrase from the beginning of his solo. Triplets would be played for the rest of the chorus.

Chorus #2 (4:46) Journey with Energy

For the beginning of the second chorus, Emmet played phrasing that resembled a melodic pattern from the swing beat on the cymbal. Kyle laid-down a few bombastic interjections, amping up the rhythm section intensity in the second chorus.

Emmet immediately followed this style up with 16th note phrasing followed by shout-figures with the matched rhythm of both hands.

In the second-half of the second chorus, both Emmet in his solo and the rhythm section became interestingly ambiguous, sometimes coming together in this brief journey outside the tune’s key.

In the last 8 bars, the group came back into a swing groove, and Emmet improvised repeated figures to get to the end of the form.

TIP: Don’t hesitate to melodically improvise the cymbal’s swing beat. It will help the rhythm section understand your swing feel.

TIP: ‘Coming home’ is the rhythm section’s way of deflating the energy under a solo, returning to its initial volume and intensity. This will typically happen towards the end of a solo, maybe at a form-point. ‘Ride the wave’ and play complimentary improvised phrases that hand off your solo to the next person about to play.