Is YouTube the Savior of Jazz?

Jazz Lives!

In 1994, when I first accessed the web, the technology was still in its early stages. However, I immediately sensed that the internet's global reach had the potential to expand Jazz's audience worldwide. In 1999, a few weeks before the new millennium, I produced a live video webcast from Birdland featuring Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, and Joe Lovano. The program had about fifty live viewers due to the lack of broadband at that time (selections from that webcast are available on my YouTube channel.) By 2006, I started posting as the Jazz Video Guy on YouTube. As the first real streaming video platform, YouTube became an immediate sensation, and within a few years, my JVG channel garnered millions of views. As of yesterday, my twenty five hundred posted videos have thirty million views.

As the medium matured, more people began posting their favorite recordings and original content, causing the audience to grow. Videos from all eras of jazz started appearing on YouTube. Once YouTube found a way to satisfy the copyright concerns of record labels, long-lost albums and a plethora of bootleg recordings surfaced.

In the late '90s, the Knitting Factory on Leonard Street in New York installed a webcam above the stage, becoming the first venue to regularly webcast performances. Every night, viewers worldwide could tune in and see what was happening at the club. Despite the low-definition, single-camera setup, which made viewers feel more like voyeurs than participants, the coolness factor was definitely there.

Over the past twenty-five years, broadband has become the norm and video content has transformed the web into an entirely different medium. For those of us who don’t live in New York City, the nightly webcasts from Small’s and Mezzrow are a godsend. With two or three groups usually performing each night, I have been introduced to countless new musicians and exciting music.

Recently, individual musicians have begun utilizing the platform to showcase their creativity and build a global audience for their music. Nowadays, anyone with a smartphone can be a filmmaker or broadcaster. It's so simple and easy to do that I'm surprised more musicians haven’t taken advantage of the opportunity.

During the pandemic, pianist Emmet Cohen began regularly broadcasting “Live from Emmet’s Place” on YouTube. I knew about Emmet from the Small’s webcasts, and he’s undoubtedly one of the strongest new keyboard voices. From his Harlem apartment, using first-rate production techniques, Emmet has done over one hundred programs, featuring his contemporaries and invited guests like Houston Person and Albert “Tootie” Heath. Emmet's deep ties to the masters and his frequent invitations to them to join the party are refreshing. At thirty-four, Cohen is currently playing with the eighty-seven-year-old Ron Carter at Birdland in New York.

One thing that is quickly evident about Emmet’s music is the high level of passion and love he brings to every performance. The joy of jazz is on full display as he incorporates various musical textures into his solos. His performances are never just his left hand accompanying a single melody in his right hand. In his rendition of the standard “After You’ve Gone,” you can hear Jaki Byard’s influence with his stride piano references. Emmet's playing is part of the continuum of jazz piano, always touching on different aspects of jazz history.

Patrick Bartley, one of Emmet's regular collaborators for several years, is another legend in the making. Patrick is an alto player who never ceases to amaze with his harmonic concepts, chops, and the rhythmic and melodic surprises he incorporates into his solos. His intense performances leave audiences cheering. In addition to his performance videos, Mr. Bartley uses the medium as a teacher, regularly sharing his opinions and ideas on various jazz-related subjects.

Because seeing is believing, please watch this video, recorded live in Tokyo, featuring Emmet, Patrick, Phillip Norris on bass, and powerhouse drummer Kyle Poole as they work their way through “After You’ve Gone.” The future of this music is in good hands.