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Emmet Cohen Trio Featured at 2023 High Country Jazz Festival App Theatre Hosts “Poster Man for Contemporary Jazz” on June 10

BOONE, NC – Internationally acclaimed jazz artist Emmet Cohen and his award-winning trio take to the Appalachian Theatre stage in Boone at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 10 as a headliner event during the 2023 High Country Jazz Festival. It is one of 14 separate events in ten different locations throughout Boone and Blowing Rock that are part of the 2023 festival, which runs from June 9 through 11. Tickets for The Emmet Cohen Trio are $35 and $42. 

More than half of the 14 events are free of charge to the general public with tickets on sale for headliner performances via the festival website: www.highcountryjazzfestival.org

All About Jazz writer Zachary Weg observed, “[Cohen is] not just the poster man for contemporary jazz, breathing 2020s finesse onto early twentieth century swing, he is a supremely gifted and impassioned artist of the highest order.”

Emmet Cohen won the 2019 American Pianists Award and appears regularly with jazz greats Benny Golson, Tootie Heath, and Lea DeLaria among others. During the 2020 pandemic lockdown, he gained fame with weekly live-streamed performances featuring a wide range of jazz works.  Cohen has appeared in varied international jazz events, including the Newport, Monterey, Detroit, North Sea, Bern, Edinburgh, and Jerusalem jazz festivals, as well as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. 

The Emmet Cohen Trio consists of Cohen on piano, Joey Ranieri on bass, and Kyle Poole on drums. They have performed at the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Birdland, Jazz Standard, London’s Ronnie Scott’s, Jazzhaus Montmartre in Copenhagen, Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall, the Cotton Club in Tokyo, and the Kennedy Center.

The New York Times wrote that, “Cohen has a breezy, phlegmatic command at the keyboard, and a deep well of historical jazz references at his fingertips. If he wasn’t already an obvious heir apparent to the neo-traditional jazz mantle, his win at last weekend’s American Pianists Awards ought to make it official.”

“Surprisingly, Emmet will be making his High Country debut during our ’23 Festival,” said Todd Wright, co-chair of the leadership team for the weekend long event. “His incredibly talented trio of musicians are all in their 30s and will give our audiences a chance to hear what they’ve been missing from the younger crowd. Jazz has an incredible lineage that continues today through such talented artists as Cohen performing ‘Live from Emmet’s Place in NYC’ on a weekly basis.” 

Wright is alluding to the eight lucky guests who gather at Cohen’s fifth-floor walk-up in Harlem while thousands more from around the world tune into livestreams of the event on Facebook and YouTube.

Cohen’s concert is one of four events on Saturday, June 10 with live music morning, noon, and night on the schedule, beginning with student artists in the morning and well-established jazz legends that evening.  From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Marquee Jazz showcases students in Wright’s Jazz Studies Program performing popular works underneath the historic, award-winning art deco façade and marquee at the Appalachian Theatre. This event is free to the public. 

“For two hours on Saturday morning, the brightest and best of my students, or at least the early risers, will show up to demonstrate the teachings they have learned during their tutelage at Appalachian,” said Wright. “I’m very proud of this group of aspiring professionals.” 

From noon to 3 p.m., a High Country Jazz Lunch takes place at Lost Province Brewing Company, located at 130 North Depot Street in Boone, just a short walk from the App Theatre featuring The Ron Brendle Trio with Andy Page. Ron is a seven-time Creative Loafing magazine Jazz Artist of the Year and recipient of Jazz Composition grants from both the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte-Mecklenburg and the North Carolina Arts Council. While there is no cover charge for this event, reservations are encouraged.

Audiences will then head over to the App Theatre for the 7:30 p.m. performance by The Emmett Cohen Trio.

From 10 p.m. until midnight, jazz enthusiasts and musicians from near and far will gather at Beacon Butcher Bar in Boone for a Late Night Jazz Festival Jam Session.  It will be a chance to enjoy your favorite beverage and tasting menu while listening to emerging talents and seasoned veterans celebrating this beloved art form. The Beacon is located at 125 Graduate Lane in the 1700 block of Highway 105 next to the iconic Water Wheel. This event is free of charge and no advance reservations are necessary.

The goal of the High Country Jazz Festival is “to host exceptional and engaging jazz experiences for local residents and regional audiences with proceeds to support arts, education, and civic programs that enrich our High Country home.”  The three-day celebration of the art form of jazz is a unique partnership between the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country (ATHC), Boone Sunrise Rotary, and the Jazz Studies Program at Appalachian State University. The 2023 festival is presented by Mast General Store with additional support from Explore Boone and Hampton Inn & Suites, Boone. 

The festival is offering an “all-event” ticket, which includes admission to all three headliner performances. There are two options: Premier ($110, including taxes and fees, with prime seating for Appalachian Theatre performances) and Regular ($95, including taxes and fees). To purchase tickets, please visit the festival’s official website at www.highcountryjazzfestival.org

About the Appalachian Theatre

The mission of the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country is to revitalize and sustain this historic community touchstone as a quality home for diverse artists and audiences with a special focus on programs that celebrate our distinctive Appalachian heritage and enhance our capacity to serve as an economic catalyst for Boone and the High Country. Once a gorgeous 999-seat Art Deco movie house, the building closed in 2007 and sat empty and gutted for years. On October 14, 2019, the Appalachian Theatre reopened its doors after a $10 million renovation that brought the distinctive Art Deco details back to this historic theatre and created a new 629-seat, state-of-the-art, acoustically pristine venue for live concerts, films, plays, and dance performances. The historic Appalachian Theatre has entertained regional audiences in the heart of downtown Boone, North Carolina since 1938. www.apptheatre.org  

About Boone Sunrise Rotary

Boone Sunrise Rotary brings together business, professional and civic leaders within our community. Rotary promotes integrity, understanding and goodwill locally, nationally, and worldwide. The proceeds from the festival will further Rotary’s commitment to humanitarian and civic service and will go directly to many of the local nonprofit organizations that serve the High Country. www.boonerotary.org

About the Jazz Studies Program

The Jazz Studies Program at Appalachian State University identifies students with a special interest in jazz, promotes high standards of jazz performance, and expands the circle of students who have meaningful experiences with jazz during their college careers.  Program support will help provide student enrichment, off-set performance tour costs, student scholarships, host acclaimed jazz clinicians and the purchase of music and supplies. www.music.appstate.edu