IMN : Updates for Avishai Cohen

IMN

May 20th, 2013

from cultura.elpais.com

An Israeli Jazz Prophret
Bu: Seisedos Iker

Spread these days a kind in the world of jazz in Spain (as in need of good news) which tells of a prodigious Israeli trumpeter Avishai Cohen called (not to be confused with the bassist of the same name and nationality). He was able to give hope to fans during a successful tour that took in early May for six cities. It was due only to the good atmosphere of the concerts or the high artistic level of a trio completed by Reiner Elizarde The Negron on bass and Iago Fernandez on drums, was especially happy reunion with adventure club jazz. The instrumentalist struggled at the scene of lower Manhattan and now lives in Tel Aviv, a style that brings a contemporary style from Don Cherry, Clifford Brown or Ornette Coleman, whom Cohen used to visit at his home in New York since that day he addressed “as a fan either on a record company.”

At a recent meeting in Madrid, just before meeting for the first time with the bass would sign a brilliant concert, Cohen (Tel Aviv, 1978), vegetarian complexion brief, was as affable concerned about their pints style jazzmen old and past child prodigy. “I started playing as 10 years. Not sure if that makes me too early, I know that had a huge facility with the trumpet. I was very clear from the beginning that I would devote to this. So either I used too much time in studies. Today I wish I had “.

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Catching Up with Trumpeter Avishai Cohen

IMN

May 9th, 2013

from jazztimes.com

Catching Up with Trumpeter Avishai Cohen
By: Marta Ramon

Trumpeter Avishai Cohen has emerged in the past decade as one of the rising stars of jazz. The brother of saxophonist/clarinetist Anat and saxophonist Yuval Cohen, he he attended the Berklee College of Music in the late ’90s and placed third in the 1997 Thelonious Monk Jazz Trumpet Competition, after which he began his career in earnest in New York City. In 2011 he joined the SFJAZZ Collective.

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The Guardian: Avishai Cohen with Strings

IMN

May 8th, 2013

from guardian.co.uk

Avishai Cohen with Strings

Maybe it’s because he’s a strings player, but the Israeli bassist, singer and composer Avishai Cohen revealed on this UK premiere how fine-tuned he is to what chamber players do best – in contrast to those jazz musicians who write for classical strings as if they just needed the usual riffs, but played on softer instruments. Cohen, the former Chick Corea double-bassist who took off as a composer at the end of the 90s, has boldly merged his own jazz trio with a bespoke chamber group comprising one violin, two violas, a cello and an improvising oboist and cor anglais player in the versatile Yoram Lachish.

Cohen’s materials are the Hebrew folksongs and poetry he heard as a child in Israel, the Judaeo-Spanish Ladino songs of the Sephardic tradition, classical music and jazz. Within the first 20 minutes, the band had moved from a graceful, elegantly harmonised classical opening to a poignant Hebrew song (Cohen has an expressively light, ardent voice), to the jazz ballad A Child Is Born for Lachish (soloing like a mellower-toned soprano saxist) and the accomplished young jazz pianist Nitai Hershkovits. A Red Army theme started off dolorously stamping, before being playfully twisted by Cohen’s funky polyphonic parts for strings, woodwind and his own incisive bassline.

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Triveni II " impressive levels of energy and creativity"

IMN

April 12th, 2013

from irishtimes.com

Avishai Cohen: Triveni II
By: Cormac Larkin

For a trumpeter, it takes more than a little chutzpah to dispense with any chordal instrument and negotiate the sparse terrain of the jazz trio. But then, Israeli-born Avishai Cohen (whose name is always followed by the word “trumpeter” to distinguish him from the bassist of the same name) is by no means lacking in that particular quality. The 10 tracks here are culled from the same session that produced Triveni I, Cohen’s well-regarded 2010 release, and they display the same impressive levels of energy and creativity. Cohen and fellow Israeli bassist Omer Avital are both on form, but in fact it is New York native Nasheet Waits who really stands out, colonising the spaces left by the absent chordal instrument with an endlessly inventive, deeply grooving performance at the drums.

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Confirmed Tourdates As Of March 21st, 2013

IMN

June 18th, 2013: Village Vanguard New York, NY USA [Mark Turner with special guest Avishai Cohen]
June 19th, 2013: Village Vanguard New York, NY USA [Mark Turner with special guest Avishai Cohen]
June 20th, 2013: Village Vanguard New York, NY USA [Mark Turner with special guest Avishai Cohen]
June 21st, 2013: Village Vanguard New York, NY USA [Mark Turner with special guest Avishai Cohen]
June 22nd, 2013: Village Vanguard New York, NY USA [Mark Turner with special guest Avishai Cohen]
June 23rd, 2013: Village Vanguard New York, NY USA [Mark Turner with special guest Avishai Cohen]

Birth of the cool Israeli

IMN

March 13th, 2013

_from

Birth of the cool Israeli
By: Mordecai Spektor

Avishai Cohen is feeling under the weather. During a recent telephone interview with the AJW from his home in Tel Aviv, he sounds a little groggy, and he apologizes for his diminished physical state.

Hopefully, Cohen, who has emerged as a dazzling trumpeter on the jazz scene, will recuperate in time for the spring tour of the SFJAZZ Collective, an all-star octet, which includes a stop at the Dakota Jazz Club.

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3 Cohens, many influences

IMN

February 4th, 2013

from southflorida.com

3 Cohens, many influences
By: Bob Weinberg

George Wein’s Newport All-Stars seemed a bit out of place among the percussive, groove-heavy lineup of San Juan’s 2010 Heineken Jazz Fest. How would a bluesy, traditional jazz group fare amidst a roster of Latin-jazz superstars? And yet, when the band’s clarinetist, the Israeli-born Anat Cohen, started blowing hot ‘n’ sweet notes into the humid night air, the largely Puertorriqueño audience stood and cheered as if she were a daughter of the Enchanted Isle.

Ovations for Cohen’s virtuosity have been fairly universal. She topped December’s DownBeat Readers Poll on her instrument and has a virtual lock on best clarinetist — six years running — as voted on by the Jazz Journalists Association.

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Triveni II "...compact, translucent, kaleidoscopic, and often transcendent"

IMN

January 24th, 2013

from examiner.com

Your last best list of the year’s jazz recordings
By: Neil Tesser

“Triveni II” (Anzic). With this recording (the second by this trio), Israeli-born Avishai Cohen does for the trumpet what Sonny Rollins did in his saxophone-led trios of the late 50s: he displays a sense of orchestration, and an awareness of the extra-melodic capabilities of his instrument, that allows him to fill the role of a chord instrument. In the process, he obviates the need for that instrument entirely. The direction of the music, as well as the repertoire – which includes tunes by Charles Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie (as well as Ornette Coleman and Cohen himself) – suggest a modern mainstream quartet, and you’d expect to find piano or guitar in the mix. But Cohen’s superlative ability to suggest harmonies fills in the gaps; so does his knack for slipping the trumpet in and out of the rhythm section, often freeing bassist Omer Avital (Cohen’s lantzman) and even drummer Nasheet Waits to take on some of the melody work themselves. The resulting music is compact, translucent, kaleidoscopic, and often transcendent.

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Triveni make's Chicago Reader and All About Jazz year end top 10 lists

IMN

December 28th, 2012

Avishai Cohen’s “Triveni II”, the second release from his triofeaturing Omer Avital and Nasheet Waits was featured on the Peter Margasak (Chicago Reader) and Dan Bilawsky’s (All About Jazz) year end top 10 lists.

To see Peter’s full list click here

To see Dan’s full list click here

Triveni II is the work of young masters

IMN

December 20th, 2012

blogs.ottawacitizen.com

Three top-notch trumpet discs (Avishai Cohen, Ron Miles, Nadje Noordhuis CDs reviewed)
By: Peter Hum

As they say in my wife’s mother tongue, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, bassist Omer Avital and drummer Nasheet Waits “pétent le feu.”

That more prosaically means, “bursting with energy,” my non-francophone friends, and indeed, there might not be a more wonderfully in-your-face, rhythmically and melodically exhilarating disc from a trumpeter in 2012.

To read the full review click here

3 Cohens showcase their abilities for songwriting, playing and passionate improvisation

IMN

December 11th, 2012

from blogs.opb.org

Top 10 Albums of 2012
By: Matt Fleeger

The 3 Cohen siblings (Yuval, Anat, Avishai) showcase their abilities for songwriting, playing and passionate improvisation on this swinging, hard-driving release. Guest vocalist Jon Hendricks joins the band for a couple of tunes – making this album a diverse, and solid, listen the whole way through. There’s something special about listening to three musicians who have spent their entire lives playing together – and the three Cohens demonstrate that familial bond perfectly on this release.

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Review: Triveni "Cohen is as fearless"

IMN

November 27th, 2012

from nippertown.com

AVISHAI COHEN – Triveni II
By: J Hunter

Don’t let the Roman numerals fool you: Triveni II is not, specifically, a sequel. It seems that the 2009 sessions that gave us Avishai Cohen’s divine disc Introducing Triveni produced enough music for two whole releases. As such, the cataclysmic trumpeter’s latest offering is (thankfully) closer to “Kill Bill” than it is to “Die Hard with a Vengeance.” Like Donny McCaslin’s sax-trio date Recommended Tools, Cohen is out on the wire without a net, supported only by rhythm devils Omer Avitel and Nasheet Waits. Cohen is as fearless as his reed-wizard sister Anat, and it takes a fearless person to jump on Ornette Coleman’s “Music News” or Charles Mingus’ “Portrait” and wrestle that sucker to the ground. The latter tune is tailor-made for Avitel (who plays bass in Anat’s quartet), as is Avishai’s blues-soaked take on the classic “Willow Weep for Me.” Although Waits paints with swirling brushes on the reflective original “November 30th” and the alternate take of Don Cherry’s “Art Deco,” the powerful drummer happily flexes his muscles on Cohen’s playful bopper “BR Story” and the band’s bust-out reboot of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Woody ‘n’ You.” And I’m sorry, but you have to love a disc where one Ornette tune isn’t enough! “Follow the Sound” should be Triveni’s theme song, because after two straight releases that take no prisoners, I’m ready to to follow them anywhere.

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Live Review: "...his trumpet paralleled her voice in compelling duos"

IMN

November 14th, 2012

from jpost.com

Excerpt from Concert review: Madeleine Peyroux
By: Avi Hoffman

Peyroux invited top Israeli jazzman Avishai Cohen to to join her in several songs and his trumpet paralleled her voice in compelling duos. Mori, her bassist, is Israeli and when she invited leading local saxophonist Eli Dejibri to jam with them in the final song “Careless Love,” the crowd roared its appreciation.

To read the full review click here

Avishai Cohen Fuses Jazz With Israeli Roots

IMN

November 13th, 2012

from thecrimson.com

Avishai Cohen Fuses Jazz With Israeli Roots
Israeli trumpeter comes to perform at the Regattabar

By: Tree A. Palmedo

“People like to hear people analyze their own music,” says Avishai Cohen, calmly sipping an espresso before a sound check at Cambridge’s Regattabar last Thursday. “Today,” he says, “it’s like the better you talk about your music, the more gigs you’re going to get.” Yet the Israeli trumpeter doesn’t utter a word when he takes the stage later that night. The 34-year old Tel Aviv native silently saunters into the spotlight to exuberant applause, wearing an open-collared black dress shirt and a red tie dangling around his neck. His long hair has been pulled up into a bun at the back of his head, fully revealing his bearded face. There’s no flowery opening speech, not even a count off; Cohen simply puts his trumpet to his lips and lets the burnished-toned notes speak for themselves. Throughout the rest of the performance, Cohen speaks very little, instead letting his tradition-informed but fresh sound define his musical persona.

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REVIEW: Downbeat Magazine, "Triveni II is a jazz improvisation fan’s dream"

IMN

November 8th, 2012

from downbeat.com

Avishai Cohen, Triveni II (Anzic)
By: Frank Alkyer

Introducing Triveni was one of my favorite records of 2010. It was an introduction to trumpeter Avishai Cohen’s new trio with bassist Omer Avital and drummer Nasheet Waits. So it’s no surprise that Triveni II, recorded during the same two-day recording session in Brooklyn, delivers another powerful set. Triveni II is a jazz improvisation fan’s dream. From the opening blast of “Safety Land,” Cohen has a serious command of his trumpet and a trove of ideas. Avital has uncanny rhythmic ability and some of the most powerful musicality being played on bass today. Waits, meanwhile, merges machine-gun chops with the taste of a Roy Haynes. The biggest challenge throughout this album is deciding how to listen because there’s so much music coming from the trio. The only answer is listen often—sometimes for Cohen’s deft lines on tunes like his original composition “B.R. Story,” sometimes for the locked-in groove of Avital on, say, “Willow Weep For Me,” and sometimes for Waits’ fills and adornment, as on this version of Ornette Coleman’s “Follow The Sound.” Triveni II is the rare sequel that’s just as good as the original.

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Live Review: Triveni II, "amazing work"

IMN

October 31st, 2012

from jazzchill.blogspot.com

AVISHAI COHEN -TRIVENI II
By: Dusty Groove

Amazing work from trumpeter Avishai Cohen – working here with his Triveni trio, and sounding even more powerful than on the first release from that group! The combo features incredible bass from Omer Avital – a player we’ve really come to love in recent years – and rocketing drums from Nasheet Waits – working with Cohen’s trumpet in this power-trio mode that’s usually reserved for tenorists in this type of setting – but which really helps open up Avishai’s music in a wonderful way! The quick-time improvisation of the trio is brilliant – proof that these guys really feel each other strongly – and things are free, yet never too outside – a beautiful balance from all players. Titles include “BR Story”, “Safety Land”, “Get Blue”, “Portrait”, “Art Deco”, “Music News”, and “Nov 30th”.

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