Pure Post Bop.

Avishai Cohen is not the only Israeli-born bass player flexing his muscles on the United States Jazz Scene. Omer Avital has provided an expansive debut recording in Think With Your Heart. Hyperintelligent and free, Think With Your Heart could be considered what happens to Post Bop as a genre when it is perfected. Add to this the ethnic flair that is infused (hear the cacophonous opening to "Flow") and the music makes an almost religious statement demanding to be heard.

Nothin here would betray this a freshman recording effort. Avital has two solo excursions on the disc, the first being Bob Marley's "Redemption Song." Avital only ventures beyond his own composition with an airy, Middle Eastern "Stella By Starlight." The remainder of the music is an exciting concoction made up of equal parts prodigy, youthful enthusiasm, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Bill Holman, and Ariel Sharone. Defiantly brilliant and recommended.