Jazz Articles

Avishai Cohen: Arvoles

by Roger Farbey
June 8, 2019

In the late 1990s, bassist Avishai Cohen was living and working in New York, having arrived a few years earlier from Israel. Out of the blue he received a phone call from Chick Corea which effectively changed his life. Not only did Corea offer Cohen a recording contract on the pianist's Stretch label, he also invited him to join him in a new acoustic group, Origins. This association culminated in a handful of albums between 1997 and 2000, with both ...

Jimmy Greene: Mission Statement

by Elliott Simon
July 17, 2010

Possessing a concise pithy tone on his tenor sax that at times can be reverential, Jimmy Greene also surprises with an ability to translate that same depth to soprano, when making the switch for the odd tune. Greene's quartet consists of pianist Xavier Davis, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland, and, while this ensemble fits squarely in the world of precise modern jazz, the tunes—due in equal measure to Greene's respect for melody and compositional skill—stand on their own ...

Amos Hoffman: Carving

by Eyal Hareuveni
July 16, 2010

Israeli guitarist and oudist Amos Hoffman reaches a fine balance between his main instruments on this fine recording. The guitar sounds natural and organic in Middle-eastern scales, while the oud fits perfectly in the swinging jazz sensibilities. Hoffman articulates a clear and melodic outline on both instruments, while he crosses genres. Hoffman is backed by veteran Israeli jazz musicians like bassist/producer Ilan Salem, his friend Avishai Cohenand percussionist Ilan Katchka. Promising young players such as percussionist Itamar ...

Avishai Cohen: Gently Disturbed

by Frederick Bernas
August 27, 2008

With this release on his own Razdaz Recordz, Avishai Cohen firmly entrenches himself as a frontrunning innovator in the piano trio medium. The Israeli bassist is joined by Mark Guiliana on drums and countryman Shai Maestro on piano--the latter a change in personnel from Continuo (Razdaz, 2006) and Live At The Blue Note (Razdaz, 2007). “Seattle" represents a slightly ponderous start, with a lyrical bass solo from Cohen over meandering chordal piano vamps, but it is not ...

Avishai Cohen Trio: Gently Disturbed

by Andrew Velez
August 8, 2008

Acclaimed Israeli bassist (and accomplished pianist) Avishai Cohen brings an impressive list of credits to his first outing with a new trio. Cohen's work defies easy categorization. On bass he's performed with Brad Mehldau and Chick Corea. The long list of musicians he has accompanied on piano includes Bobby McFerrin, Roy Hargrove, Paquito D'Rivera and Nnenna Freelon, which suggests something about his range. Further still, he has performed concert works with the London and Israeli Philharmonics. So ...

Amos Hoffman: Evolution

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
July 31, 2008

The oud is the principal instrument in Middle Eastern music: it's an ancient, fretless, short-necked lute with five pairs of strings and a bass string. On Evolution, his third CD as leader, Amos Hoffman plays the oud he made himself, and offers a fascinating combination of Middle Eastern music and jazz.

The Tel Aviv-based Hoffman wrote all the tunes here, providing a mix of composed and improvised music with hypnotic, sensuous, and insistent rhythms. Aside from ...

Amos Hoffman: Evolution

by Eyal Hareuveni
June 12, 2008

This is the second recording by Israeli guitarist Amos Hoffman that features him as an oud player, following Na'ama (Magda, 2006). Hoffman, who began playing the guitar when he was six years old and the oud a few years later, studied with Lebanese oud and nay player Bassam Saba, while he was living in New York.

For this recording Hoffman recruited good friend and prominent Israeli bassist Avishai Cohen, after playing on Cohen's recent recordings, veteran Israeli percussionist ...

Avishai Cohen: As Is ... Live at the Blue Note

by Paul Olson
August 17, 2007

It's impossible to deny the sheer musical virtuosity of bassist/composer Avishai Cohen; he can hold his own with anyone on the double bass, and he's a wonderful electric bassist as well. He's also a gifted composer whose intricate, often Middle Eastern-inflected pieces are, while well within the jazz idiom, unique--hear one of his songs, and you'll know it's his.Furthermore, Cohen and his core trio of drummer Mark Guilliana and keyboardist Sam Barsh were, until recently, one of the ...

Heernt: Locked in a Basement

by Paul Olson
June 6, 2006

Mark Guiliana's work in Avishai Cohen's trio has more than demonstrated his rhythmic wit and precision in a consistently demanding musical setting. The drummer takes on the bandleader role with his new trio Heernt, whose debut, Locked in a Basement, reveals a sonic concept unlike Cohen's--and to Guiliana's credit, unlike anyone's. This is groove-based, goofily virtuosic electric instrumental music that owes much more to electronica, synth-funk and indie rock than it does to traditional acoustic jazz. Let's ...

Avishai Cohen: Continuo

by Paul Olson
May 31, 2006

No bassist on the contemporary jazz scene is more technically able than Avishai Cohen, nor more immediately recognizable on a recording: his muscular, singing tone and richly melodic lines are unique. He's also got one of the tightest trios on earth, and the countless gigs pianist Sam Barsh and drummer Mark Guiliana have played with Cohen are immediately audible on Continuo.

Cohen's 2005 album At Home suffered from too many disparate styles and too many extra musicians augmenting the trio--it ...