Avishai Cohen (bassist)

Avishai Cohen (Hebrew: אבישי כהן; born April 20, 1970) is an Israeli jazz double bassist, composer, singer, and arranger.

This article is about the bassist. For the trumpeter with the same name, see Avishai Cohen (trumpeter).
Avishai Cohen
Cohen, Brosella Folk & Jazz, Brussels, 2010
Background information
Born (1970-04-20) April 20, 1970
Kibbutz Kabri, Israel
GenresJazz, ethno jazz, folk jazz, jazz fusion
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsBass, vocals
Years active1993–present
LabelsRazdaz, Stretch, Blue Note
Associated actsChick Corea New Trio, Heernt
Websiteavishaimusic.com

Early life

Avishai was born in Kabri, a kibbutz in northern Israel.[1] He grew up in a musical family at Motza and Beit Zayit near Jerusalem until the age of six, when his family moved to Shoeva, western Israel. He began playing the piano at 9 years old, but changed to the bass guitar at the age of 14, inspired by bassist Jaco Pastorius.[2]

Later life and career
Avishai Cohen in Uppsala, 2015

Cohen played with Chick Corea and Claudia Acuña.[3]

Avishai Cohen Trio in Uppsala, 2015

In 2002, Cohen founded his record label, Razdaz Recordz. "I've always been interested in several genres of music, including jazz, rock, pop, Latin and funk," says Cohen. "I'm always packed with ideas. I decided to start my own label because I'm involved in so many different projects."[4] Lyla was the first album released by Razdaz.[5] Cohen reflected on his work, "Lyla reflects much of who I am as an artist. The International Vamp Band has been touring for two years and I wanted to document that. I also started a rock band Gadu with Israeli drummer named Mike Starr [...] I've also been working on pop tunes with a female vocalist named Lola. And, of course, to show the whole picture on the CD, I wanted to acknowledge my relationship to Chick."[5]

Style

Cohen's signature sound is a blend of Middle Eastern, eastern European, and African-American musical idioms.[6] The New York Times describes his 2006 album Continuo as conjoining "heavy Middle Eastern groove with a delicate, almost New Age lyricism".[7] Cohen often sings in Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino), to which he has a connection through his mother. For example, "Morenika", from his album Aurora, is a very famous Ladino song he grew up hearing his mother singing around the house.[8]

Discography

Albums
Year Album Peak positions
BEL
(Fl)
[9]		 FR
[10]		 SWE
[11]
1998 Adama[12]
1999 Devotion[13]
2000 Colors[14]
2001 Unity[15]
2003 Lyla[16]
2005 At Home[17]
2006 Continuo[18]
2007 As Is...Live at the Blue Note[19]
2008 Sha'ot Regishot[20]
(in English: Sensitive hours)
2008 Gently Disturbed[21]
(as Avishai Cohen Trio)		 — 127 —
2009 Aurora[22] — 71 —
2011 Seven Seas[23] — 58 31
2012 Duende[24]
(with Nitai Hershkovits)		 79 63 —
2013 Almah[25] — 85 —
2015 From Darkness[26] — — —
2017 1970[27] 166 102
[28]		 —
2019 Arvoles[29] — — —

As sideman

  • PanaMonk - Danilo Pérez (1996)
  • East Coast Love Affair - Kurt Rosenwinkel Trio (1996)
  • Sun Sol - Seamus Blake Trio (1999)
  • The Dreamer - Amos Hoffman (1999)
  • Evolution - Amos Hoffman (2008)
  • It's About Time! - Omri Mor (2018)

See also

References
  1. "Avishai Cohen and all that jazz". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  2. Albert, Don (2006-07-27). "Soaking up sound". Tonight. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  3. Auskern, Leonid (2005-07-13). "Avishai Cohen :: interview". Jazz News. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  4. "Razdaz Recordz". Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  5. Cohen, Avishai. "Razdaz Recordz Catalogue Lyla". Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  6. Fordham, John (2003-10-22). "Avishai Cohen". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  7. Chinen, Nate (2006-09-01). "The Listings - September 1 - September 7; AVISHAI COHEN QUINTET/THE THREE COHENS". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  8. Gerrie, Anthea (2010-04-22). "Israel's jazz legend owes it all to his mum". Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2014-10-26.
  9. "Avishai Cohen discography". ultratop.be/nl/. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  10. "Avishai Cohen discography". lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  11. "Avishai Cohen discography". swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  12. "Adama ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  13. "Devotion ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. 1999-03-27. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  14. "Colors ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. 2000-06-15. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  15. "Unity ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. 2001-04-24. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  16. "Lyla ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  17. "At Home ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  18. "Continuo ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  19. "As Is… ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  20. "Sensitive Hours ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  21. "Gently Disturbed ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  22. "Aurora ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  23. "Seven Seas ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  24. "Duende ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. 2012-05-21. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  25. "Almah ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  26. "From Darkness ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  27. "1970 ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  28. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums – SNEP (Week 41, 2017)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  29. "Arvoles (Razdaz) A review of the Israeli-bassist's album featuring Elchin Shirinov and Noam David". JazzTimes. 2019-07-17. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.