Avishai Cohen (bassist)
Avishai Cohen (Hebrew: אבישי כהן; born April 20, 1970) is an Israeli jazz double bassist, composer, singer, and arranger.
Avishai Cohen | |
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Cohen, Brosella Folk & Jazz, Brussels, 2010 | |
Background information | |
Born | Kibbutz Kabri, Israel | April 20, 1970
Genres | Jazz, ethno jazz, folk jazz, jazz fusion |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instruments | Bass, vocals |
Years active | 1993–present |
Labels | Razdaz, Stretch, Blue Note |
Associated acts | Chick Corea New Trio, Heernt |
Website | avishaimusic |
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
Cohen played with Chick Corea and Claudia Acuña.[3]
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)
References
- "Avishai Cohen and all that jazz". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
- Albert, Don (2006-07-27). "Soaking up sound". Tonight. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
- Auskern, Leonid (2005-07-13). "Avishai Cohen :: interview". Jazz News. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
- "Razdaz Recordz". Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
- Cohen, Avishai. "Razdaz Recordz Catalogue Lyla". Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
- Fordham, John (2003-10-22). "Avishai Cohen". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
- 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.
- Gerrie, Anthea (2010-04-22). "Israel's jazz legend owes it all to his mum". Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2014-10-26.
- "Avishai Cohen discography". ultratop.be/nl/. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- "Avishai Cohen discography". lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- "Avishai Cohen discography". swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- "Adama ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "Devotion ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. 1999-03-27. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "Colors ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. 2000-06-15. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "Unity ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. 2001-04-24. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "Lyla ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "At Home ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "Continuo ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "As Is… ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "Sensitive Hours ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "Gently Disturbed ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "Aurora ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "Seven Seas ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "Duende ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. 2012-05-21. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "Almah ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "From Darkness ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
- "1970 ‹ Avishai Cohen". AvishaiCohen.com. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
- "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums – SNEP (Week 41, 2017)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
- "Arvoles (Razdaz) A review of the Israeli-bassist's album featuring Elchin Shirinov and Noam David". JazzTimes. 2019-07-17. Retrieved 2019-07-20.