naïve
Avishai Cohen (bass & vocals); Guy Moskovich & Eden Giat (piano); Romi Kaspi & Noam David (drums); Yural Drabkin (saxophone); Yosi Ben Tovim (guitar); Lars Nilsson (trumpet); Hilel Salem (flugelhorn); Jakob Sollerman (trombone); Ilan Salem (flutes); Jenny Nilsson (vocals)
Bassist, composer and vocalist, Avishai Cohen has for the last three decades been carving out a reputation for himself as a first class jazz musician. His trio records have been consistently top notch with Cohen not afraid to out himself out there as a composer.
Cohen the bassist and Cohen the composer is not that different in the sense that in either role Avishai Cohen looks outside of the jazz mainstream for his inspiration, drawing on his own Israeli heritage and his interest in formally composed and arranged music as well as improvisation. Often, he has looked to incorporate all three with varying degrees of success.
With his latest release the overriding success of the music comes in the trio format with the smaller unit best deployed to bring out the inherent lyricism of his compositions of which no less than eight are on display here.
The opening number ‘Courage’ gets things off to a cracking start with its catchy melody and brisk drumming before the music drops back into a gentle groove and Cohen’s bass briefly steps into the spotlight. In a neat turnaround back to the original groove and tempo the piano opens the solo up, with a similar device used in the following title track.
The trio can also be heard to wonderful effect on the punchy ‘The Ever and Ever Evolving Etude’ with its flowing piano lines and excellent solo from Cohen that eschews flashy virtuosity for a statement that allows the woody tone of his bass to take centre stage along with the melodic content of his improvisation. As good as these pieces are, ‘Roni’s Swing’ steps in and up the ante is a driving and swinging piece that really allows the pianist to fly and elicits some wonderful bass lines from Cohen whose lines place him right at the heart of the music.
As mentioned before, Cohen is not averse to flirting with classical music, and in a captivating reading of ‘Liebestraum No. 3’ by Franz Liszt the trio once again exhibit their sheer class.
Not quite so successful are the tracks that feature additional musicians. The addition of saxophonist Yural Drabkin to make up a quartet on ‘Drabkin’ is a dreamy ballad that is just a little to dreamy to ever get going, and although featuring some impressive guitar a similar fate falls on ‘Hope’. If things coalesce more convincingly on ‘Hitragut’ that has a nice arrangement that effectively utilises brass, flutes and a more compelling solo from the saxophonist.
The album concludes with two standards with a version of Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’ that is frankly disappointing, yet Cohen quickly pulls things back around with a lengthy yet inspired duet with Yural Drabkin on Jimmy Van Heusen’s ‘Polka Dots and Moonbeams’. An absorbing exploration that features Avishai’s beautiful arco playing before switching to pizzicato in an accompaniment to the saxophone that is a masterclass in shadowing and supporting another instrumentalist.
For this listener then a mixed bag, but when it is good it is very good indeed.
