Avishai Cohen (; born April 20, 1970) is an Israeli jazz double bassist, composer, singer, and arranger.
Early life
Avishai Cohen was born in Kabri, a kibbutz in northern Israel. He has Sephardic, Greek-Jewish, and Polish-Jewish ancestry. He grew up in a musical family at Motza and Beit Zayit near Jerusalem until the age of six, when his family moved to nearby Shoeva. 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, whose music was introduced to him by a music teacher in St Louis, Missouri, where he had moved with his family as a teenager. which led Cohen to experiment with Latin sounds. In 1996, he became a founding member of Chick Corea's Origin sextet, and in 1997, he joined Corea's New Trio. During the six years of musical collaboration with Corea, Cohen fine-tuned his skills as a performer and composer. Cohen also helped Chilean singer Claudia Acuña create her first album, Wind From The South (2000). Lyla was the first album released by Razdaz.
In 2005, he released the album At Home, featuring the composition "Remembering".
The cosmopolitan album Continuo (2006) followed. In 2007, the live recording As Is, Live at the Blue Note marked his return to New York for a series of live concerts at the Blue Note Jazz Club.
Gently Disturbed (Razdaz Recordz, 2008) was a trio album featuring Mark Guiliana on drums and Shai Maestro on piano.
Following his years-long stay in New York City, Cohen moved back to Israel and released Sha'ot Regishot (2008) (), which attained gold sales status in Israel. It was the first album to introduce vocals in all its compositions as well as songs in Hebrew.
With Aurora in 2009, Cohen blended jazz, classical music, and Sephardic traditions, while further exploring his abilities as a singer.
In 2011, Cohen released Seven Seas (EMI/Blue Note). His compositions embrace a blend of traditions, cultures, languages and styles, from Hebrew and Ladino folk songs, jazz standards, to contemporary jazz. The New York Times describes his 2006 album Continuo as conjoining "heavy Middle Eastern groove with a delicate, almost New Age lyricism". 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 popular Ladino song he grew up hearing his mother sing around the house. Over the years, Cohen has been creating and performing more music and arrangements associated with classical music, combining composed music and the freedom of jazz within his musical statement.
Discography
Albums
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2" style="text-align:center; width:300px;"|Album
! rowspan="2" style="text-align:center; width:10px;"|Year <br />recorded
! rowspan="2" style="text-align:center; width:15px;"|Label
! rowspan="2" style="text-align:center; width:10px;"|Year <br />released
! colspan="3" style="text-align:center; width:20px;"|Peak positions
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | BEL<br />(FL)<br>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | FR<br>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | SWE<br>
|-
|Adama
| 1997
| Stretch
| style="text-align:center;"|1998
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Devotion
|
| Stretch
| style="text-align:center;"|1999
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Colors
|
| Stretch
| style="text-align:center;"|2000
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Unity
|
| Stretch
| style="text-align:center;"|2001
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Lyla
| 2003
| Sunnyside
| style="text-align:center;"|2003
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|At Home<br /><small>(as Avishai Cohen Trio)</small>
|
| Sunnyside
| style="text-align:center;"|2005
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Continuo
| 2005
| Sunnyside
| style="text-align:center;"|2006
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|As Is...Live at the Blue Note
| 2006
| Half Note
| style="text-align:center;"|2007
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Sha'ot Regishot<br/>(in English: 'Sensitive hours')
|
| Razdaz
| style="text-align:center;"|2008
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Night of Magic<br /><small>(as Avishai Cohen Trio)</small>
| 2007
| Jazz In Kiev
| style="text-align:center;"|2008
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Gently Disturbed<br /><small>(as Avishai Cohen Trio)</small>
| 2007
| Razdaz
| style="text-align:center;"|2008
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|127
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Aurora
| 2008
| Blue Note
| style="text-align:center;"|2009
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|71
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Seven Seas
|
| Blue Note
| style="text-align:center;"|2011
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|58
| style="text-align:center;"|31
|-
|Duende<br/>with Nitai Hershkovits
| 2012
| Blue Note
| style="text-align:center;"|2012
| style="text-align:center;"|79
| style="text-align:center;"|63
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Almah
|
| Parlophone<!-- Music France-->
| style="text-align:center;"|2013
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|85
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|From Darkness<br /><small>(as Avishai Cohen Trio)</small>
| 2014
| Razdaz
| style="text-align:center;"|2015
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|1970
|
| Sony Music
| style="text-align:center;"|2017
| style="text-align:center;"|166
| style="text-align:center;"|102
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Arvoles
| 2019
| Razdaz
| style="text-align:center;"|2019
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Two Roses<br />with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
| 2020
| Naïve
| style="text-align:center;"|2021
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Shifting Sands<br /><small>(as Avishai Cohen Trio)</small>
| 2021
| Naïve
| style="text-align:center;"|2022
| style="text-align:center;"|135
| style="text-align:center;"|—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|-
|Brightlight
| 2024
| Naïve
| style="text-align:center;"|2024
| style="text-align:center;"|
| style="text-align:center;"|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|}
As sideman
With Chick Corea
- Origin (sextet), A Week at the Blue Note (Stretch, 1998)[6CD] – recorded live in 1997
- Origin, Live at the Blue Note (Stretch, 1998) – recorded live in 1997
- Origin, Change (Stretch, 1999)
- New Trio, Past, Present & Futures (Stretch, 2001)
With Amos Hoffman
- The Dreamer (Fresh Sound, 1999)
- Evolution (Sunnyside, 2008)
With others
- Gary Barlow, Music Played by Humans (Polydor, 2020)
- Seamus Blake Trio, Sun Sol (Fresh Sound, 2000) – recorded in 1999
- Omri Mor, It's About Time! (Naïve, 2018) – recorded in 2013–16
- Danilo Pérez, PanaMonk (Impulse!, 1996)
- Kurt Rosenwinkel Trio, East Coast Love Affair (Fresh Sound, 1996) – live
- Edward Simon, Simplicitas (Criss Cross, 2005) – recorded in 2004
- Abraham Rodriguez Jr., Iroko (2023)