Avishai Cohen - Looking back, Moving forward, Stretching out

 
Since the mid-90's Avishai Cohen has been hailed as one of the freshest young voices in contemporary jazz. Equally renown for both his electric and upright playing, it was Cohen's strong compositional strength which elevated him from the rest of the "young lion" pack when he began recording as a bandleader.

Moving to New York from his native Israel in 1992, Cohen paid the bills by working in construction and getting the odd moving job before making enough contacts in the jazz scene. Through constant playing with as many different artists as possible, Avishai eventually came to prominence and has worked with heavyweights such as Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D'Rivera, Roy Hargrove, Denilo Perez and Chick Corea.

The Avishai Cohen Trio's latest album, Gently Disturbed, was released earlier this year to rave reviews. Cohen's songs are dynamic and complex yet concise, never managing to deviate from their melodic content. This focused improvisational approach only serves in highlighting Avishai's lyrical upright playing.

Calling from Israel, Avishai gave us the word on his latest trio album, his new vocal-based project due out next year and his four-night stand at NYC's legendary Blue Note from August 28-31, 2008.

Do you enter the studio with skeletal forms of songs and then improvise as you record them or do you perform the songs in concert first so that they 'gel' with the band?
Yes. What happens is, I put out a record and when we go out and tour, in addition to playing stuff from previous albums we also play stuff from the future. I always write and I bring stuff to the guys so we always play new tunes that are not yet recorded. Sometimes more than other times, you know? Now, I've stopped myself from writing for a minute because I had to give it a rest! I write so much. We were playing and touring continually promoting the record before Gently Disturbed and while we were touring that, I was writing a bunch more music that I would bring to the guys during sound checks. Before you know it, you have five to ten more tunes and, boom; it's time to go to the studio! But by that time, we were already playing those tunes live so all we needed to do was get into a studio, put the mics on, play one show and go home! All it is is saving money on the studio (laughs)! No, it's the privilege of being on the road enough to always be on it and once you decide to go into the studio, you have it all there.

Do you compose away from the bass?
I usually write on the piano. Probably 85% to 90% of the trio material was written on the piano. I played piano before I played bass so it always stayed with me as a compositional tool. So, I usually write everything on the piano but some things are written on the bass and then transferred or re-written for the trio.

Some of the songs like, Chutzpan and Pinzin Kinzin are very interesting rhythmically.
These are things that I naturally hear, unfortunately, for some people that have to play it with me (laughs)! I’ve lived in NYC for all these years and I played a lot of Latin music and engaged myself with a lot of challenging environments in regards to rhythms. With my background here in the Middle East and the rhythms that I kind of have in me I’ve come up some stuff that features a lot of divisions of five, like 5/8 within 4/4. That’s what you’re hearing in Chutzpan and Pinzin Kinzin.

Your trio sounds like it is an extension of the classic 'piano trio sound' but it also brings that sound forward; it's fresh and exciting.
Well the thing is, I've been a big fan of the piano trio from listening to the Brad Mehldau Trio and playing in Chick Corea's trio for a few years. Being a pianist myself in a way, I'm a big fan of that sound even though my first three or four albums featured a larger ensemble with horns. I shrunk into a piano trio format when I felt strong enough to be there because to have a piano trio when you have Brad Mehldau and Oscar Peterson or some of the other killer piano trios like Jason Moran; you can't allow yourself to go on that journey unless you have a certain "take" on it. So as a big fan of the Bill Evans trio, and a fan of playing in that setting, I chose to go for that, trusting the compositions would be strong enough to define it, to add a different definition to it, a different edge that none of these other trios have in that aspect. So I was saved by those compositions. I should say a different edge to those trios since they obviously have their own edge.

So, the songs themselves are pushing things forward for you guys?
Exactly.

How are things working out with your Aguilar gear?
It's been great man; we carry an amp on the road most of the time so we don't even have to ask for it. I have my own sound technician on the road, luckily, so he carries it and it always delivers. I like it because it's a very flat instrument. It's like a good stereo at home, the real deal where you have very few knobs. I'm not an amp person anyway, I rely mainly on a mike on the road, that's what you hear when you come to see the trio live; you hear my mike more than anything else. But it's on the stage where I need this little 'oomph' or this little monitor for me and the drums. And for that it's perfect. I tell people when I do clinics "the secret of using an amp for upright bass is to use as little as possible. Turn it up to 2 or 2 ½ and once you start hearing the amp, that's where you should stop." For me, that works best when amplifying an acoustic instrument. And I love it for electric as well. I think I've found something that serves both electric and upright in a really cool way.

So you are starting a tour soon and will be coming to New York right?
I’ll be in New York at the end of August playing four nights at the Blue Note playing with the trio. We’re also going to Maine and Boston when we do that leg of the tour and then we will play some more shows in Europe.

What can one expect from these shows? Is it a mix of music from your entire career?
Yeah, there are tunes from my previous three or four records and the trio is such a defined yet undefined place you know? We always make it happen, come and see it. The rhythms just fly and Mark the drummer is a revolution in himself! It’s worth it to come and hear each one of us individually, and as a trio delivering fresh, and very tight, energetic material.

What's next for you?
Well, I just completed a Hebrew record where I sing in Hebrew! Folk, pop, world type of project where I sing on all the tunes, my mother sings on one tune and it's like pop music but in Hebrew. Just amazing, it was an incredible experience!

And those are your songs?
My songs with additional, traditional, old texts and songs from Israel’s Spanish/Jewish heritage. We’re talking about 1,000 year old texts on one tune! It’s really deep stuff and it’s exciting because I just put out the first single in Israel, the record is coming out soon, and it’s being played a lot and it’s another world of mainstream… It’s amazing. I love it! It’s a different vibe. It will be out in the rest of the world within the next year.

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**Listen to Avishai’s new single, Shuvi Elai, here:
http://www.myspace.com/avishaicohenmusic


What is something that you are finding inspiring at the moment?
There's this one record that is killing me: the new Gnarls Barkley! I got hip to it by my drummer Mark Guiliana. And man, it is so soulful, the production on it is so daring and rough and industrial with incredible lyrics and vocals! That is my favorite jam right now.

Thanks Avishai for chatting with us and we look forward to seeing you at the Blue Note shows!

Avishai Cohen Trio live at the Blue Note, August 28-31, 2008. Please see: http://www.bluenote.net/newyork/schedule/index.shtml for more information. Visit Avishai Cohen online at: www.avishaimusic.com


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