On October 21, 2008 Anzic Records released trumpeter/composer Avishai Cohen's new CD, Flood, the 2nd recording in The Big Rain Trilogy and the follow up to the critically acclaimed After The Big Rain (July, 2007 on Anzic). On Flood, Cohen, a distinct and innovative figure in the global-jazz movement, continues to successfully weave his Israeli cultural threads, and his command of music from around the world, into the fabric of jazz, once again affirming himself as “an assertive and accomplished trumpeter with a taste for modernism", Nate Chinen-The New York Times.
Flood features two of Cohen's bandmates from Third World Love (Cohen's co-led supergroup-in-the-making), Yonatan Avishai on piano and Daniel Freedman on percussion (interestingly performing his parts on a single percussion instrument on each track). The trio performs Cohen's intensely intimate compositions with emotional zeal, with Yonatan and Freedman supplying a subtle, yet powerful and expressive, underpinning of rhythm, harmony and counterpoint, while Cohen explores the melodies of these seven compositions with thoughtfulness, maturity and emotion. Cohen elaborates on Flood, “this recording is an instrumental meditation born of two notes, painting the cycles of the sun and the moon, while the flood washes the earth. Nature does not lament the flood nor resist it, but rather accepts it as its own."
Avishai Cohen was recently commissioned to compose music for Seven - A Visual Journey of Light as a Symbol of Time, conceived by visual artist Elinor Milchan. Seven is an innovative public, multi-screen video installation to debut in the Times Square Building (the former New York Times building where “The Gray Lady" was housed for 95 years) that celebrates light and the seven colors of the visible spectrum. The installation will go on view this Fall (2008) and will remain at the location permanently, with the videos running 24/7, 365 days a year, accompanied by Cohen's soundtrack.
Avishai Cohen has become one of the sought after jazz musicians on the international scene, by fans and critics alike. In addition to leading his new touring band, Triveni (featuring Omer Avital and Nasheet Waits), this “gifted improviser"-The Village Voice, has also been a vital component in the success of many high profile projects, including 3 Cohens Braid (Nov, 07, Anzic), New Blues - the fourth recording from Third World Love (March, 08, Anzic), and contributing his singular trumpet playing to the soundtrack of several major motion films, including American Gangster and Soul Men (starring Samuel L. Jackson, Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac). Further evidence of Cohen's allure can be found in the fact that he was recently selected to succeed Dave Douglas as trumpeter/composer in the prestigious SF Jazz Collective (beginning in 2010). Cohen also tours and records with drummer/composer Dafnis Prieto, and singer/songwriter Keren Ann, amongst others.
Flood features two of Cohen's bandmates from Third World Love (Cohen's co-led supergroup-in-the-making), Yonatan Avishai on piano and Daniel Freedman on percussion (interestingly performing his parts on a single percussion instrument on each track). The trio performs Cohen's intensely intimate compositions with emotional zeal, with Yonatan and Freedman supplying a subtle, yet powerful and expressive, underpinning of rhythm, harmony and counterpoint, while Cohen explores the melodies of these seven compositions with thoughtfulness, maturity and emotion. Cohen elaborates on Flood, “this recording is an instrumental meditation born of two notes, painting the cycles of the sun and the moon, while the flood washes the earth. Nature does not lament the flood nor resist it, but rather accepts it as its own."
Avishai Cohen was recently commissioned to compose music for Seven - A Visual Journey of Light as a Symbol of Time, conceived by visual artist Elinor Milchan. Seven is an innovative public, multi-screen video installation to debut in the Times Square Building (the former New York Times building where “The Gray Lady" was housed for 95 years) that celebrates light and the seven colors of the visible spectrum. The installation will go on view this Fall (2008) and will remain at the location permanently, with the videos running 24/7, 365 days a year, accompanied by Cohen's soundtrack.
Avishai Cohen has become one of the sought after jazz musicians on the international scene, by fans and critics alike. In addition to leading his new touring band, Triveni (featuring Omer Avital and Nasheet Waits), this “gifted improviser"-The Village Voice, has also been a vital component in the success of many high profile projects, including 3 Cohens Braid (Nov, 07, Anzic), New Blues - the fourth recording from Third World Love (March, 08, Anzic), and contributing his singular trumpet playing to the soundtrack of several major motion films, including American Gangster and Soul Men (starring Samuel L. Jackson, Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac). Further evidence of Cohen's allure can be found in the fact that he was recently selected to succeed Dave Douglas as trumpeter/composer in the prestigious SF Jazz Collective (beginning in 2010). Cohen also tours and records with drummer/composer Dafnis Prieto, and singer/songwriter Keren Ann, amongst others.
For more information contact Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity.
