Tim Niland

Blues and Jazz Examiner
Tim Niland is a lifelong jazz and blues fan, who began blogging about music five years ago. In real life, he is a public librarian living in New Jersey.

  

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(i.e. Los Angeles hiking, Los Angeles parenting)

Avishai Cohen Trio - Gently Disturbed (Razdaz/Sunnyside, 2008)

June 27, 3:04 PM
 
 

Not to be confused with the trumpeter of the same name, this Avishai Cohen is a bassist and composer originally from Israel, and now a rising presence on the mainstream jazz scene. Cohen is accompanied by Shai Maestro on piano and Mark Guiliana on drums. The tracks are split in an odd/even fashion between faster moving up-tempo songs, and more introspective and meditative performances. The music seems to me to have a distinct classical influence, especially in the solo piano openings that begin many of the performances.

After leading off with the slow and ruminative opener "Seattle" the group moves on to a more lively performance on the impressive "Chutzpan" which opens with a neo-classical feel before the bass and drums move in and turn it into a nice fast paced performance. My other favorites from this disc were "Pinzin Kinzin" wich opens with solo bass before the rest of the band comes in and begins a performance that has shifting tempos reminiscent of Ahmad Jamal's recent work, with a nice flowing full band improvisation. "Eleven Wives" is up-tempo and percussive, weaving into a jaunty bounce. The music found here flows gracefully into a sophisticated and worldly performance. Patient jazz partisans fond of piano trios will enjoy the thoughtful music found here.
Topics: jazz , avishaicohen
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