Avishai Cohen speaks as a citizen of the world. He’s a street-wise player, born in Israel and raised in
St. Louis, MO who learned to hold his own in Greenwich Village
jazz clubs and Latin joints in the Bronx. In 1996, his
brash and confident playing style landed him one of the most coveted gigs
in jazz—the bass chair with Chick Corea. Since leaving Corea’s band in
2003, Cohen has consistently danced on the bridge between contemporary
jazz and world music.
Cohen is a quadruple-threat: singing, playing electric bass, double bass, and piano. His
unique style is plainly evident in his composing and on all of the instruments he plays.
Says Cohen, “I was always drawn to the essence of music-making regardless of instrument.
I want to know as much as I can about what’s behind the language.”
The Roots
Cohen’s early biography reads like
many others. He first played piano,
learned classical music, and eventually
took up electric bass. “I
found myself at age 14 in St. Louis,”
says Cohen. “I had a jazz piano
teacher named Lloyd Bartlett. He
was totally into stride piano, Oscar
Peterson and beyond.”
Cohen played piano in his high
school jazz band and at the same
time began to explore the electric
bass. Says Cohen, “I was listening
to a lot of English rock, and that
made me curious about the bass.
Everyone plays guitar and piano is
piano, but electric bass seemed pretty
cool to me. I started studying with
a great bass player and teacher, Jay
Hungerford, who Lloyd recommended
to me. Jay played Jaco Pastorius
for me, and Jaco’s thing took
me by storm and changed my life.”
Jay Hungerford, author of
Walking Jazz Lines for Bass [walkingjazzlinesforbass.com], says “I
could tell from the first few lessons
that Avishai was serious about his
music. One of the many things that
impressed me about him was the
twinkle in his eyes and a look of
determination when he showed up
for a lesson. He was always prepared
and ready to move on.”
The Challenge
Jaco’s influence on countless
bassists is legendary, but not many
accept the challenge and actually
learn everything that Jaco left
behind. Jaco was a complete musician,
and his legacy encompasses
not only his bass playing, but also
his bandleading and composing.
Says Hungerford, “With Avishai, I
shared a few of the recordings that
I believed were changing the direction
of bass playing. We listened to
Jaco’s Word of Mouth and right
away I could tell he was impressed.”
Says Cohen, “I was just another
kid who was blown away by Jaco’s
thing, but maybe not just another
kid. I studied every note he played
to the point that I gained the technical
ability to imitate and execute
a lot of incredibly hard and technical
stuff on the bass. I can’t say that
I got everything, but I got a lot of it,
and that paved a great way for me.
“Jaco was perfect too, because of
his composition, essence, and sound,”
says Cohen. “His genius was not only
his incredible bass playing, but how
he presented himself compositionally.
He chose to write music featuring
what he did on bass, and that
made it what it was. It just got me in
every kind of way. I thought, ‘Wow
I want to write music like that.’”
Cohen’s musical voice, like Jaco’s,
shines through both his compositions
and his instrumental virtuosity.
He composes tunes on each of
the instruments that he masters: electric
bass, upright bass, and piano.
Says Cohen, “Jaco is the kind of
musician I was drawn to because of
his courage to do things that nobody
would dare to do. It was the way he
would comp, accompany a singer,
or go crazy, but stay still have a solid
presentation and a moving bass line.
That crafted the whole concept of
how I wanted to evolve as a bass
player and as a musician.”
Says Hungerford, “I could tell,
even then, Avishai was on a journey
and there was no stopping him.”
The Beast
Cohen followed a path familiar to
many bassists: electric to acoustic.
After only a few years of playing electric
bass, Cohen was bitten by the
acoustic bug, and he was driven to
master the double bass. Says Cohen,
“I immersed myself in the upright. I
was studying all the Ray Brown and
Paul Chambers licks that they ever
played. I knew I had to do that, or
I should leave it alone because the
instrument would kick my ass. I told
myself, ‘Okay I’m not leaving my
house for two years.’ That’s what I did, and I studied the bow and studied the
classical way and studied the whole beast.”
The desire to leave St. Louis and make
the New York jazz scene was a determining
factor in Cohen’s dedication to the double
bass. “I allowed myself to fulfill my
dream to go to New York, and see what the
scene was about—play and mingle and jam
with the best musicians. In the early ’90s,
when I was 21, having played the upright
for a year-and-a-half, there were a lot of
bebop players, hard bop-heads—young people
like me—who were resurrecting bebop.
Brad Mehldau was in my class. We jammed
together and did some gigs.”
Cohen knew that the essence of the
jazz language was bebop, and to master
any style of jazz meant he had to first focus
on it. “There were people who were totally
into straight-ahead jazz. We all knew that
was the bread and butter of being a true
virtuoso of the jazz language. I took my
time, because I wasn’t totally the bass
player that I wanted to be technically. It
took three or four years before I really got
my sound out of it.”
Mastering the double bass demands years
of practice and performance time. In the
early ’90s, Cohen was living the New York
jazz dream—practice, jam sessions, gigs—in
a never-ending turnaround. Even Jaco recognized
the difficulty of tackling the demands
of the double bass. Says Cohen, “I heard an
interview on YouTube where Jaco said he
had an upright at home, but he just ended
up leaving it in the corner. I thought ‘Man,
I did something pretty difficult, because even
Jaco was saying it was too much.’”
Playing with the bow—arco technique—
is an important component of double bass
mastery. By understanding the mechanics
of sound production with the bow, a bassist
can open up the full sonic potential of the
instrument. “Without the bow you don’t
really vibrate the instrument,” says Cohen.
“The bow gets the life and juice out of the
instrument. Even if you are not playing
with the bow on your gig, if you practice
the bow at home, the instrument vibrates
in a way that it opens up, and gives you a
better sound when you play pizz.
“I hear bad intonation from some bassists,
and that bothers me. The bow means really
being in tune, and I have no intention of
being out of tune—at all. I gotta’ play in tune.
With the bow, intonation is not approximate,
it’s direct, like a point, like a voice.”
To solidify his bow technique, Cohen
sought out some of the best classical teachers
in New York and Israel. Says Cohen,
“I was lucky to understand the importance
of the bow and invest time with a few classical
teachers like Orin O’Brian from the
New York Philharmonic, Homer Mensch,
and a fantastic Israeli bassist, Michael Kilnghoffer,
who had worked with Gary Karr,
the classical virtuoso. I got a lot of tips and
classical assignments and I was around the
right people. I learned to understand what
it should sound like, and now the bow is
one of my best friends.”
The list of players who effectively double
on both basses is not long, and usually
musicians specialize on one instrument or
the other. Players like Stanley Clarke, John
Patitucci, Tom Kennedy, Christian McBride,
and a handful of others can express themselves
in both worlds—electric and acoustic.
Cohen belongs to this elite club, and he
continues to do his bit to raise the bar for
his colleagues.
The Big Apple
Cohen’s extensive roots spread from the folkloric
traditions of his native Israel, to hardcore
New York bebop, to Latin music, rock,
reggae and beyond. In New York, he explored all styles of music, but the heavy pulse of
New York and Puerto Rican cultures—the
mix known as Nuyorican—got under his skin.
“I was always into Latin music,” says
Cohen. “I love Eddie Palmieri, Andy
González, Jerry González—the hard-core
New York Latin thing. It’s like the bebop
thing, but this was the real Latin music that
was still happening in New York in the ‘90s.”
While attending the New School, Cohen
made the wise choice to study with working
masters—musicians who were out in the
clubs every night playing music. “I said I
wanted to study with Andy and Jerry
González, and I learned tumbaos and montunos
and stuff like that. I used to go to Andy’s
house in the Bronx, and I went to all their
shows. It was the rhythmic challenge of Latin
music that made me into the bassist that I
wanted to be. Once you can hang with those
cats, you can really hang with anybody.”
Cohen sees Latin music as an essential part
of a bassist’s repertoire, saying, “Some jazz
guys don’t know about Latin music to the
extent that they should. I got the grasp of it
to the point that I was playing with a lot of
cats in the streets or in clubs and I got a reputation
as someone who could hang.”
After making the New York scene for
a couple of years, Cohen got his first break
playing with a name jazz act. Says Cohen,
“The word got around that there was this
bass player from Israel who played not
only jazz, but all these Latin grooves and
complex rhythms. Danilo Pérez called me
for his band and I played with him for two
years with drummers like Terri Lyne Carrington,
Jeff Watts, Bob Moses, and Lenny
White. Here I was, 25 years old and playing
with all these people whose music I
had heard growing up. Danilo was really
hot at the time, pushing the envelope,
doing Monk tunes in a Latin style, playing
seriously challenging rhythms and
forms. That made me even stronger.”
Chick
In the mid ’90s, Cohen caught the ear of
jazz-fusion legend Chick Corea, who hired
the young bassist as the cornerstone of his
Origin sextet. Cohen spread his wings during
his tenure with Corea, and went on to
produce four albums as a bandleader for
Corea’s Stretch record label. The recordings
Adama, Devotion, and Colors, found
Cohen leading his bands on high-profile
releases, produced by Corea. In 2001,
Cohen played piano on Unity: Avishai
Cohen & The International Vamp Band,
a multi-culti ensemble featuring Cohen’s
piano playing and compositional talents.
Cohen has recorded many albums and
DVDs with Origin, including Live at the
Blue Note, Change, A Week at the Blue
Note [6-CD box set], and the DVD, Rendezvous
in New York.
The Composer
Cohen’s compositional skills developed
alongside his monstrous instrumental abilities.
He has a distinct voice whether he is
composing, singing, or playing piano, electric
or acoustic bass. “They all meet at the
junction of composition,” says Cohen.
“Composition in its basic form is the decision
to keep something, or the decision to
preserve something. After you inhale it, then
it comes back out. All of these instruments
meet in my idea of presenting views or feelings
in music—that’s always kept my story
going. I have to say that the upright bass is
my real instrument. I have a strong connection
physically and spiritually with the
upright, and it’s very natural for me. I think
musicians who play a few instruments
always have one main instrument—it finds
you as much as you find it. Knowing that I
have that place with the bass means that I
have the freedom to compose or mess
around with anything else knowing that my
voice will be there.”
Gently Disturbed
In 2003, Cohen decided to
launch his solo career full
force, and start his own
record label. After years of working as the
youngest member in most of his bands,
Cohen decided to search the New York
scene, looking for younger musicians to play
his music. Says Cohen, “The drummer Mark
Guiliana used to come to my shows and I
met a bunch of kids who were studying at
William Paterson College in New Jersey.
When I was 30, I started a rock band called
Gadu with Mark. I wrote some songs and
the lead singer wrote some songs, and that
was my first dabbling with singing. When I
started my jazz trio, I decided to take Mark,
who was only 21 or 22 then. He brought
something very special to my music. He isn’t
just a jazz drummer; he also has that rock
energy which really complements what I do.”
Cohen started his trio with Sam Barsh
and later moved on to a young Israeli
pianist, Shai Maestro. Says Cohen, “Shai
was only 19 when I took him under my
wing. I took him home and worked with
him for about six months. He came to my
house every day, he studied my music,
transcribed it, and we played together
every day, until I felt it was time to go on
the road. The trio became very tight, and
that eventually led to Gently Disturbed,
which is a record I am very proud of.”
Gently Disturbed [Razdaz Recordz,
2008] is a landmark trio record that features
gorgeous writing, athletic bass playing, and
ensemble interplay that challenges the
notions of what swings and how odd-meters can groove. Cohen takes the piano-bassdrums
sound into the 21st century, unencumbered
by the boundaries of traditional
4/4 jazz. Says Cohen, “What can you do
when you have Brad Mehldau Trio, Keith
Jarrett Trio, and the Bad Plus? Everything’s
been done. But I have to say that
my trio brought something fresh.”
Pianist Shai Maestro says, “Our playing
relationship began when I just got out
of high school. Obviously, Avishai was an
accomplished musician already and so
our music leapt forward the most when I
progressed with my music. In that sense,
he is ready musically for whatever I bring.”
Drummer Mark Guiliana, says “Avishai’s
sense of rhythm and time is impeccable. Our
hookup was very natural in the beginning,
and it became tighter and more intuitive
over the eight years that we played together.
I learned a great deal playing with him.”
The rhythmic aspect of Cohen’s writing
and playing is a strong trademark. His compositions
often rely on subdivisions of meter—
a throwback to his experiences with Latin
music in New York, and to his middle-Eastern
roots. Cohen likes to use groupings of
three bars of 4/4, floating over an underlying
feeling of 6/4. Says Cohen, “I love the
feeling of two against three, or playing things
in six. I love the influence of American jazz
and folk-pop, but I also use rhythmic folkloric
influences from my neck of the woods—
Moroccan, North African, Middle Eastern
influences. Those influences are sometimes
hidden, but you can hear them.”
Cohen has a deep, brotherly relationship
to his drummers. “A drummer needs
to just give me that groove, the happiness—
the basic down to earth movement that
makes me want to move and stretch,” says
Cohen. “I am looking for a serious big heartbeat.
I need someone who can groove, but
at the same time be very subtle and play like
they are playing chamber music. Those
drummers are hard to find. I was very lucky
to play many years with Jeff Ballard who
was totally coming from that school, and
then Mark Guiliana who was imitating Jeff
at the beginning in order to be able to play
the music. Jorge Rossy will be on my next
record. Those are the drummers that provide
me with all the world I need—a super
groove, with the ability to be like water.”
Guliana says, “Avishai is very easy to
play with because there is no doubt where
things need to be. He will always be one
of my favorite bass players.”
Aurora
Cohen’s groups are constantly
developing. On
Aurora, Cohen’s current
release, he uses percussion instead of
drums. Says Cohen, “After five years in
my trio, Mark moved on to other things.
I didn’t want to get another drummer like
Mark, so I went with percussion. I found
Itamra Domare, a genius percussionist
from Israel who plays frame drums, darbukas,
cajón, and bells. He brings another
element to the group. Shai Maestro is on
piano. Amos Hoffman, who I went to high
school with, plays guitar and oud. And
there is Karen Malke, who sings with me.”
Maestro says “In the quintet there is
something more intimate, although the
essence of groove hasn’t changed. It’s a
different way of playing especially because
there is another harmonic instrument.”
Aurora features an eclectic mix of
Cohen’s compositions. The musicians are
mixed and matched in varied combinations,
creating an orchestral gumbo of
world music sounds. Cohen switches
effortlessly between electric and acoustic
bass, sometimes singing, sometimes grooving,
and always playing from the heart.
His bass alternately sounds like a percussion
instrument, a singing tenor, or a 21st
century Latin-bebop-middle-eastern virtuoso
linchpin holding everything together.
Cohen sets a high standard for all modern
bassists. His thoughts about becoming
a great bassist are as simple as they
are profound. Says Cohen, “Don’t have
any opinion on anything before you really
check it out, and open your ears to anything
and everything. That is the key to
all greatness.”
Avishai’s Aurora: The Music
“Electric was my first bass experience before
the upright,” says Avishai Cohen. “The things
I play on the upright are influenced by my
clear sound on the electric, and that all goes
back to the ever-clear sound of Jaco.”
Example 1 shows the bass line from
“It’s Been So Long” from the Aurora
album. The track, played on electric, moves
through a series of double-stops, and features
Cohen’s soulful singing. To master
the moving harmony, play through Ex. 2
slowly until you get the double-stops under
your fingers. Once all the chords are comfortable,
go back to Ex. 1 and play the syncopated
line. Says Cohen, “When I record,
I want to get that clear sound, so I use new
strings. I’m playing my ’73 Fender Jazz
Bass with a white-yellow body on this
track. I have always been a Jazz Bass guy.”
Example 3 finds Cohen moving to the
dark side, playing a bowed drone and
singing a mournful melody. Says Cohen,
“I was playing around bowing the open D
and the high A, and it sounded very open—
almost a religious, meditative, Gregorian
vibe. The text comes from a relationship
that was sort of bitter for me, and it seemed
to work with that timbre. I’ve been practicing
singing along with the bow for a few
years now, every day—constantly. I used to
just practice the bow, but now I am singing
along with it. After a few years of doing
this every day, I realized that I am imitating
the sound of the bass with my singing.
This was when the bow became my friend.”
To master the double-stop arco accompaniment,
play through Examples 4 and
5 slowly. In order to play the double-stops,
you first have to get a good sound playing
the open D string alone, and then the
high G-string melody alone. Once you feel
you are solid with both voices, combine
them for the double-stop line in Ex. 3.When that feels good, start singing along!
Example 6 shows the bass line to “Chutzpan”
from Gently Disturbed. Cohen writes
and plays comfortably in all types of oddmeters,
drawing extensively on his middle-
Eastern roots and his New York Latin chops.
This is not your Granddad’s “Take Five”
groove. Says Cohen, “I think it’s influenced
by some Arabic phrasing that I’ve accustomed
to since I was a kid. The tune “Étude”
from the International Vamp Band was my
first composition like this, and I played piano.
It’s a clave over three bars. Then, I wrote
“The Evolving Etude” on Lyla—another
record where I took it to the next level. This
one is like the ever-evolving etude—a sequel.
“Chutzpan” is the brother of all those tunes
that are based on three bars of 4/4.” Drummer
Mark Guiliana says, “The A section of
‘Chutzpan’ is two bars of 5/16 followed by
a bar of 6/4. The groupings of 16th-notes
within the 6/4 bar are 5, 5, 6, 5, 3.”
Example 7 shows the subdivision of the
bar of 6/4. Start slowly and tap your foot
on the half-notes, while clapping or playing
the rhythm underneath. Listen to the
original recording, and you will hear Cohen,
Guiliana, and Maestro floating through the
time, but always nailing the three bars of
four, or the “big six” as Cohen calls it.
Pianist Shai Maestro says, “When dealing
with odd-meters, it’s important to feel the
groove and the meter so strongly that it is
not necessary to always emphasize the
frame of the groove in the melodies.” Guiliana
says, “The B section that Avishai solos
over is in 6/4. The first hit is on the ‘e’ of
1. The hits that I play are all five 16th notes
apart, but the last one is four 16th notes,
which brings it back to the first accent.”
The B section of “Chutzpan” is a finger
buster (Ex. 8). Start slowly to get the
notes. Tap your foot on the three half-notes
in the bar and watch out for the rhythmic
figures crossing over the beats. The piano
solo on the tune is over the A section; the
bass solos are over the B section.
The music from Gently
Disturbed is available as
a songbook from
www.avishaicohen.com
Avishai’s Lowdown on Bass Players
“A bass player makes me smile when he makes me want to dance,” says Cohen. “Bass is first
of all groove, support, warmth, and movement. If groove and support are not there in the
bass, then it is not in the bass realm—it’s not giving me what I want. The underrated behindthe-
scenes element that moves the whole thing is the bass. If the bassist has that, then I’m
listening to anything else he has to say, because I’m happy. If it’s upright, and it’s not in tune,
then I don’t care for his groove either!”
Cohen credits all the usual suspects in recent bass history as influences, but he holds
certain players close to his heart. Says Cohen, “All bass players should check out Andy
González, Israel ‘Cachao’ López, and Family Man. He’s one of those geniuses who created a
new language, alongside Bob Marley of course, but Family Man was the bassist. In addition,
Johann Sebastian Bach is another favorite ‘bass player’ of mine. If you check all those ingredients,
then you will have a nice platter of influences. You could become not a only a bassist
in demand, but also a bassist who could change bass playing.”
Selected Discography
As Bandleader: Aurora [Blue Note, 2009]; Gently Disturbed [Razdaz Records, 2008]; As Is...
Live at the Blue Note [Razdaz Records, 2007]; Continuo [Razdaz Records, 2006]; At Home
[Razdaz Records, 2005]; Lyla [Razdaz Records, 2003]; Unity: Avishai Cohen & The International
Vamp Band [Stretch, 2001]; Colors [Stretch, 2000]; Devotion [Stretch, 1999]; Adama
[Stretch, 1998]. With Chick Corea: Rendezvous in New York, DVD [Image Entertainment,
2005]; Past Present & Futures [Stretch, 2001]; Originations [Stretch, 2000]; Change [Chick
Corea & Origin, Stretch 2000]; A Week at the Blue Note [Stretch, 1998]; Live at the Blue
Note [Chick Corea & Origin, 1997]. As a Sideman: Portrait in Sound [Steve Davis, Stretch,
2000]; Simplicity [Ed Simon, Impulse Records]; Panamonk [Danilo Pérez, Impulse Records,
1996]; East Coast Love Affair [Kurt Rosewinkel, 1996]
Straight Talk: Avishai and the Path to Virtuosity
“To learn any kind of music, you have to listen. Whoever hears my music on a record and
wants to mess with it or master it is on the right track. That’s the only way to do it. Whatever
I have learned about musical virtuosity or intricacy is only because I heard the potential
of those things in other players. I heard it, and I flipped out to the point that I had to
imitate it and then internalize it. Then it came out different for me in the end. There is always
the risk of just imitating and staying there. I have never suffered from that, and that is a blessing.
In order to be able to get to that point, you have to just mess around with things all the
time. Listen to things that challenge you, and don’t be afraid to be frustrated for a long time.
You do whatever you fancy doing, and you never know—you might just get it. Be careful for
what you wish for! Checking out the clave and what’s behind the clave and studying with
someone who understands that is important. How it falls over two bars, and how the two
bars become like one bar, and you have a feeling of a bigger picture within smaller parts. All
of those things need to be investigated. The more you do it, things start falling into place.
The next thing, you are playing with a band that demands those things, and you fly over it
and you are super cool. Next, you write something and it has it . . . the next thing you are
writing things that other people can’t play! The ultimate thing is when people play your
music because they want to, no matter how hard it is.”