Bassist Avishai Cohen is blossoming into one of the more interesting musicians of his generation. His jazz is modern and inquisitive, searching for new means of self-expression while remaining mindful of the postbop tradition. He fuses ideas from Latin, Middle Eastern, classical and pop music into his compositions and improvisations. His tunes, especially his melodies, are highly structured, yet he and his sidemen shape things on the spot.

For this recording, Perez has decided to take Monk's music into another arena of rhythm, bring it into other cultures, realign its renowned percussive force with other drum patterns. That is why Danilo Perez was able to bring the music of Thelonious Monk into his own world and create a very personal testament to the ongoing mixtures of rhythm and feeling that define the story of jazz.

Blue Note does it again. Another superb release that is jazz, but also much, much more. It’s jazz re-defined in a unique context, venturing into unknown realms. Thanks to Blue Note, the very term “jazz” has been stretched further than we used to yank the arms of Elastic Man, allowing for a borderless definition. Now that the human soul has become so much more multi-faceted, so shouldn’t the music reflect this evolution?

Avishai Cohen, born into a family of Israeli musicians, wound up choosing the bass as his means of expressing what is in his heart. Having established himself as a prolific bass player and composer in New York over the last several years - primarily under the influence and tutelage of legend Chick Corea - he extends himself on Aurora, with varying degrees of success, with his never before heard vocals stylings.

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Bassist/Composer Avishai Cohen, born April 20, 1970 in Israel, is a musician who has been called a jazz visionary of global proportions by DownBeat, and was declared one of the 100 Most Influential Bass Players of the 20th Century by Bass Player Magazine.

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At Home is the 6th Solo Album for Avishai Cohen:
Down Beat (p.60) - "AT HOME is filled with the kind of virtuosic soloing and portentous writing that marked Pastorius' career outside Weather Report. Cohen's compositions are characterized by big gestures, rapid movement and cyclical rhythm patterns."
JazzTimes (pp.98-100) - "There are lyrical flourishes scattered about the album, but it's clear that polyrhythmic pulse and textural layering are where Cohen is, to use his phrase, most at home."

Recordings that dabble in a variety of genres take the risk of sounding unfocused; all too often artists with diverse interests and influences are unable to find the thread that draws everything together, resulting in an apparent lack of direction. Fortunately this is not the case with Avishai Cohen who, with Lyla, has created a cosmopolitan effort that blurs the boundaries between jazz, pop, hip-hop and world music.

Cohen, who first created a name for himself as a bassist with Chick Corea’s Origin and New Trio, has been moving towards this for some time. While his bass playing still figures prominently in the blend, he often-times relinquishes bass duties to Yagil Baras, instead playing a variety of keyboards and providing vocals on a few tracks. But Lyla’s real strength is in the composition, arrangement and production.

Bassist Avishai Cohen on his own projects mixes together adventurous jazz with influences from world music, original folk melodies, and his own creativity. He composed 12 selections for his second CD, 1999's DEVOTION, including tributes to Horace Silver and Chick Corea (which do not really sound that close to either of those pianist/composer's styles). The music is consistently unpredictable, with Cohen being joined by pianist Jason Lindner, drummer Jeff Ballard, Jimmy Greene on reeds, trombonist Steve Davis, guitarist Amos Hoffman, a string quartet, and up to five singers (who are mostly used in the background). An intriguing set by an up-and-coming composer who is also a very fluent bassist.

In 2006 Zamir, now back in Israel, shot into the Israeli public consciousness with his well received Amen, featuring collections and reworkings of previous compositions. Featuring the best jazz players from the holy land such as: Omri Mor (Piano), Omer Avital (Bass), Daniel Friedman (Drums) , Avishai Cohen (Trumpet)
All together they are creating an amazing record that is truly spirtual and uplifting in any way.

There has been a happy and meaningful trend in popular Israeli music over the past few years of reexamination of Jewish roots and modern musical interpretations including classic Jewish songs and texts.
With his previous album, Amen, saxophonist Daniel Zamir broke the barriers of traditional Jazz afficionados by selling over ten thousand copies in Israel alone.
On this fantastic album, Zamir continues his explorations of Jewish texts and melodies in a Jazz context. The result is both highly enterteining and very inspiring.

Daniel Zamir, whose first three CDs for Tzadik contain some of the most passionate and sophisticated blending of Jewish Music and Jazz ever recorded returns to Tzadik after a five-year hiatus in Israel to present his complex musical vision with a dynamic new quartet. Joined by three of the most exciting musicians in the New York Jazz scene, pianist Uri Caine, bassist Greg Cohen and percussionist extraordinaire Joey Baron, Zamir’s music takes on a more mature and spiritual quality. This is New Jewish instrumental music at its very best

The debut release from Daniel Zamir's SATLAH trio features hot, klezmer-influenced jazz originals by the excellent young altoist. With the exception of the traditional "Hasar Hamemuneh," the pieces are all named as (chronologically) numbered poems so that, according to Zamir, the listener can think of whatever they want instead of being influenced toward certain associations by more evocative song titles. With a strong rhythm section of bassist Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz and percussionist Kevin Zubek, SATLAH moves through kicking, upbeat numbers like the opening cut, "The Theme & Poem 16"; terrific grooves with soaring alto (such as "Poem 1" and "Poem 22"); and quiet moments such as "Poem 12B," which also includes bell ringing and sound bites of a synagogue service.

An arresting duo set from Joelle Leandre & George Lewis -- a performance from the2008 Vision Festival in NYC -- with Lewis' trombone dancing around, breezing in & out, challenging, and complimenting Leandre's resonant, impassioned, and imposing work on double bass. It was a highly acclaimed performance at the time, as well it should have been, and much thanks should go to the Rogue Art label for documenting and releasing it. There's an intuitive vigor throughout that's really something else, whether the duo is playing in somewhat straightforward patterns (occasionally) or coaxing strange new textures (often), it's pretty thrilling stuff! 7 pieces, Transatlantic Visions"(Parts I-VII), running close to an hour

Complex compositions and arrangements move between various musical arenas in a way which seems nearly impossible. Different songs feature influences of hard-rock, surf, punk, goth, power-pop and other genres.
Eatliz first appeared in the Israeli indie scene in September 2002 and has been playing a significant role in it ever since. The group has earned its following through word to mouth and extensive touring of Tel Aviv clubs. Eatliz’s fans used to invite others to come and see “the best band you haven’t heard yet”, but that has changed in October 2007, when Eatliz joined the Management and Record Label “Anova Music” and released their full length debut “Violently Delicate”.

In the current political climates it is sometimes difficult to remain open minded about other cultures and ways of life. Oi Va Voi will hopefully change all of that. With such skills of musically variety, their second self entitled album sonically encapsulates a world of increasing diverse people. Fusing jazz, hip hop, Jewish klezmer and everything in between, their music is all encompassing.

And now for something rather different on these pages. Oi Va Voi makes music that may owe as much, or more, to current electronica and trance dance beats as to traditional Jewish music. The result is a refreshing, danceable - how could the hip hop wedding of klezmer and electronica be anything else?

If anything else, the album is a statement of fragmented identities. The album opens with "Refugee". The song laces an underlying dance beat and ambivalent lyrics (a personal odyssey? a national one?) to immediately pull the listener in. "Yesterday's Mistakes," playing back and forth between English lyrics and Hebrew chant, followed by "Od Yeshoma", setting the traditional text to a new dance beat reminiscent of recent work by Ladino singer Sarah Aroeste continue to cultural exploration and fusion. Later on the album the band will sing in Yiddish, Hungarian?, Hebrew, Ladino, and more.