AVISHAI COHEN - Cross My Palm With Silver
ECM 572 9057 (CD) / 573 9780 (LP)
Avishai Cohen (trumpet); Yonathan Avishai (piano); Barak Mori (double bass); Nasheet Waits (drums)
Recorded September 2016
A year after his ECM leader debut, Into The Silence, trumpeter Avishai Cohen finds himself back in the studio for a second outing under the guidance of producer, Manfred Eicher. Any thoughts of the 'difficult second album' syndrome are quickly dispelled with Cohen turning in another fine set that is sure to further enhance his reputation as one of the leading trumpeter's of his generation.
The new album finds him retaining the services of pianist Yonathan Avishai with whom Cohen has played with since both were twelve years old, and drummer Nasheet Waits who has been a constant musical companion for more than a decade. Barak Mori is the new man on bass is another of Cohen's high school friends and whose quiet sensibility and swing gel immediately with piano and drums. The quartet spent much time touring in the last twelve months and this is discernible in the intensity and focus that all four bring to the music.
The trumpeter has said that he is not one to look back, but prefers to work in the here and now, so as never one to revisit past work or compositions the album is comprised of new material written for the session but worked out whilst on the road, and therefore what is heard is music from the quartet approaching the material with a degree of familiarity and yet a feeling of exploration as if the tunes have not yet been fully realised, with hidden depths yet to be touched upon.
Cohen's titles continue to retain an air of mystery and appear to touch on subjects that are somewhat dark, but this is perhaps how the trumpeter views his here and now in a troubled world, with two long pieces as the main focus of the album that shows an ability to take his thematic material and stretch this out into a captivating performance that never loses focus or allows the attention to wander. Skeletal themes, alongside often minimal commentary from the rhythm section allows Avishai to wander freely with his sparse, terse and poignant observations along the way. Nowhere is this better highlighted that on the unaccompanied coda on 'Shoot Me In The Leg'.
Altogether this is a fine album that should not be viewed as mere follow up to Into The Silence, but a separate and fully realised statement in its own right, and along with his contribution to Mark Turner's Lathe Of Heaven Quartet (ECM 378 0663) show that Cohen is a musician continuing to grow at a rate of knots and we can expect much more from this exciting musician.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
ECM 572 9057 (CD) / 573 9780 (LP)
Avishai Cohen (trumpet); Yonathan Avishai (piano); Barak Mori (double bass); Nasheet Waits (drums)
Recorded September 2016
A year after his ECM leader debut, Into The Silence, trumpeter Avishai Cohen finds himself back in the studio for a second outing under the guidance of producer, Manfred Eicher. Any thoughts of the 'difficult second album' syndrome are quickly dispelled with Cohen turning in another fine set that is sure to further enhance his reputation as one of the leading trumpeter's of his generation.
The new album finds him retaining the services of pianist Yonathan Avishai with whom Cohen has played with since both were twelve years old, and drummer Nasheet Waits who has been a constant musical companion for more than a decade. Barak Mori is the new man on bass is another of Cohen's high school friends and whose quiet sensibility and swing gel immediately with piano and drums. The quartet spent much time touring in the last twelve months and this is discernible in the intensity and focus that all four bring to the music.
The trumpeter has said that he is not one to look back, but prefers to work in the here and now, so as never one to revisit past work or compositions the album is comprised of new material written for the session but worked out whilst on the road, and therefore what is heard is music from the quartet approaching the material with a degree of familiarity and yet a feeling of exploration as if the tunes have not yet been fully realised, with hidden depths yet to be touched upon.
Cohen's titles continue to retain an air of mystery and appear to touch on subjects that are somewhat dark, but this is perhaps how the trumpeter views his here and now in a troubled world, with two long pieces as the main focus of the album that shows an ability to take his thematic material and stretch this out into a captivating performance that never loses focus or allows the attention to wander. Skeletal themes, alongside often minimal commentary from the rhythm section allows Avishai to wander freely with his sparse, terse and poignant observations along the way. Nowhere is this better highlighted that on the unaccompanied coda on 'Shoot Me In The Leg'.
Altogether this is a fine album that should not be viewed as mere follow up to Into The Silence, but a separate and fully realised statement in its own right, and along with his contribution to Mark Turner's Lathe Of Heaven Quartet (ECM 378 0663) show that Cohen is a musician continuing to grow at a rate of knots and we can expect much more from this exciting musician.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
