Avishai Cohen

Artist Website
“Cohen is a versatile, modern master”
– Downbeat
  
Avishai Cohen began performing in public in 1988 at age 10, playing his first solos with a big band and eventually touring with the Young Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra to perform under the likes of maestros Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur and Kent Nagano. Having worked with Israeli folk and pop artists in his native country and appeared on television early on, Cohen arrived as an experienced professional musician when he took up a full scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He was soon voted a Rising Star-Trumpet for four years in a row in the DownBeat Critics Poll. Along with leading his Triveni trio including Omer Avital and Nasheet Waits, the trumpeter was a member of the SF Jazz Collective for six years.
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“Cohen is a versatile, modern master”
– Downbeat
  
Avishai Cohen began performing in public in 1988 at age 10, playing his first solos with a big band and eventually touring with the Young Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra to perform under the likes of maestros Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur and Kent Nagano. Having worked with Israeli folk and pop artists in his native country and appeared on television early on, Cohen arrived as an experienced professional musician when he took up a full scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He was soon voted a Rising Star-Trumpet for four years in a row in the DownBeat Critics Poll. Along with leading his Triveni trio including Omer Avital and Nasheet Waits, the trumpeter was a member of the SF Jazz Collective for six years.
 
Cohen first recorded for ECM as part of saxophonist Mark Turner’s quartet on Lathe of Heaven, released in September 2014. His leader-debut Into The Silence followed in 2016 and saw him in league with tenor sax player Bill McHenry, his Israeli pianist-friend Yonathan Avishai and New York greats Eric Revis and Nasheet Waits on bass and drums – “a quietly ravishing album” according to The New York Times.
 
Cross My Palm With Silver (2017) continued the streak in quartet formation, with childhood friend Barak Mori joining on bass alongside Yonathan Avishai and Nasheet Waits, followed by Playing The Room (2018) presenting the trumpeter in intimate duo conversations with again Yonathan Avishai – the only piano player on his albums to date – in a set of standards. 2020’s Big Viscious introduced a different side of Avishai Cohen’s. A home-grown band, launched after relocating from the US to his native Israel, the group rounded up players to shape the music from the ground up – Avishai co-authoring much of its material together with them.
 
Naked Truth subsequently found the trumpeter in the company of his long-time comrades pianist Yonathan Avishai, bassist Barak Mori and drummer Ziv Ravitz, performing an album-spanning suite, which The Guardian dubbed “Cohen’s quietest but maybe boldest adventure.” The same quartet recorded Ashes To Gold in November 2023, where Avishai responds to the turbulent spirit of a troubled time, leading his dedicated band through a five-part suite that runs the gamut of emotions, by turns hopeful, despairing, outraged and profoundly melancholic.
 
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Date All Primary Artist Appears on Composer
YEAR DATE Artist VENUE LOCATION
2026 June 18 Avishai Cohen / Yonathan Avishai FRAMED- Musikbrauerei Berlin, Germany Event
2026 June 19 Avishai Cohen Quartet w/ Yonathan Avishai, Barak Mori, Ziv Ravitz

"Ashes To Gold"

 Bach Festival Dordrecht, Netherlands Event
2026 June 23 Avishai Cohen- Big Vicious

w/ Uzi Ramirez, Yonathan Albalak, Jonathan Levy, Aviv Cohen, Ziv Ravitz

 Jazz Festival Toronto ON, Canada
2026 June 24 Avishai Cohen- Big Vicious

w/ Uzi Ramirez, Yonathan Albalak, Jonathan Levy, Aviv Cohen, Ziv Ravitz

 Rochester Jazz Festival Rochester NY, United States
2026 June 25 Avishai Cohen- Big Vicious

w/ Uzi Ramirez, Yonathan Albalak, Jonathan Levy, Aviv Cohen, Ziv Ravitz

 Ottawa Jazz Festival Ottawa ON, Canada
2026 June 26 Avishai Cohen- Big Vicious

w/ Uzi Ramirez, Yonathan Albalak, Jonathan Levy, Aviv Cohen, Ziv Ravitz

 Montreal Jazz Festival Montreal QC, Canada
2026 June 27 Avishai Cohen- Big Vicious

w/ Uzi Ramirez, Yonathan Albalak, Jonathan Levy, Aviv Cohen, Ziv Ravitz

 Saratoga Jazz Festival Saratoga Springs NY, United States
2026 September 07 Avishai Cohen- Big Vicious

w/ Uzi Ramirez, Yonathan Albalak, Jonathan Levy, Aviv Cohen, Ziv Ravitz

 Cologne Jazzweek- Philharmonie Cologne, Germany Event