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
2025 February 21 Avishai Cohen Quartett Red Sea Jazz Festival Eilat, Israel Event
2025 March 16 Avishai Cohen Quartett SF Jazz San Francisco CA, United States Event
2025 March 18 Avishai Cohen Quartett Pico Union Project Los Angeles CA, United States Event
2025 March 19 Avishai Cohen Quartett Jazz at the Athenaeum San Diego CA, United States Event
2025 March 21 Avishai Cohen Quartett Outpost Performance Space Albuquerque NM, United States Event
2025 March 25 Avishai Cohen Quartett SPACE Evanston IL, United States Event
2025 March 26 Avishai Cohen Quartett Capital University Columbus OH, United States Event
2025 March 27 Avishai Cohen Quartett Swyer Theatre at the Egg Albany NY, United States Event
2025 March 28 Avishai Cohen Quartett Regattabar Cambridge MA, United States Event
2025 March 29 Avishai Cohen Quartett National Sawdust Brooklyn NY, United States Event
2025 April 25 Avishai Cohen Quartett Espace Culturel La Vigie La Trinité Sur Mer, France
2025 April 27 Avishai Cohen Quartet / Shai Maestro Trio ECM Explorations- Philharmonie Paris, France Event
2025 May 23 Avishai Cohen Quartett Centre Culturel Michel Manet / Jazz Pourpre Bergerac, France