The Artistry of… Avishai Cohen
Creative strength comes from cultural blend. It’s the interaction of cultures intersecting through music, with woven melody, groove, and the meeting of the not-necessarily-opposites of the complex and the simple. The message for Avishai Cohen is clear in the merging and blends. It is about peace and harmony.
His roots are in Spain, Greece and Poland, and if the greatness of Jaco Pastorius was a culture or a country, then there, too. No contemporary artist is more culturally diverse than Danilo Pérez, and he has been a huge influence especially with Latin music fundamentals.
It is this story from the bassist’s website that is stunning in its beauty: “In 1997, a call from Chick Corea changed everything. Avishai had passed one of Corea’s friends a demo tape without particular hope of being noticed. Chick listened to it in his car and called Avishai back a few weeks later, blown away by its freshness.” Cohen’s artistry is very much the freshness of the perspectives gifted by vision with the lenses of multiple cultures.
The Artistry of… is a weekly series that reflects on the passion and essence of an artist. It airs Wednesday evenings on Dinner Jazz with John Devenish.