“

Jazz is now moving into a great era. After many years of opposition between traditionalists and modern jazz proponents, fans are now discovering a new approach to the genre which gives priority to mixing, intermingling, swing and the pure pleasure of music. Pleasure is certainly one of the driving forces behind the work of Avishai Cohen – that together with an insatiable desire to share his passion for jazz with his audiences. There have been too few musicians throughout the history of jazz who were able to create a direct bond between their instruments and the audience. But with his talent and energy Cohen is able to summon the perfect ambiance in a matter of seconds, moving listeners with just three notes and bring joy to the hearts of all who come to see him perform.

”

This is the story of a close encounter of the third kind (in theory, very close, and musically, it's highly original) : guitarist Biréli Lagrène inviting bassist Dominique Di Piazza and drummer Dennis Chambers to come and play with him… both were musicians who'd been in rhythm sections for ages, but in many contexts - the Southerner and the American stamped the Eighties with their sound - whereas Django's descendant didn't come into view until the turn of the following decade. But there the difference ends : all three have a musical inventiveness that any leader could count on for support, and each of them has in fact enough talent in his fingers to lead his own band… Hence the "Front Page" of the title, a page with a triple header, and a triple understanding to go with it. The stakes here have nothing to do with their names as individuals, because all the playing is based on the sound of the whole unit. This is what brings union to the ensemble, a unity of elements that are complementary, not contrary...

The saturday night concert in the Theatre Antique featured a fantastic double bill of Avishai Cohen playing unusually for him in a duet with pianist Shai Maestro.
The theatre was unsurprisingly sold out (7,500+) and the atmosphere was electric. Cohen and Maestro played a beautiful set taken from Cohen's album 'Gently Disturbed' and the often boisterous crowd were completely drawn into this compelling haunting music. Cohen showed flashes of his more lively playing techniques but this set was all about melody, content and the superb understanding that Cohen and Maestro have.

In celebration of his 60th birthday, legendary jazz pianist/composer Chick Corea arranged a Rendezvous in New York, bringing together world-renowned musicians from his groundbreaking past and his present ensembles in a musical reunion of unprecedented proportions. Captured here, with stunning sound quality Are Chick Corea's New Trio, Featuring the Rythem Section from Heaven - Jeff Ballard and Avishai Cohen.

Exploding into the jazz world in 1971, Stanley was a lanky teenager from the Philadelphia Academy of Music. He arrived in New York City and immediately landed jobs with famous bandleaders such as: Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Pharaoh Saunders, Gil Evans, Stan Getz, and a budding young pianist composer named Chick Corea.

All of these musicians recognized immediately the ferocious dexterity and complete musicality the young Clarke possessed on the acoustic bass. Not only was he expert at crafting bass lines and functioning as a timekeeper in the bass’ traditional role, Stanley also possessed a sense of lyricism and melody gained from his bass heroes Charles Mingus, Scott LaFaro, and others, including non-bass players like John Coltrane. Clarke recognized the opportunity to propel the bass into a viable melodic soloist role and was uniquely qualified to do just that...

Flora Purim may be one of the most unfortunate stories in jazz of the past 35 years. First coming to light with Duke Pearson and Gil Evans, it was the one-two punch of pianist Chick Corea's Return to Forever (ECM, 1972) and Light as a Feather (Polydor, 1973) that introduced the Brazilian singer to a broader audience. The momentum from these two albums resulted in a series of fine solo records for Purim throughout the 1970s, but personal circumstances sidetracked her in the 1980s. She continues to record and perform today but has never regained the critical or public acclaim from those early years.
Still, her 1970s recordings were significant, not just for Purim but for vocal jazz in general. The Keepnews Collection remaster/reissue of her first Milestone album, 1974's Butterfly Dreams, is a welcome reminder of just how unique her voice and approach were, and how influential she continues to be. With a mix of original material written by Purim, bassist Stanley Clarke and keyboardist George Duke complementing songs by fellow Brazilians Antonio Carlos Jobim and Egberto Gismonti and one standard, it's a diverse record that in its brief 37 minutes, affirms Purim's position as one of the most important musical voices to emerge from that era.

Jonas Hellborg launches a new platform for integration of east and west, a project called Art Metal. Borrowing the aesthetic of contemporary metal expanded with Indian and jazz improvisational disciplines, it is a proposal for what a new musical canvas could be. With long time collaborator, South Indian percussion master Selvaganesh, he explores this new path with two legends of the metal scene, Jens Johansson (Yngwie Malmsteen, Dio, Stratovarius) and Anders Johansson (Yngwie Malmsteen and Hammerfall). Completing the ensemble is Swedish guitar phenomenon Mattias IA Eklundh. The music has been slowly brewed over 18 months to find the spaces where the elements of the seemingly disparate musical traditions can comfortably coexist, even gel into new forms of sonic art.

One thing that distinguishes Hellborg over all other bassists is that you never know what to expect next. After the death of Shawn Lane in late 2003, Hellborg continued to mine Indian influences on the 2005 album Kali's Son which featured Hellborg's longstanding percussionists, the Vinayakram brothers. A second more jazz-based release in 2005 was Osmose with Jeff Sipe and Paul Hanson on bassoon. But early 2006 would bring a radical change in style - into Metal Jazz with "Art Metal". The Art Metal project has had two separate line-ups, one live and one studio. Common to both was the replacement of Lane with Swedish metal shredder, Matthias 'IA' Eklund, and his harder-edged, chop-dominated drive. Starting in 2006 as a live trio of Hellborg and Eklund with Zoltan Czצrzs on drums, Art Metal's heavy stripped-down sound would later be tempered in the studio by the presence of veteran Selvaganesh Vinayakram and Hellborg's earlier Swedish bandmates, the Johanssen brothers with Jens on keyboards and Anders on
drums, making the final "Art Metal" CD an exemplary fusion of Indian, jazz and metal influences - Dave Sez.
Thanks Alot to Dr.Fusion & Dave Sez for this Gem!

This time the Avishai Cohen Trio visits Sweden as soloists and rythm section with
the Bohuslän Big Band! What a combination... Songs like Shuffle, Handsonit, Shalom, Madrid and
Song For My Brother has been arranged for big band by Jesper Riis, Niclas Rydh,
Christer Olofsson, Johan Borgström and Shai Maestro.
Live music at its best!

The pianist and composer Salman Gambarov is one of the most famous and multifaceted jazz musicians in Azerbaijan. With his ensemble “Bakustic Jazz” he has performed at numerous international jazz festivals since 1996. The repertoire of the group is a mixture of everything from post-bop to ethnic jazz, often using traditional Azerbaijani instruments. Many compositions and performances are influenced by the Azerbaijani music tradition. The very title of the album “East or West?” released in 2005, describes Gambarov’s tendency to let western and eastern influences fuse in his music.

Jonas Hellborg launches a new platform for integration of east and west, a project called Art Metal. Borrowing the aesthetic of contemporary metal expanded with Indian and jazz improvisational disciplines, it is a proposal for what a new musical canvas could be. With long time collaborator, South Indian percussion master Selvaganesh, he explores this new path with two legends of the metal scene, Jens Johansson (Yngwie Malmsteen, Dio, Stratovarius) and Anders Johansson (Yngwie Malmsteen and Hammerfall). Completing the ensemble is Swedish guitar phenomenon Mattias IA Eklundh. The music has been slowly brewed over 18 months to find the spaces where the elements of the seemingly disparate musical traditions can comfortably coexist, even gel into new forms of sonic art.
Thanks Alot to Dr.Fusion & Dave Sez for this Gem!

2009 release from Eddie Vedder and the boys, their ninth album overall. For Backspacer, the lasting Grunge rockers decided to do it big. They left label J Records and decided to release to album themselves, since the certainly have enough money to do that. They also hooked up with ’90s Alternative Rock producer du jour Brendan O’Brien (Korn, Bruce Springsteen), the first time that the band has worked with O’Brien since 1998’s Yield. The music on the record features a sound influenced by pop and New Wave.

As my searching of Avishai's matirial continue, these great gigs fell into my lap not long ago, and i had to share them with you - all of avishai's fan! this quartet is brilliant, and you can really fly with this bimhuis concert, sweet sweet moments of jazz!! it has a great sound also!
about the jerusalem gig, it was a recording made by someone from the audience, also not much is known accept the exact date (thanks Dave Sez!) but after all it has a decent sound.