In the music of trumpeter Avishai Cohen (1978) the spirit of Miles Davis can be heard. ‘Like Davis, he can make the trumpet a vehicle for uttering the most poignant human cries,’ according to The New York Times. Cohen combines the melancholic musical undertones of his homeland Israel with the vibe of American jazz and does so in his own compositions as well as in interpretations of the music of Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman and others. Cohen played his first notes as a soloist back in 1988 and was later awarded a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston. And yet it was only while playing in Smalls Jazz Club in New York that he reached full maturity as a jazz musician. In 2016, Cohen's latest album Into The Silence, his debut on the ECM label, was the highest selling jazz album in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany. His new album Cross My Palm With Silver (again on ECM) is due for release in May.
