1. Avishai Cohen (born 1970 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli jazz bassist, composer and arranger. He was raised by a musical family, and as a child he started playing piano. After a few years he moved to the bass guitar. Later, after playing in the army for a while, he moved to New York City. After performing some small clubs, he was noticed by Chick Corea and was given a record contract. He has performed in two of Chick Corea's bands, "Origin" and the "Chick Corea New Trio".
After having recorded "Adama" in 1997 and "Colors" three years later, Avishai decided to create his own label in 2003. The label released its debut CD, "Lyla" in September 2003. In February of 2005 Razdaz Recordz released "At Home", an album that was arguably Avishai Cohen's most compelling and striking new recording to date.
That is until the artist conceived of, and recorded his newest studio CD, the spectacularly beautiful, "Continuo". Cohen’s third recording on his label Razdaz Recordz, and his seventh as a leader, was recorded in Gothenburg, Sweden in December 2005 with Avishai's core trio of pianist/keyboardist Sam Barsh and drummer/percussionist Mark Guiliana.
New album "Gently Disturbed" released in 2008 performed by Avishai's trio. Avishai also shows more of his "Avishai Cohen & Ensemble" on their world tour.
2. Avishai E. Cohen - trumpet player, who received the Clark Terry award. He recorded under his own name, with his brother and sister as the '3 Cohens', and with 'Third World Love'. Bio excerpt from his website (http://www.avishaicohenmusic.com/):
Albums under his own name are The Trumpet Player & After the Big Rain & Triveni II
Avishai Cohen is a leading figure on the international jazz scene and one of the most sought-after players of his generation — “an assertive and accomplished trumpeter with a taste for modernism,” according to Nate Chinen of The New York Times. Though deeply rooted in the bebop and post-bop tradition, Avishai is taking jazz in new directions, making waves as an improviser, composer and bandleader. Originally from Tel Aviv, he began performing at age 10. He toured the world with the Young Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra and went on to become the trumpet player of choice for many leading jazz, rock, pop, studio and television projects. He received a full scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and in 1997 he placed third in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Trumpet Competition.
Avishai came of age as part of the fertile scene at Smalls, the storied New York jazz club, where he developed his artistic vision alongside such friends and colleagues as pianist Jason Lindner, bassist Omer Avital and vocalist Claudia Acuña. Here the imperatives of jazz tradition and innovation were not in conflict, but rather merged into one powerful creative stream. Avishai flourished in an environment where hard-driving swing, open-ended funk, Latin and Middle Eastern rhythms, complex extended forms and free improvisation converged under one roof, drawing enthusiastic audiences. All of Avishai’s diverse work, as a leader, co-leader and sideman, is informed by this broad-minded legacy, which has given jazz new vitality and relevance in the 21st century.
Avishai made his debut as a leader in 2003 with The Trumpet Player, a burning straightahead session with bassist John Sullivan (Roy Haynes), drummer Jeff Ballard (Chick Corea, Pat Metheny) and special guest Joel Frahm on tenor. His second album, After the Big Rain, is the last part of “The Big Rain Trilogy,” a series of recordings that is now nearing completion. The trilogy also includes Before the Big Rain (part one), a large-group outing, and The Big Rain (part two), a trio encounter with Yonatan Avishai on piano and Daniel Freedman on percussion. Avishai’s music is alternately moody and joyous, richly atmospheric yet beat-driven and grooving, suffused with compositional depth, inspired improvisation and a profound world-music influence. Avishai plays open and muted trumpet but also routes his horn through electronic effects that range from the dreamy to the snarling and distorted. He’s been developing these sounds over the course of the last decade. “When I play effects, I play a different instrument,” he says. “The whole concept changes.”
Avishai’s other credits range from touring with the celebrated French-American singer-songwriter Keren Ann, to sharing the stage with the great Bobby Hutcherson in the all-star San Francisco Jazz Collective. In addition, Avishai is the co-leader of Third World Love, with Omer Avital, drummer Daniel Freedman and pianist Yonatan Avishai, a group with four recordings to its credit. He also leads a funk-oriented band with bassist Me’shell Ndegeocello and drummer Adam Deitch, and continues to perform extensively with the 3 Cohens, which he formed with his sister Anat and brother Yuval, both gifted reeds players. With his incredible instrumental skill and world-spanning musical interests, Avishai, in the words of critic Ben Ratliff, “has all the power and tenacity he’s going to need.
Avishai is the chosen artist of Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation (IcExcellence) since 2004.
Alfonsina y el Mar
Avishai Cohen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tu pequeña huella no vuelve más
Un sendero solo de pena y silencio llegó
Hasta el agua profunda
Un sendero solo de penas mudas llegó
Hasta la espuma
Sabe Dios que angustia te acompañó
Para recostarte arrullada en el canto de las
Caracolas marinas
La canción que canta en el fondo oscuro del mar
La caracola
Te vas Alfonsina con tu soledad
¿Qué poemas nuevos fuiste a buscar?
Una voz antigua de viento y de sal
Te requiebra el alma y la está llevando
Y te vas hacia allá, como en sueños
Dormida, Alfonsina, vestida de mar
Cinco sirenitas te llevarán
Por caminos de algas y de coral
Y fosforescentes caballos marinos harán
Una ronda a tu lado
Y los habitantes del agua van a jugar
Pronto a tu lado
Bájame la lámpara un poco más
Déjame que duerma Nodriza en paz
Y si llama él no le digas que estoy
Dile que Alfonsina no vuelve
Y si llama él no le digas nunca que estoy
Di que me he ido
Te vas Alfonsina con tu soledad
¿Qué poemas nuevos fuiste a buscar?
Una voz antigua de viento y de sal
Te requiebra el alma y la está llevando
Y te vas hacia allá como en sueños
Dormida, Alfonsina, vestida de mar
The lyrics to Avishai Cohen's song "Alfonsina y el Mar" tell the story of a woman named Alfonsina, who walks alone on a soft sandy beach that touches the sea. She leaves a small footprint that will never return. Her path is one of sadness and silence until she reaches the deep water where the path becomes a lonely journey filled with silent sorrow. The lyrics suggest that she has carried much anguish and old pain that has not been voiced, a voice that has been silenced. The song tells Alfonsina's story of seeking peace and release from her pain by listening to the song of the seashell in the dark ocean depths. The song takes on a poignant quality as it suggests that Alfonsina has ultimately found peace and is "dressed in the sea," and has returned to its embrace forever.
The lyrics continue with imagery of Alfonsina's journey and the siren who may be calling to her as she is drawn towards the ocean. The lyrics depict the love Alfonsina held for the sea and the creatures within it, with the beauty of the ocean described in phrases like "phosphorescent sea horses will surround you" and "inhabitants of the water will soon join you." The song suggests that Alfonsina has found a sense of place and belonging at the ocean, a place where she can feel at peace and free from the pain that has followed her all her life.
Line by Line Meaning
Por la blanda arena que lame el mar
The soft sand caressed by the ocean waves
Tu pequeña huella no vuelve más
Your footprints erased by the sea
Un sendero solo de pena y silencio llegó Hasta el agua profunda
A path of sadness and silence leads to the depths of the water
Un sendero solo de penas mudas llegó Hasta la espuma
A path of mute sorrows reaches the foamy waves
Sabe Dios que angustia te acompañó
Only God knows the anguish that accompanied you
Que dolores viejos calló tu voz
Old pains that silenced your voice
Para recostarte arrullada en el canto de las Caracolas marinas
To rest lulled by the song of seashells
La canción que canta en el fondo oscuro del mar La caracola
The song that the seashell sings in the dark depths of the sea
Te vas Alfonsina con tu soledad
Alfonsina, you're leaving with your loneliness
¿Qué poemas nuevos fuiste a buscar?
What new poems did you go to seek?
Una voz antigua de viento y de sal Te requiebra el alma y la está llevando
An ancient voice of wind and salt breaks your soul and takes you away
Y te vas hacia allá, como en sueños Dormida, Alfonsina, vestida de mar
And you're going there, as in a dream, asleep Alfonsina, dressed in the sea
Cinco sirenitas te llevarán Por caminos de algas y de coral
Five little mermaids will take you on algae and coral paths
Y fosforescentes caballos marinos harán Una ronda a tu lado
And phosphorescent seahorses will dance around you
Y los habitantes del agua van a jugar Pronto a tu lado
And the inhabitants of the water will soon come to play by your side
Bájame la lámpara un poco más
Dim the lamp a little more for me
Déjame que duerma Nodriza en paz
Let me sleep peacefully, Nanny
Y si llama él no le digas que estoy
And if he calls, don't tell him I'm here
Dile que Alfonsina no vuelve
Tell him Alfonsina isn't coming back
Y si llama él no le digas nunca que estoy Di que me he ido
And if he calls, never tell him I'm here; say that I've gone away
Writer(s): Ariel Ramirez, Felix Cesar Luna
Contributed by Thomas R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.