Jazztimes Reviews 3 Cohens at South Africa's Standard Bank of Joy Festival

“Moving from the disappointing to the sublime, the Cohen clan—tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Anat, soprano saxophonist Yuval and trumpeter Avishai, teamed with pianist Yonathan Avishai, bassist Matt Penman and drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.—shaped the tightest, smartest, most satisfying set of the entire festival. Highlights: a dark, sensuous slither through Ellington’s “The Mooch”; the becalmed majesty of Anat’s clarinet, roiled by a stormy Yuval solo on Fred Hersch’s “Song Without Words”; the siblings’ delightful union on the meandering “A Capella”; a trio of sparkling Yuval gems—his playful, frisky “Blues for Dandi’s Orange Bull Chasing an Orange Sack” (for his young daughter, in attendance in the front row), wildly uplifting “Freedom” and warm, gentle “Family”; and, to close, a bright, spirited “Tiger Rag.” As charming and funny as they were dynamic, the Cohens were also the only festival act to make a point of meeting and greeting audience members after the performance, offering to sign CDs and pose for photos.”

Israeli Jazz Fest Hits Its Stride in 3rd Edition

Can there be any doubt that the Israeli Jazz & World Music Festival achieved critical mass this year?

The third annual event ran nine days and spanned the city north to south (plus Evanston), culminating on Friday night with trumpeter Avishai Cohen drawing a capacity crowd to the Old Town School of Folk Music’s Szold Hall. It was a fitting finale to this most intimate of jazz fests, with most performances having unfolded in comparably snug spaces, such as the Green Mill and Constellation.

No performer made more of this proximity between artist and audience than Cohen, whose profoundly lyrical art thrives in that kind of hothouse environment.

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