AllMusic Features Avishai Cohen's "Into The Silence"

“Trumpeter Avishai Cohen’s ECM debut, 2016’s Into the Silence, is a ruminative, elegiac album far — if not completely — removed from the kinetic, aggressive post-bop of his 2014 effort, Dark Nights. As with all ECM releases, Into the Silence was produced by label founder Manfred Eicher and, as such, fits nicely into the catalog next to works by the late trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and others. In some ways, Cohen’s move toward a more classical, ambient sound makes sense, as he is recording material specifically with the ECM stylistic tradition in mind.”

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JazzTimes Reviews "Into The Silence"

“Trumpeter Avishai Cohen’s beautiful, elegiac Into the Silence is a tribute to his late father, who died in 2014. Lesser life changes of a musical nature are also involved: It is his first recording as a leader for ECM (a switch from sister Anat’s Anzic label), Cohen’s playing on Mark Turner’s Lathe of Heaven having impressed ECM chief Manfred Eicher, who produced the new album (a role Cohen had typically performed himself). Cohen assembled a new quintet for the project, and the music is more composed and introspective—the title track, in particular, began as a piano figure that came to Cohen upon his father’s death—than his looser, more improvisational pieces for his Triveni trio.

Cohen was not unfamiliar with his new bandmates. He has known pianist Yonathan Avishai since childhood, and worked with him in the collaborative quartet Third World Love. Drummer Nasheet Waits is a member of Triveni. Bassist Eric Revis is in the trio Tarbaby with Waits, and has subbed for Omer Avital on Triveni dates. Bill McHenry, who plays tenor sax on four of the six tracks, had worked with though not yet recorded with Cohen. But the five of them sound like they’ve been playing together forever.”

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Deutschlandradio Kultur Features Anat Fort & Avishai Cohen

“Auch “Into the Silence” von Avishai Cohen ist geprägt von der Tatsache, dass es vorab kaum beziehungsweise keine Probezeit gab. Doch schließlich wurden nur je zwei, maximal drei Versionen der insgesamt sechs Songs aufgenommen. Dadurch wirkt das Sound des Quintetts sehr unmittelbar – ein wenig, als würde man einer offenen Probe beiwohnen.

‘Das Album entstand in einer bestimmten Periode meines Lebens, als ich gerade meinen Vater verloren hatte. Jedes mal, wenn ich damals am Klavier saß, entstand ein sehr spezielle Stimmung, ein sehr spezieller Sound. Und obwohl ich eine Menge an Kompositionen hatte, die nie von meinem Trio gespielt worden waren, habe ich beschlossen, mich auf die aktuellen Stücke zu fokussieren. Ich wollte, dass sich das Album gänzlich auf diese Zeit der Trauer konzentriert. Also habe ich mich für Kompositionen entschieden, die zwischen Dezember 2014 und Juni 2015 entstanden waren, teilweise noch eine halbe Stunde, bevor wir ins Studio gegangen sind.’”

“Also “Into the Silence” by Avishai Cohen is characterized by the fact that it previously shown little or no trial period gave. However, eventually the six songs were recorded only ever two, maximum three versions. This makes the sound of the quintet is very directly – a little as if you attend an open rehearsal.

‘The album was in a certain period of my life when I had just lost my father. Every time I then sat at the piano, was a very special atmosphere, a very special sound. And even though I had a lot of compositions, had never been played by my trio, I decided me to focus on the current pieces. I wanted the album focuses entirely on this time of sorrow. So I chose compositions that between December 2014 and June 2015 arose, in part, before we went into the studio for another half hour.’”

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Jazz Views Rates "Into The Silence" 10/10

““Into the Silence” by Avishai Cohen is music written by the veteran Israeli born trumpeter following the death of his father. The tunes were additionally inspired by Cohen’s listening to the music of Rachmaninoff, and he is ably assisted by a core group of pianist Yonathan Avishai, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Nasheet Waits, with tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry contributing to the ensembles. On “Life and Death” Cohen’s muted trumpet intones a plaintive, searching melody that is a reflection of the two stages where humans enter and exit the world. He plays a heartfelt solo full of intriguing ideas, followed by a stunning solo from Yonathan Avishai. “Dream Like a Child” captures a range of emotions in fifteen and a half minutes inspired by the wonderment and creativity of children. Waits’ shifting pulses and rhythms on the track are reminiscent of Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette, anchoring the composed sections nicely. Cohen’s fiery improvising over a rubato stream of cymbals, snare and toms, sets up a solo section for Yonathan Avishai which features a striking duet with Eric Revis’ arco bass unisons and commentary. A brief ostinato at the end frees up Waits to contribute tumultuous thunderous ideas. The title track, opening with a dissonant piano figure, again benefits greatly from Waits’ darkly hued cymbals. The interplay with Eric Revis that Waits displays is impressive as they have been band mates on several occasions. “Behind the Broken Glass” features McHenry’s lone tenor solo of the set, building in rising intensity. The piano only reprise of “Life and Death” is a touching coda to a fantastic album.”

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Actualité Juive (FR) Features Avishai Cohen

“A vishaï Cohen, à ne surtout pas confondre avec son homonyme contrebassiste, est le « petit » dernier de trois enfants (en taille il est le plus grand, sans parler de sa longue barbe à la Herzl), nés à Tel-Aviv, d’une famille où le père, déçu de ne pas avoir fait de la musique sa profession, a encouragé sa lignée à en prendre le chemin. Anat joue de la clarinette et l’aîné, Yuval, du soprano et de l’alto. Ensemble et aux Etats-Unis, ils ont constitué le groupe des trois Cohen également à la tête du label Anzic. A partir de ses 10 ans, Avishaï s’approprie la trompette qu’il ne lâchera plus. En Israël, ce sont les orchestres symphoniques ou l’accompagnement de chanteurs et il complète sa formation à la célèbre Berklee College of Music de Boston. En 1997, il remporte la 3è place du prix Thelonious Monk, tourne avec les trois Cohen qui ne passent pas inaperçus, crée son trio Triveni, nom d’un fleuve au confluent de trois rivières indiennes. De prestigieux musiciens l’invitent et il est nommé deux fois de suite « Nouveau talent de l’année par le magazine Downbeat. Un parcours sans fautes dont l‘étape actuelle est la sortie d’un nouvel album sur le mythique label allemand ECM, fondé par Manfred Eicher. Il dit à son écoute au côté de Marc Turner « j’ai aussitôt adoré le style d’Avishaï, son phrasé, son énergie et la pureté de sa sonorité ».”

“Avishai Cohen, especially not to be confused with his namesake bass, is the “little” last of three children (in size it is the largest, not to mention his long beard to Herzl), born in Tel Aviv, d a family where the father, disappointed not to have made usic his profession, encouraged his line to take the path. Anat plays clarinet and the eldest, Yuval, the soprano and alto. Ensemble and the US, they formed the group of three Cohen also head of Anzic label. From its 10 years, Avishaï appropriates the trumpet he not let go. In Israel, it is the symphony orchestra or accompanying singers and he completed his training at the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 1997, he won the 3rd place prize of Thelonious Monk, rotates with the three Cohen who do not go unnoticed, Triveni creates his trio, name of a river at the confluence of three Indian rivers. Prestigious musicians invite and was named twice “Newcomer of the Year by Downbeat magazine. A clear round that the current stage is the release of a new album on the legendary German label ECM, founded by Manfred Eicher. He told his listening alongside Marc Turner ‘I immediately loved the style of Avishaï, his phrasing, energy and purity of his sound.’”

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The Buffalo News Features Avishai Cohen's "Into The Silence"

“The influence of Miles Davis on other musicians – especially trumpet players – has always been one of the most fascinating subjects in jazz. His inimitable sound, both Harmon-muted and unmuted, is seldom essayed by any trumpet player because it’s so personal. The rarity was Wallace Roney who was so close to it that Davis didn’t mind it when he and Roney took turns performing when Quincy Jones got an aging Davis to record some of his classic earlier music with Gil Evans.

But, other than Johnny Coles – and to some extrent Chet Baker, who had his own distinctive personality – Davis’ sound has been treated in jazz as relatively sacrosanct. Not so much the general approach of his late-50s and ‘60s quintets, which became the most influential of their era by far. What you’ve got here is a rarity that could only show up on ECM – an Israeli trumpet player who is clearly most influenced by Davis’ sound but who eschews the approaches of his classic quintets and sextet in favor of the kind of formal abstraction common on ECM. Nasheet Waits is a great jazz drummer who plays free jazz drums throughout most of this (rather than drums in the style of either Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette or Tony Williams).”

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The Green Man Review Features "Into The Silence"

“Seeing Cohen fronting a quartet in mid-2015 didn’t prepare me for the quiet impact of this quite different set of music. It did, however, prepare me to recognize the 30-something Cohen as a disciple of (among others) Miles Davis. So the opening section of the first track here, “Life and Death,” with its somber, Bill Evans-like chording from pianist Yonathan Avishai behind Cohen’s muted trumpet was more confirmation than revelation. It’s one of the more straightforward works on this date, with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Nasheet Waits sketching the minimal rhythm as Cohen and Avishai explore Cohen’s modal piece.”

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Classicalite Reviews "Into The Silence"

“The mournful sad tones of Avishai of the Cohens liken the leader to Miles Davis: muted, underscored with piano/bass/drums plus tenor sax, and filled with a longing that won’t ever go away. The sibling Cohens of Israel-clarinetist/saxophonist sister Anat, sax man brother Yuval and trumpeter Avishai-could be construed to be like the Marsalis family of New Orleans, the Heaths of Philly or the Joneses of Detroit. The bustling metropolis of Tel Aviv was where they grew to fruition as The 3 Cohens Sextet. Now, with Into The Silence (ECM), Avishai has put his grief over the death of their father into music.”

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Avishai Cohen's Into The Silence - "A Masterpiece"

“Besides being Cohen’s finest composing and playing to date, Into the Silence is an extraordinary project on every level. There is a transcendence in this music that is both uplifting and heartbreaking. The group plays as one, they genuinely feel an appreciation of humanity and life-changing ramifications of loss. The rendering of these compositions is never over-sentimental, but never less than authentic. A masterpiece.”

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Blurt Features Avishai Cohen's "Into The Silence"

“Trumpeter Avishai Cohen made his name with a pair of outfits: the family band 3 Cohens Sextet and the aggressively improvisational trio Triveni. For his latest solo album, however, he moves into a more contemplative, even melancholy mood. Into the Silence pays tribute to the Tel Aviv-born/NYC-based composer’s late father, who had always wanted to be a musician himself but couldn’t, instead passing his love on to his children.”

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AllMusic Reviews "Into The Silence"

“Trumpeter Avishai Cohen’s ECM debut, 2016’s Into the Silence, is a ruminative, elegiac album far — if not completely — removed from the kinetic, aggressive post-bop of his 2014 effort, Dark Nights. As with all ECM releases, Into the Silence was produced by label founder Manfred Eicher and, as such, fits nicely into the catalog next to works by the late trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and others. In some ways, Cohen’s move toward a more classical, ambient sound makes sense, as he is recording material specifically with the ECM stylistic tradition in mind. Sadly, Cohen also composed these songs in the wake of his father’s death, and the trumpeter’s grief seems to permeate everything on Into the Silence.”

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