YUVAL COHEN - SONG WITHOUT WORDS

Soprano saxophonist, composer, arranger and bandleader, recipient of the Landau award for the performing arts in the field of jazz for 2010 (the most prestigious prize in Israel), Yuval Cohen, has developed his own unique sound and melodic approach to composition and improvisation. Lee Konitz, Lew Soloff, Arnie Lawrence and Reggie Workman are just a few of great jazz masters with whom Yuval has collaborated. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel (1973), Yuval is a graduate of the prestigious Thelma Yellin High School for the Arts, and was regularly awarded scholarships from the Israel-American cultural foundations between the years 1987-1996.

Yuval Graduated Berklee College of Music (Summa Cum Laude, 1996), and was awarded prizes for outstanding achievements and the woodwind department award. His compositions were chosen to represent the college in the prestigious jazz magazine, Jazziz. In July 2010 Yuval received his Masters in Composition from the Rubin Academy for Music and Dance in Jerusalem. His debut CD, Freedom (2007), and his recordings with the 3 Cohens (featuring brother and sister Anat and Avishai) have all received rave reviews. Yuval tours extensively with the 3 Cohens, playing in the U.S., Europe, South America and Israel, most recently in support of the band's new recording, Family.(http://www.3cohens.com/).

Yuval Cohen's latest recording for Anzic Records, and his 2nd as a leader, Song Without Words, is all about melody, and a simple, heartfelt and honest dialogue between two friends, and two masterful musicians, Yuval (soprano saxophone) and Shai Maestro (piano). It is an expression of an outlook that merges various musical disciplines, creating a unique and very personal blend. "I feel at home playing in this manner - on the one hand feeling an intense musical activity, yet on the other experiencing a transparency and softness that are the result of the dialogue," explained Cohen.

Yuval Cohen on Song Without Words:
Song without words - From the intro on, when writing this tune, it felt like a song that is missing its lyrics. It has a clear melody, almost naïve. We tried to keep the naïve vibe going through our musical dialogue.

Nehama - This song is like a whipping Israeli song. Like a child playing with a toy. So naïve, so beautiful. Wide and sad.

Bye Bye Blackbird - A version that keeps the melody a secret from the listener. It reveals itself at a relatively late point in the music as we were enjoying the melodic options the tune allows.

Skylark - Shai and I wanted to stretch the melody in a very slow tempo, allowing the bird to spread its wings, to fly slowly and to sing.

Angelo - A beautiful piece by Shai. It has a quality of something so personal, yet familiar. It brings a feeling of being somewhere in Italy in the beginning of the century. I always say in concerts, that the only disadvantage I can find in this tune, is that I didn't compose it myself!

26/2 - An arrangement we did together of the great John Coltrane composition. We decided to make our life harder and to play it in the odd meter of 7/4. In a duo set up, it is like making a Japanese Harakiri in front of a live audience.

Shir Hasade - "The song of the field". It is a beautiful song, sometimes proud, sometimes dark, by the late David Zehavi, an important Israeli composer. It started off as an arrangement I wrote for piano and voice, during the course of my Master's degree. I then brought it to the duo for this recording.

Nature Song - I was envisioning wide meadows in the winter, somewhere in the north of Israel, something like the photo on the cover of the album. Again, the melody is very clear, graspable.

http://www.anzicrecords.com/