To be
released Oct. 22, 2013, via Anzic Records, "Tightrope" features the 3
Cohens improvising as an a cappella horn choir and teaming with special guests
Fred Hersch, Christian McBride & Jonathan Blake
One of
the reasons jazz improvisation excites performer and listener alike is that
it's akin to walking a tightrope - chances are taken, stakes are high. A
musician can create thrilling, in-the-moment art, or fall flat. Collective
improvisation ups the ante - it's never a given that multiple players can be so
attuned to one another that they know when to listen as well as when to speak.
The 3 Cohens - siblings Anat Cohen (clarinets, tenor saxophone), Avishai Cohen
(trumpet) and Yuval Cohen (soprano sax) - explore this concept fully on
Tightrope, their fourth extraordinary album together, to be released October
22, 2013, via Anzic Records. The material ranges from free improvisations and
fresh originals to classics by Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Tadd Dameron,
Art Farmer and Gerry Mulligan, plus tunes associated with João Gilberto and Jo
Stafford.
Most of
the tracks on Tightrope see the three horn players walking that fine titular
line without a net - performing a cappella, with no chordal instrument or
rhythm section for support; moreover, they venture a sequence of
"Conversations" as unaccompanied free improvisations, spontaneously
composing the music in interplay - an evolutionary development for the group.
But when they're not going it alone on Tightrope, the 3 Cohens are adding a
special guest to the mix, with pianist Fred Hersch, bassist Christian McBride
and drummer Johnathan Blake each appearing to make the 3 Cohens a quartet on
several tracks. "We treat our horns as voices, so we call it playing a cappella
when it's just the three of us," Anat says. "But even though we
wanted to do an a cappella album, we couldn't resist having a few guests,
musicians we really love - Fred, Christian and Jonathan." Yuval adds:
"Sometimes people say, `Why were your parents so lazy - why did they stop
at three? You could've had a rhythm section..."
In a
recent video interview (3 Cohens - Tightrope EPK), the 3 Cohens talked about
Tightrope in this way, finishing each other's sentences and playing music from
the album. Anat says: "When you play the saxophone or the trumpet in jazz
with a rhythm section, you're almost always the soloist. But when you're
playing as we are here most of the time, with just the three horns, you're also
an accompanist. So on this album, we're playing both roles, of soloist and
accompanist." Avishai adds: "And the roles can change in a second,
based on what the other is doing... But we know each other so well - we can
feel what the other is thinking."Yuval points out that in the trio
improvisations of Tightrope, "It's a constant dialogue with yourself, your
own ego - to be concerned just with what the music needs." As The Boston
Globe observed about the band: "The 3 Cohens have forged a sumptuous group
sound built upon a selfless love of blending their instrumental voices."
The
sound of intertwined horns was in the ears of all three Cohens early on. A
common inspiration growing up in Israel was a 1959 album by the piano-less
Gerry Mulligan Quartet featuring Art Farmer, with the brothers and sister
naturally drawn to its melody-oriented weave. Tightrope includes two tunes from
that band's book: Farmer's "Blueport" and Mulligan's "Festive
Minor." There are other pieces from the Cohens' youth. "Ai Li Lu Li
Lu" is a Yiddish lullaby their mother sang to them. The standard
"Indiana" underscores their love of Louis Armstrong and the
collective improvisation from New Orleans, while Tadd Dameron's "Hot
House" reflects their ties to the bebop tradition. Even the free
"Conversations" - spurred by little more than "why don't you
start" or "let's think long tones" - have their echoes, as the
pure polyphony and quotes from Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, etc. evoke the siblings'
early experience in classical ensembles.
As for
the quartet tracks on Tightrope, pianist Fred Hersch joined the 3 Cohens in the
studio straight from the airport, teaming with the siblings for his "Song
Without Words #4: Duet" (a piece that both Anat and Avishai had performed
on stage with him). With Hersch, they also recorded the Italian ballad
"Estaté" made popular in the jazz realm by João Gilberto; and, at the
pianist's suggestion, they captured a playfully baroque version of Thelonious
Monk's "I Mean You." Bassist Christian McBride dropped by the
sessions for a spontaneous take on Duke Ellington's "Just Squeeze
Me," his woody tone a delightful addition. Drummer Jonathan Blake has
played for years live in the 3 Cohens Sextet, and his studio visit yielded a
quartet version of Avishai's grooving original "Black."
Avishai
goes lyrically solo for the ballad "There's No You" (an early hit for
Jo Stafford), and the three-horn choir voices Yuval's "It Might as
Well," a piece inspired by Rodgers & Hammerstein's "It Might as
Well Be Spring." For Avishai's closing "Mantra," Anat adds dark
hues on bass clarinet. Throughout Tightrope, the filial "telepathy"
among the 3 Cohens is a marvel but so is the beauty of sound each conveys on
his or her instrument. This is an album about balance and buoyancy - and the
sheer joy of communicating through music.
The best
jazz groups are made up of kindred spirits, but the rare family band has
something more - an intuitive feel for each other that goes beyond words and
gestures. The 3 Cohens are that sort of uncommon collective, a trio of siblings
from Tel Aviv, Israel, whose sense of improvisational interplay is both
uncannily fluent and wonderfully, infectiously warm. Along with performing on
stages the world over, the 3 Cohens have three previous studio albums to their
credit: One (2004), Braid (2007) and Family (2011). The new album, Tightrope,
underscores the fact that there is something special about the music the three
make together, even with the individual careers each of the Cohens pursue to increasing
international success - Anat with her string of hit albums (including 2012's
Claroscuro), Avishai with his hot Triveni and Third World Love bands, and Yuval
with his recent Song Without Words release and his status as an award-winning
educator in Israel.
All
About Jazz, reviewing One, said: "What gives the 3 Cohens a certain edge
is the simpatico they share, extending beyond merely being siblings; it
involves all three sharing the common bond of music from an early age, and the
kind of comfort level and intuition that can only come from playing together
for many years... Throughout, a joyfulness pervades these performances."
All About Jazz was again full of enthusiasm about Braid, pointing out how the
threesome's "inside jokes, finishing of each others' sentences and playful
sibling rivalries spur the ensemble to refined heights... The sextet offers
fresh, modern jazz full of energy, daring and emotion." The New York Times
also enthused over the group's "family sound" and "intuitive
counterpoint" before pointing out the players' individual qualities:
"Anat has emerged as one of the best clarinet players in jazz, with a warm
and singing tone; Avishai can play bebop and ballad lines and outer-limit
trumpet sounds with tireless fluency; and Yuval has a full and relaxed sound on
soprano."
Upon the
release of Family, the 3 Cohens were featured on the cover of DownBeat
Magazine. The article depicted the character of the group this way:
"Chemistry. Alchemy. Telepathy. All are appropriate words to describe the
otherworldly quality of improvisation by a band with longstanding personnel
credentials... There's something special at work - a new level of anticipation
and celebration. Witness the joyful - and at times, whimsical and intimate -
conversations and interweaving horn textures."
"Tightrope"
1.
"Blueport" (Art Farmer)
2.
"Conversation 1" (Yuval & Avishai Cohen)
3.
"Song Without Words #4: Duet" (Fred Hersch)
4.
"Conversation 2" (3 Cohens)
5.
"Black" (Avishai Cohen)
6.
"Just Squeeze Me" (Duke Ellington, Lee Gaines)
7.
"Hot House" (Tadd Dameron)
8.
"There's No You" (Hal Hopper, Tom Adair)
9.
"Estaté" (Bruno Martino, Bruno Brighetti)
10.
"Converation 3" (3 Cohens)
11.
"Indiana" (Ballard MacDonald, James Hanley)
12.
"I Mean You" (Thelonious Monk)
13.
"It Might as Well" (Yuval Cohen)
14.
"Festive Minor" (Gerry Mulligan)
15.
"Conversation 4" (3 Cohens)
16.
"Conversation 5" (3 Cohens)
17.
"Ai Li Lu Li Lu" (traditional)
18.
"Mantra" (Avishai Cohen)
Anat
Cohen, clarinets and tenor sax; Avishai Cohen, trumpet; Yuval Cohen, soprano
saxophone, Fred Hersch, piano (#3, #9, #12); Christian McBride, double-bass
(#6); Johnathan Blake, drums (#5) // Produced
by Oded Lev-Ari & the 3 Cohens // Recorded
at Systems Two, Brooklyn; engineered by Joseph Marciano, assisted by Max Ross,
Mixed and edited by Brian Montgomery; mastered by Mark Wilder at Sony Music
Studios
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