Artist: Avishai Cohen
Title Of Album: Devotion
Year Of Release: Apr 06, 1999
Label: Stretch Records
Genre: Jazz, Jazz Instrument, Bass
Quality/Bitrate: MP3 / 192 kbit/s / 44.1 Khz / Stereo
Total Time: 63:00 min
Total Size: 85,5 mb
WebSite: http://www.avishaimusic.com/

TRACKLIST
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1. El Capitan & The Ship At Sea
2. Gift, The
3. Bass Suite #3 Part 1
4. Ot Kain
5. Angels of Peace
6. Ti Da Doo Di Da
7. Linda De Mi Corazon
8. Deep Blue
9. Igor
10. Slow Tune
11. Negril
12. Musa
13. Candela City
14. Bass Suite #3 Part 2

Personnel: Avishai Cohen (piano, synthesizer, acoustic & electric basses, percussion); Claudia Acuna, Danny Freedman, Joshua Levy, Eran Tabib, Eli Lishinsky (vocals); Jimmy Greene (soprano & tenor saxophones, flute); Steve Davis (trombone); Ida Levin, Carmit Zori (violin); Robert Rinehart (viola); Fred Sherry (cello); Jason Linder (piano); Amos Hoffman (guitar, oud); Jeff Ballard (drums, percussion). Recorded at Clinton Recording Studios, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Horace Silver and Avishai Cohen.

Avishai Cohen's new record opens - deceptively, it turns out - in a mainstream groove, with some bustling solos and the leader's bass well up front. It's deceptive because, four tracks on, a consistent mood settles in, the group coheres, and the CD slowly turns into a composer's session. What at first seems a conventional neo-bop configuration tilting perhaps toward Return to Forever surprises all the way. This is no conventional group. The melodies are rich and inventive, and they generate shifting rhythms that hint at exoticism but always stay within hailing distance of the jazz tradition. And despite the Middle Eastern vibe that one might reasonably expect given Cohen's last recording, some of the inspiration here - like Linda de Mi Corazón and Candela City - is Latin-derived, and pianist Jason Linder shows himself an interesting interpreter of that music.
There's nice work by saxophonist Jimmie Greene, trombonist Steve Davis, guitarist (and oud-ist) Amos Hoffman, and drummer Jeff Ballard, but this is not a soloist's session. And whether or not Cohen intended this to be a suite, there's an organic quality to his writing and arranging that makes one piece flow into the next. This is orchestral music (with strings and voices occasionally added), which tells us that Cohen is even more promising than some might have thought.