Blue Note | Avishai Cohen (b) and Nitai Hershkovits (p). Rec. not stated

The charismatic double bassist Avishai Cohen has proved one of the biggest contemporary draws on the jazz club and international festival circuit over the last decade. Having previously concentrated on piano trio albums for his label Razdaz, over the past few years Cohen has released two albums on Blue Note, in which his sensuous signature blend of folk, classical and jazz turned from sounding very much like ‘song’ to actually being ‘song’. But on his third for the label Duende Cohen recovers his instrumental jazz and improvising instincts in the intimate, naked setting of a duo. His partner for the recording is the young just-out-of-teens pianist Nitai Hershkovits who Cohen discovered in a random visit to a café in downtown Tel Aviv (where he has fairly recently relocated after over 15 years in New York) in which he was playing solo on a cheap keyboard. The biggest surprise for Cohen fans will be the presence of a few jazz standards among the originals.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Monk’s ‘Criss Cross’, Cole Porter’s ‘All of You’ and possibly Coltrane’s ‘Central Park West’ have been recorded for the legendary label but it’s a rare occasion for Cohen to feature jazz’s golden oldies at all. This isn’t however a sign that Cohen has gone all traditional on us. Hershkovits, who plays with an attractive tone and elegant poise, is very much on the same wavelength with regard to Cohen’s folky Mediterranean and classical roots, and the way he tackles something like ‘All of You’ is how you imagine a contemporary pianist such as Brad Mehldau might do it. Although Cohen’s bass has its usual striking percussive presence, the tone of the recording is understated with Hershkovits, a less demonstrative pianist than Cohen’s previous young sidemen Sam Barsh and Shai Maestro, possessing an irresistible calm. It’s up there with Cohen’s very best.

– Selwyn Harris