“Avishai Cohen’s Latest Album ‘Iroko’ Is a Collaboration with Abraham Rodriguez Jr. and Takes His Bass in a Latin Direction”

Already in the years that bassist Avishai Cohen studied in New York, he sought contact with Latin musicians, the music that, like jazz, flows freely through his veins. Irokohis latest album, is the collaboration record with Abraham Rodriquez Jr, which earned their decades-long friendship.

Cohen followed the long pandemic with a trio album Shifting Sands that didn’t really hit me. Cohen is at his best when he takes new paths, his trio sound is so well known and has been recorded on so many great albums. And especially in the star line-up with Mark Guiliana on drums and Shai Maestro on piano.

He has found an ideal musical partner in Abraham Rodriquez Jr. The musician from the New York Yorican scene is the right musician to take Cohen out of his jazz comfort zone and let him shine on his double bass. Rodriquez Jr on congas and vocals also always takes the lead.

It is also exciting that this really is an album with only double bass, congas and vocals (the men are assisted by singer Virgina Alves) and that the pure sound of the traditionals that dominate the majority of the setlist comes out nicely. I don’t need any English texts, as sometimes happens, because the Spanish connects so wonderfully to that Latin approach (that ‘Latin’ remake of It’s A Man’s World by James Brown wouldn’t have been necessary at all, for example).

Iroko is a nice album with a nice atmosphere and it is even nicer to hear Cohen once again bass so prominently and more in the Latin direction. In addition, the way of singing on these songs automatically determines a swing. On the vocal lines you just can’t help but grooving bass, especially when someone is standing next to you who plays the congas so contagiously.

The 14 songs on the album have a nice coherence and a nice, loose atmosphere. Maybe not every song is well chosen (uh… Fly Me To The Moon is a Latin version as closing?) but overall this is another challenging Cohen record and we can rightly be happy about that.