Avishai Cohen, Big Vicious

CD version. Big Vicious is the studio debut of the band that trumpeter Avishai Cohen put together after moving back from the United States to his native Israel. It was his fourth album for ECM and a clear turn away from the acoustic records that preceded it. Two guitars, two drummers, live sampling and synthesizers carry textures from electronica, ambient music and psychedelia, with grooves taken from rock, pop and trip-hop.

The group is an association of old friends. "We're all coming from jazz, but some of us left it earlier," Cohen says. Cohen and guitarist Uzi Ramirez were school friends in Tel Aviv, and Yonatan Albalak plays guitar and bass. The drums are shared by Aviv Cohen and Ziv Ravitz, who also handles live sampling. Much of the material was written collectively, and the producer Yuvi Havkin, known as Rejoicer, shares credits on three tracks. The quintet recorded in August 2019 at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines, with Manfred Eicher as producer.

Nine originals sit beside two covers. The opening Honey Fountain rides a hip-hop inflected groove and a sonar-like pulse. King Kutner is built on Albalak's ominous surf-rock bass line, and its driving beat pushes the band to the edge of rock before the trumpet pulls it back. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata becomes a slow group arrangement, with Cohen stating the melody over spidery guitars. On Massive Attack's Teardrop, the longest track at over seven minutes, the trumpet takes the part of the lead singer while the drums lay down a dark, dragging pulse.

Critics noted how far the record reaches outside jazz while staying rooted in it. Chris Pearson of The Times wrote that "much of it is virtually pop, but none the worse for it," and heard the dense blend intensify as its elements accumulate. Ian Mann of The Jazzmann praised Cohen's playing as "highly fluent and technically flawless," though he found the sidemen at times anonymous. In Zeit Online Stefan Hentz described the trumpet as the singer of the band, the voice that gives the whole its hold and strength.

CD edition, ECM 2680, released in March 2020.