Avishai Cohen: Big Vicious (ECM, 2020)
Note: Jazz Views with CJ Shearn will now have a more detailed sound category offering audiophile insight into recordings as part of review thanks to upgraded equipment.
Sound stage: The audio depiction of the placement of instruments, as if one were to go see a play and see the position of the actors/actresses on stage, when a listener closes their eyes, they can see and hear the placement of the players and instruments. The term stereo image can also be applied.Â
Stereo imaging refers to the aspect of sound recording and reproduction of stereophonic sound concerning the perceived spatial locations of the sound source(s), both laterally and in depth. (source for stereo image definition: wikipedia)
Avishai Cohen: trumpet, effects, synthesizer; Uzi Ramirez: guitar; Jonathan Albalak: guitar; bass; Aviv Cohen: drums; Ziv Ravitz: drums, live sampling.
Jazz, over the past three decades especially has become a global language. The music by it's very nature is inclusive, taking on elements from all over the world, while maintaining it's core identity.  Yet despite this statement, a debate still rages on about what jazz is, for some it may be Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, the acoustic period of Miles Davis.  While Miles Davis' electric music, Weather Report, Return to Forever, Bill Frisell, John Abercrombie, John McLaughlin and Pat Metheny  among others were all artists  that brought something inherently fresh to the table.  All these artists were rooted in jazz tradition but not hemmed in.  Since Wynton Marsalis arrived on the jazz scene in the late 1970's, and after garnering a major label deal with Columbia in 1981,  continuing on to his becoming director of the newly founded Jazz At Lincoln Center in 1987, the age old debates of what jazz is flared up.  These debates always existed but began to intensify when record labels, who had been on the cutting edge of recording jazz-funk, jazz-rock and other needlessly coined permutations, suddenly sharply focused on acoustic straight ahead jazz.  The music  was made by young, primarily African American musicians, and like earlier decades, statements on who they were as players, and their place in society.  Many of the musicians from that specific time period of the 80's-90's have had a strong impact on current jazz, and a lot of the musicians who are major figures, like Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Jeff âTainâ Watts, the late Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton and Joshua Redman  have been influences on the generations of 20 and 30 somethings who are on the front lines.
Israeli born trumpeter Avishai Cohen is just one of many musicians, who have been influenced by this so called âyoung lionâ period, but has distinctly, like fellow Israeli ECM labelmates Oded Tzur, Anat Fort and Shai Maestro brought forth influences from that country's music but also music across genres that were inspiring. This is the name of the game in jazz now, musicians bringing forth what inspired them, whether it be Nirvana, Radiohead, Boards of Canada, Wu Tang Clan or anything they grew up with.
For the fourth album bearing his name for ECM, Cohen debuts an exciting new quintet project Big Vicious. The quintet, made up of the leader on trumpet, effects and synthesizer, guitarist Uzi Ramirez, guitarist and bassist Jonathan Albalak, and the double drum tandem of Aviv Cohen and Ziv Ravitz on drums and live sampling,  an all Israeli group bring a powerful and potent combination... acoustic and electric hybrid music with slamming grooves, textures reaching the cosmos and some tight rope walking improvisation that is a very distinct and personal blend.  The group had been playing much of the music on the road for sometime, playing the originals here and covers such as Massive Attack's trip hop classic âTeardropâ part of a stream of music which all had grown up on.  The mix of jazz and electronic proclivities is a result of all their collective experience and was tightened in the studio at producer Manfred Eicher's suggestion which distilled the music to itâs essence considerably.  Each player in the group brings their experiences of jazz and elsewhere, and the notion of soloing is less important than overall feeling and textures. This practice governed much of Weather Reportâs early work as well, but it is only a surface resemblance in this new collection.
Aviv Cohen's fat, thudding kick, and deep, thunderous dead snare set the tone for the sing songy âHoney Fountainâ of which the trumpeter's bright tone make the most of.  Albalak and Ramirez' guitars and bass are an important component, and Cohen's groove are important because, a variation of the same groove is also found on the penultimate âTeno Nenoâ.  The track is like an movie introduction.  âHidden Chamberâ introduces much darker sonic tapestries including a weird, altered pitch underpinning with fuzzy harmonics, somewhat reminiscent of the T-1000 sound effects from Terminator 2. Ravitz's more jazz centric approach tease at some burning swing as things build to a sparkling climax, drummer Cohen more in the pocket over Ravitz' implied swing.  The spoken word samples of Einstein and Wayne Shorter are a nice touch as they suggest the infinite nature of space.  âKing Kutnerâ is a joyous anthemic blast, Guitar and synth together combine like lovely shining stars. Â
Three pieces in particular serve as album centerpieces. Â The group's treatment of âMoonlight Sonataâ is breathtaking with Cohen's almost bucolic melodic treatment, Â the guitars, and electronics stroke bold dark colors on a beautiful canvas. Â The trumpeter uses the melodic contours for wonderful dynamic exploration, with dark, scratchy guitar again suggesting the beauty of the cosmos. Â Cohen's trumpet and subtle ad libs are almost operatic in nature, bright like the stars on this wonderful moonlight night. âFractalsâ is dark and foreboding, with usage of Israeli scales. The strange, bubbling electronic world at times recalls Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi at their abstract best on the pivotal Crossings (Warner Brothers, 1972). Â The lengthy treatment of Massive Attack's classic trip hop opus of love and obsession âTeardropâ (also recently covered by Thana Alexa) allows Big Vicious to really stretch in a vast atmosphere. Ravitz' treatment of the iconic beat, gets additional assistance from Aviv Cohen and through improvisation, reversed sounds and distorted, delayed trumpet explore the psychological aspect of obsession and longing. Â The trumpeter cries out almost in anguish. Â Whereas Alexa's version faithfully captures the tale of sensuality and obsession, Cohen really plumes the psychological aspect and in his solo really flies in the upper register. Â âThe Cow and The Calfâ ends things on a note as cinematic as the album began, Cohen's trumpet states the reflective melody, then contrasts in the bridge section with a quasi boogaloo feel reminiscent of 60's Blue Note classics.
Big Vicious' debut is filled with a ton of sonic ear candy and a huge sound stage.  The drums of Aviv Cohen and Ziv Ravitz take up the far left, center left, right center and far right of the stereo image.  The drums have a real deep percussive snap to them with Cohen often employing effect laden snares with tambourines on the drum heads, and other devices to simulate electronic drums acoustically, much in the domain of Mark Giuliana, Chris Dave, Antonio Sanchez and Eric Harland.  There is also a satisfying dead drum sound here recalling that of classic 70's groups like that of The Eagles, or the Alan Parsons Project.  A few cool moments appear on âTeardropâ with Ravitz' rim shots trailing off into reverb in the invisible center and stick drags from snare in the left channel translate to reverbed snare hits from Ravitz in the center channel. Odd, at times sinister synthesizers, guitars and effects are present throughout various areas of the sound stage, and Avishai Cohen's trumpet is brilliantly clear and realistic despite both subtle and heavier uses of effects.  Manfred Eicher's production with a firm grip of contemporary trends results in a dynamically exciting recording that leaps from the Focal Chorus 716 floor standing speakers with accurately rendered tones.
Avishai Cohen with the debut of exciting new band, his golden, singing beautiful trumpet, and a wealth of collective musical experience is what makes Big Vicious a joy to listen to, start to finish.  Cohen is a diverse musician that with his fourth ECM recording taps into yet another wellspring for different ideas. With relatively brief catchy tunes, blending the acoustic and electronic, with the current woes of contemporary society in a post COVID-19 world, this is the kind of recording that will appeal to traditionally non jazz listeners, and for some perhaps be a catalyst to dive into the enchanting back catalog of ECM records.
Yamaha RS 202 stereo receiver
Musicbee library (for digital file playback)
Sony Playstation 3 (for CD playback)
