WHAT THE PRESS HAS TO SAY ABOUT BRAID:

"…arresting sophomore album…” - Nate Chinen, New York Times

“…[a] polyphonic pip.” - Village Voice

“…if there’s any group that illustrates how profoundly and effortlessly international jazz has become in the new millennium, it’s this one”
- The Buffalo News

“…this a real band, reaching a level of communication bound by family ties, deepened by long hours on the bandstand and enlivened by an obvious love of the artform. The 3 Cohens have arrived, and hopefully this is only the beginning” - Greg Camphire, AllAboutJazz.com

“Van Heusen and Burke’s “It Could Happen to You,” quickly develops into an imaginative, fugue-like interpretation. Another special number is Yuval’s “Elegy for Eliku,” an eloquent bit of pensive jazz”
- Philip Van Vleck, Billboard Magazine

December 2nd, 2007
NY TIMES by Ben Ratliff

There’s such a thing as a family sound, and the musicians calling
themselves the 3 Cohens have it. The tenor saxophonist and
clarinetist Anat Cohen, the trumpeter Avishai Cohen and the soprano
saxophonist Yuval Cohen — originally from Israel and now all part of
the New York jazz world — weave their lines through “Braid” (Anzic),
a straight-ahead jazz record with Latin and Middle Eastern tinges.
(The rhythm section is first-rate: Aaron Goldberg on piano, Omer
Avital on bass and Eric Harland on drums.) Over the past few years,
Anat has emerged as one of the best clarinet players in jazz, with a
warm and singing tone; Avishai can play bebop and ballad lines and
outer-limits trumpet sounds with tireless fluency; Yuval has a full
and relaxed sound on the soprano. The arrangements are good, but the
record is best when they strain against the composed lines and babble
together in intuitive counterpoint. It makes a strong case for each
of them individually, but it’s a surprisingly good band record too.

December 2nd, 2007
All About Jazz By Greg Camphire

To the ranks of soulful jazz families like the Heaths of Philadelphia, the Joneses of Detroit and the Marsalises of New Orleans, fans can now add the 3 Cohens of Tel-Aviv, a talented Israeli combo featuring tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen and her brothers Yuval on soprano sax and Avishai on trumpet, who are hitting their stride on their sophomore collective effort, Braid.
The aptly-titled album sums up the telepathic, conversational interplay of the Cohens; musically, their inside jokes, finishing of each others’ sentences and playful sibling rivalries spur the ensemble playing to refined heights, with expert backing by the seasoned rhythm section of drummer Eric Harland, bassist Omer Avital and pianist Aaron Goldberg. Featuring mostly original Cohen compositions, the sextet offers up a collection of fresh, modern jazz full of energy, daring and emotion.
The three horn players combine the lyrical tone qualities of the swing era with a post-Coltrane fervor, while fusing Middle Eastern flavors to the Afro-Latin element that has influenced jazz ever since Jelly Roll Morton put the “Spanish tinge” on his ragtime beat.
Tracks like the simmering 6/8-meter journey “Navad” and the smolderingly uptempo “Freedom” showcase the band’s bebop-derived intensity and cohesion; Harland caps a series of impressive solos on the latter with a particularly explosive percussion narrative in his own authoritative style.
The group’s softer dynamic range and poetic expressiveness come through on the sweetly harmonized, light bossa nova of “Tfila (Prayer)” as well as an engaging pair of waltzes: “Lies and Gossip” and “Gigi et Amelie,” the latter sounding like an inspired re-imagining of some grand Tin Pan Alley tune lost to history.
The group dynamic is sometimes reminiscent of the work of Wayne Shorter’s current quartet, adding abstract filigrees, propulsive decorations and ample breathing room to the delicate chamber feel of “Beaches” and the Latin-spiced Dizzy Gillespie tribute “Shoutin’ Low.” Avital is especially effective on the relaxed beat of the former, breaking up thick, funky basslines across the tune’s subtle, New Orleans-inflected second-line rhythm.
The Cohens’ eclecticism grows even bolder with the inclusion of “U-Valley.” The short tune’s inherent catchiness belies a complexity contained within the sinewy horns, which layer interlocking melodies and countermelodies over a repetitive yet obliquely subdivided 30-beat phrase.
Offsetting that brainteaser is the breezy air of “It Could Happen to You,” a charming a cappella rendition that finds trumpet, tenor and soprano tossing the pop core of the original back and forth like a game of hot potato. Contrastingly, the slow and elegant processional “Elegy for Eliku” captures a mournful yet hopeful pathos, dedicating the deceased in a mode of poignant blues phrasing and dark, humid swing.
What becomes apparent by the end of Braid is that this a real band, reaching a level of communication bound by family ties, deepened by long hours on the bandstand and enlivened by an obvious love of the artform. The 3 Cohens have arrived, and hopefully this is only the beginning.

November 21, 2007
Midwest Records, by Chris Spector
A cool mix of 50s blowing date and 70s jungle fusion, these sibs that like instruments that come with mouthpieces blow up a sonic storm that surprises and delights with it’s energy, surprises and chops. A wild ride that blows your ears open in fine style, these young hitters playing at the top of their games is a flat out treat. There’s nothing here you can’t immediately wrap your ears around.


Decmber 2007
ROKOVOKO, Jazzarium
Like a Tel Aviv Marsalis family, the Cohen siblings grew up in literal and musical conversation about jazz. In Braid, their second album together, we hear the continuation of that conversation in 10 delightful tracks that highlight their individual talents but, even more impressively, showcase their superb ensemble interplay, harmony, and complementary tones. Braid is a nice metaphor, of course -- challah, textile, and all that -- but it's not just an excuse for pretty cover art here, it's a true description of the album's overall aural impression. 

In original tunes by tenor saxophonist Anat Cohen, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, and soprano saxophonist Yuval Cohen, plus a wonderfully whimsical take on Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke's "It Could Happen to You," the players are joined by the dynamic and enriching rhythm section of Aaron Goldberg on piano, Omer Avital on bass, and Eric Harland on drums.

The Cohens all studied at the same conservatory in Israel and each attended Berklee in Boston before moving to New York. Yuval now lives in Israel; Anat and Avishai are in New York. Braid encompasses Middle Eastern, Latin, bop, and California vibes in work that is at once imaginative and harmonically appealing from the first listen. On subsequent hearings, the subtlety of composition and the mellifluousness of individual and ensemble tone only become more apparent. So do the understated but integral contributions of Harland's drumming, which features little paprika splashes of tom, snare, and cymbal at key moments. And as with so many fine bass players, Avital's work is so key to the compositional architecture that you take it for granted until, say, a dazzling little downward scamper in "Shoutin' Low." Goldberg provides confident Latin sway to numbers like "Beaches" and "U-Valley" and sizzles with scalar high jinks before Harland's tom-dominant solo triumph in a marvelously propelled sprinting tune by Yuval called "Freedom."

"Navad (The Wanderer)" is a chatty, halucinatory outing over a 6/8 African beat. Its last third, I suspect, echoes what dinner conversation must have been like at the Cohen household when they were growing up -- a lot of sympathy, interruption, harmony, imagination, and love. "Gigi et Amelie" is a quiet interlude featuring muted trumpet that brings to mind a misty early spring morning in Paris with two distant silhouettes huddled in intimate conversation. "Elegy for Eliku" is a sweet, sorrowful ballad dedicated to the memory of the Cohens' uncle (as is the album). Yuval's extended soprano lines, especially, are reed-cries that make you wish you'd met the guy who elicits such eloquent remembrance and mourning.
"Lies and Gossip" is an extended angry complaint against some mysterious injustice. I don't know what triggered Avishai to write this number, but whatever it was must have been nasty and memorable. "It Could Happen to You" is another amusingly and technically inspired conversational track that one imagines was preceded by years of improvisation and variations among the sibs, maybe in an echoey laundry room. After starting off like a Billy Strayhorn-arranged high-holiday service, "Tfila (Prayer)" has passages in that chatty vein too, and in general is the swingingest, most convivial slice of reverence you'll hear any time soon. "Shoutin' Low" plays off Dizzy Gillespie's "Groovin' High" with a cool, chromatic insouciance.
Hearing Braid, you can only look forward to the occasional continuation of this family act, even as the Cohens each continue to develop their own individual career strands.


November 29, 2007
Hartford Courant by Owen Mcnally
A blue-chip import from Israel, the Cohens-three gifted Tel Aviv-born siblings-gladden the American jazz scene with this delightful, tightly-knit, celebratory collaboration.
Anat, the middle sister, has already made a sizable splash in the States with her acclaimed recordings, displaying her verve and versatility as a multi-instrumentalist/composer. Younger brother, Avishai, a Joshua-like trumpeter/composer, is also making a stateside splash, smaller than Anat's, yet packed with promise.
Older brother, Yuval, a soprano saxophonist/composer who still lives in Israel, unlike his USA-based siblings, is lesser known, yet a formidable force in the rising Cohen Dynasty.
Because of the empathetic way the Cohens weave their layered sounds, "Braid" is the perfect title for their repertoire rooted in American jazz spiked with Middle Eastern seasonings.
On the disc's single standard, "It Could Happen to You," the Cohens jam without accompaniment, interweaving spirited polyphonic lines evoking the quick wit of the World Saxophone Quartet.
As weavers of dreams, the swinging siblings score on nine evocative originals ranging from "Shoutin' Low" (based on "Groovin' High") to "Lies and Gossip," which is richly threaded with elegant voicings.
Aiding the Cohens in their artful "braiding" are pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Omer Avital and drummer Eric Harland, who fit in like kinsmen with the awesome threesome.
Whether soaring on a flight through "Freedom" or conversing polyphonically over a 6/8 groove on "Navad (The Wanderer)," the sibling stitchers of brightly textured voicings tailor a forever-in-fashion musical coat of many colors.

Mon., Feb. 4, 2008
Erie, PA Times-News


3 Cohens: “Braid’’ (Anzic Records) ****
Move over Marsalis’s and make room for the Cohens.
Wynton Marsalis & Co. made quite the splash on the jazz scene in the early 1980s.
Now, here come the Cohens.
Attracting much attention and praise are Israeli-born siblings, clarinetist-saxophonist-flutist Anat, trumpeter Avishai and soprano saxophonist Yuval Cohen.
Their first collective recording (2003’s “One’’) might not have set the world on fire, but their second, “Braid,’’ a marvelous achievement--especially for musicians so young--should create a wildfire.
The compositions (all but one of 10 by the Cohens) are incredibly rich, yet extremely listenable, with great melodies, intriguing harmonies and infectious rhythms.
The motifs are varied, from an Afro-Middle Eastern feel to an alternating waltz-lullaby, a subtle Spanish tinge, a yearning yet emotion-charged ballad, a calming and impassioned elegy, and the album’s one straight-ahead jazz piece, “Freedom,’’ which, played way uptempo, removes any doubt that the Cohens can play hard-swinging, inventive jazz as a group and soloists.
The ensemble playing sometimes will astound. There are wonderful examples of counterpoint among the horns, each playing a different line simultaneously and intertwining with one another. Frequently, the Cohens also play in unison on introductions and themes, or in a cappella (without accompaniment), including throughout the entire 2:46 of Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke’s “It Could Happen to You,’’ the CD’s only standard and non-original. It is exhilarating!
The rhythm section, comprising pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Omer Avital and drummer Erie Harland, is superb, exhibiting exceptional ability on all manner of tempos and meters, as colorists, and soloists.
Anat Cohen, who plays clarinet (her main horn), tenor and other saxophones, p[lus flute, has so far made the most noise in the family. With two outstanding 2007 recordings--“Poetica’’ and “Noir’’ (both on Anzic), she won multiple Jazz Journalist Association and Down Beat magazine critics polls, as instrumentalist and composer.