Talented 3 Cohens make jazz a family affair

Music preview

In new album, Israeli horn players forge unique group sound

November 06, 2011|By Andrew Gilbert, Globe Correspondent

3 COHENS SEXTET

At: Scullers, Thursday, , 8 p.m. Tickets: $22. 617-562-4111, www.ticketweb.com; and at the Shalin Liu Performance Center, 37 Main St., Rockport, Friday , 8 p.m. Tickets: $30. 978-546-7391, www.rcmf.org

Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey couldn’t share a bandstand without coming to fisticuffs. And the much missed Jones brothers, Elvin, Thad, and Hank, were so deep into their own creative pursuits they never even tried to launch a family combo.

In jazz, sharing parentage offers no guarantee that musical siblings will go on to work harmoniously together. But in the case of the 3 Cohens, familial ties have surmounted distance, career ambitions, and other potential obstacles. At the forefront of a torrent of Israeli jazz talent that has poured into New York City over the past two decades, the 3 Cohens, all horn players in their 30s, have forged a sumptuous group sound built upon a selfless love of blending their instrumental voices.

“Playing together like this is not a miracle because we are siblings,’’ writes Yuval Cohen, a supremely lyrical soprano saxophonist, in an e-mail. “We owe it to the heritage of jazz, and to great teachers who taught us the meaning of playing together. But knowing each other so well, loving each other and trusting each other, makes a hell of a difference.’’

In addition to Tel Aviv-based Yuval Cohen, the sextet, which performs Thursday at Scullers and Friday at Rockwood’s Shalin Liu Performance Center, features reed expert Anat Cohen and trumpeter Avishai Cohen, who both live in New York City. As the eldest, Yuval blazed the trail they all followed, from the vaunted Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts near Tel Aviv to Berklee College of Music, where they quickly gained recognition as standouts.

“I never thought of it as a rivalry,’’ says Avishai, not to be confused with the Israeli bassist of the same name. “Sometimes it could be like a game, where you try to play a Bird solo and see who will make a mistake, or who can sight read better than the other. Now, when we’re onstage it’s not like I’m trying to outplay my big brother. In other situations when a bandmate is killing I might feel, ‘Hey, I want to get the same applause.’ With my brother and sister it’s never like this.’’

Anat was the first of the Cohens to gain national attention. A lithe, silvery toned tenor saxophonist and exceptionally fluent clarinetist, she’s dominated the Jazz Journalists Association clarinetist of the year award since 2007. Her latest solo album, 2010’s “Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard’’ (Anzic) is a bravura quartet session focusing on standards from the 1920s and ’30s. While she plays both tenor and clarinet in 3 Cohens, the latter horn has become her truest voice.