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Israeli trumpeter Avishai Cohen's newest album to date, "Ashes To Gold", contains his five-piece suite of the same title completed with "Adagio Assai” from Maurice Ravel’s Concerto in G major, and the closer “The Seventh", written by Avishai's daughter Amalia. The music is performed by Cohen (who, unusually, plays not only trumpet but the flugelhorn and a lot of flute as well) and his quartet, containing pianist Yonathan Avishai, bassist Barak Mori, and drummer Ziv Ravitz.
The album opens with an almost ten-minute melancholic chamber piece, quite typical for Cohen's previous works. Still, the rest of the Suite is more complex, more adventurous, and less predictable. Cohen's trumpet soloing often flies over the rest of the music, recalling contemporary Polish great trumpeter Tomasz Stanko's works. Still, Cohen is always a bit more intimate, softer, and melancholic.
The "Ashes To Gold" suite was written by Cohen in Israel right after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and recorded there as well in November. Without a doubt, the album's music is heavily influenced by that event. Surprisingly, besides sadness, melancholy, and pain, there is no anger in the music.
Almost eight minutes long, "Adagio Assai", opens with solo trumpet, soon joined by the double bassist. Piano and drums enter bringing some light and hope.
The final piece, “The Seventh”, refers to the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war date. It's a lyrical song, composed by Cohen's teenage daughter.
Released on the ECM label, possibly the most prestigious one in Europe, the album demonstrates the label's return of sorts to it's roots. Decades ago ECM started their glorious way releasing some more ambitious and experimenting artists of the time. With time, they became high-quality comfortable and extremely safe music producers, possibly the times were too safe as well and required this sort of sound.
Suddenly, the whole world jumped into a period of unexpected turbulence, values crisis, bloody wars, and a future that no one can expect or imagine. As always, the musicians react among the very first. Avishai Cohen's "Ashes To Gold" came in time, and is one great evidence of the moment.
