Avishai Cohen’s Triveni – Dark Nights (2014)

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Since 2009, trumpet virtuoso Avishai Cohen has used his Triveni project with Omer Avital (bass) and Nasheet Waits (drums) as a vehicle for wide open playing that relies less on the head and more on the heart. Since all three of these performers are capable of dazzling without much forethought, Triveni has been one of the more exciting trios to come out of New York in recent times.

Every even numbered year since 2010 brings a new Triveni release and 2014 is no exception: their third CD Dark Nights is poised for release October 28, 2014 by Anzic Records. The third go-around sticks to the band’s free-wheeling concept, which already makes this a solid outing but they’re not content to simply rehash the first two albums, either. The group undertakes some rock overtones, starting with Cohen’s leadoff title track “Dark Nights,” a slow thump where the trumpeter is overdubbing himself with an effects-laden horn, acting almost like an evil twin of the unadorned horn.

On the blues-y “Betray,” his electrified trumpet can even be mistaken for a squalling rock guitar. On that tune, sister Anat Cohen sits in with her boss clarinet and as she solos, Waits is laying down the thunder. Pianist Gerald Clayton makes it quintet for “Old Soul” where he contributes a chiming electric piano to this pretty slice of soul. Cohen on an electrified trumpet alongside a sometimes-muted acoustic one splits the difference between 50s Miles and 70s Miles and shows us the two sides of the Prince of Darkness were never that far apart.

As with Triveni II, homage is paid to Ornette Coleman, but this time with a Cohen original, “OC”, that’s a dead ringer for one of Coleman’s famous Atlantic sides. Waits even delivers a superb Billy Higgins impersonation. The sparse “In All Directions,” might not be such an overt Ornette tribute, but its wandering melody has the same sort of spellbinding effect as “Lonely Woman.”

Triveni tackles the covers by striking the balance between maintaining the aura of the best-known renderings of these songs while not compromising their own personality. Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” is exquisitely played by AC, who stays within his style but leaves the original sentiment intact. He dances around the thematic figure of “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” before diving headlong into it, wavering his notes just so, like a real vet who knows just much emotion to invest. Avital, meanwhile, hits all the right notes and no more for this Mingus classic, and his uncluttered but character-filled bass keeps every song well-anchored and even funky at times.

The program ends with a rendition of “I Fall In Love Too Easily” led the tender vocal of Keren Ann and supported by Clayton on piano and the elegant muted trumpet of Cohen.

There’s no shortage of ideas and new vistas for Avishai Cohen’s Triveni, as evidenced by Dark Nights. Far from losing its freshness, this power jazz trio has delivered its best set of recordings yet.

S. Victor Aaron