After The Big Rain

Avishai Cohen's After the Big Rain is an ambitious, earthy and endlessly surprising work that finds the trumpeter/composer melding post-bop, avant-garde jazz, African folk music and electric soundscapes. Having been a force on the downtown NYC jazz scene since the '90s, Cohen has made a name for himself as an adventurous, forward-thinking musician performing in various ensembles that mixed everything from klezmer and free jazz to swinging hard bop and post-rock. Here, Cohen takes his world music inclinations one step further partnering with West African vocalist/guitarist Lionel Loueke on a series of loosely connected pieces that strongly feature Loueke's moody singing and percussive guitar. Interestingly, the album often sounds more like African folk music than jazz with Loueke setting a song up and then Cohen with his muted/electronically enhanced trumpet and keyboardist Jason Linder's wave-like Fender Rhoades joining in organically after a few bars.