/

=

show which features more than 20
R.S.V.P. to Borders at
artists from the U.S. and abroad.
(248) 737-0110.
Through March 6. 202 E. Third St.
Author and guru Mar-
(248) 544-3388.
ianne Williamson speaks
The Revolution Gallery hosts a
at the Community
reception 6-8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23,
House, 380 S. Bates St.,
for Portrait of Our Time II, an exhi-
in Birmingham, 7:30
bition that re-examines the psycholog-
p.m. Monday, Jan. 25. As
ical and socio-political complexities of
spiritual leader of the
our culture through the contemplation
Church of Today in War-
of the figure. Featured artists include
ren, Williamson draws
Larry Fink and the late Howard Kot-
upon her Jewish heritage.
tler. 23257 Woodward Ave., Ferndale.
$15. To register, call
(248) 541-3444.
(248) 644-5832 or e-
The Birmingham Bloomfield Art
mail to community-
Center's Captive Audience Lecture
house@iname.com .
Series presents Tom Halsted, owner of
Founder of the Detroit
the Halsted Gallery,
speaking on Con-
temporary Photog-
raphy in the 20th
Century. Halsted
will address the
relationship
between the photo-
graphic artist and
the 20th-century
art world 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 26,
at the center, 1516
S. Cranbrook Road,
in Birmingham. $5
suggested donation.
(248) 644-0866.
At 7:30 p.m. Sat-
urday, Jan. 30, the
lobby of the Fisher
Jew
Building will be
di norti ii
)41:, Sylfild di (,,r1llei
transformed into a
I oipoi hi vital if,i/0.1 ',homey is 11r,sirr
swanky swing
7.1),, ily. ;I ► tl f I
lounge as the Fan-
and job/ c4 /file, —
lief Flirt's/ 1\4/ ti
club Foundation for
the Arts presents
Film Theatre at the
Swingtime '99, a mix of live entertain-
Detroit Institute of Arts,
ment, great food and art for purchase.
Elliot Wilhelm discusses
Money raised will help fund cultural
organizations in metro Detroit. Tickets
and signs his new book,
VideoHound's World Cine-
per person are $50 in advance/$60 at
ma: The Adventurer's
the door, and include dinner, drinks
and entertainment. The Fisher Build-
Guide to Movie Watching,
7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26,
ing is located at Second and Grand
at Borders, 34300 Wood-
Boulevard in Detroit, just west of
ward, Birmingham. A raf-
Woodward Ave. (248) 584-4150.
fle for Detroit Film The-
atre passes will be held.
Whatnot
(248) 203-0005.
Dr. Elizabeth Heineman, associate
For additional listings,
professor in the department of history
see the Community Calen-
at Bowling Green University, speaks on
dar. Gail Zimmerman
The Transformation of Anne Frank:
may be reached at (248)
From Doomed Diarist to Symbol of
354-6060, ext. 260, or by
Hope 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24, at Bor-
e-mail at
ders Books and Music, 30995 Orchard
gzimmern2an@thejetvish-
Lake Road, in Farmington Hills.
news.corn

azz bassist Avishai Cohen devotes
90 percent of his day to music.
There's his band, and there's
pianist Chick Corea's band.
There are his recordings, and there are
Chick Corea's recordings.
There's his tour schedule, and there's
Chick Corea's tour schedule.
When Cohen appears in an Ameritech
Jazz Series concert at Orchestra Hall on
Friday, Jan. 29, he'll be part of Corea's
newest band, Origin. Corea is a jazz super-
star known for performances that reflect
his exploration of blues to bop, and
Mozart to rock.
"The only hard thing about
going back and forth between
groups is the physical aspect of trav-
eling a lot," says Cohen, 28, who
has moved back and forth between
Israel and the United States. "Other
than that, it's enjoyable. It also feels
very natural because some of the
people in both bands are the same."
For their Detroit performance,
band members will concentrate on
original music, including Cohen's
composition "Night," a lyrical, soft
tune that connects to a more ener-
getic, rhythmic part that Corea wrote.
"When I wrote the tune, I was
occupied with it all night and
decided to call it 'Night,'" says
Cohen, who had his own first
album, Adama (Hebrew for
"Earth"), released in 1998.
Cohen began composing before
beginning formal piano studies at
age 11. When he turned 14, his fam-
ily moved from Israel to St. Louis,
where he continued his studies and
became interested in jazz.
"At one point, and I don't really know
why, I decided to switch from piano to
electric bass," Cohen says. "My bass
teacher told me to check out Jaco Pastori-
um, who totally changed my perceptions
and my outlook about the bass. Pastorium
is one of my biggest influences and one
that led me to Chick Corea and [jazz
bassist] Stanley Clarke."
When he was 16, Cohen moved back to
Israel, enrolled in the Music & Arts High
School in Jerusalem and dropped out a
year later to pursue other forms of expres-
sion — Jerusalem jazz clubs and the Red
Sea Jazz Festival.
After playing rock 'n' roll bass guitar in

the Israeli army, he left service early and
tried the acoustic double bass.
"I rarely left the house for a year and a
half, finding out about the bass before
moving to New Y _ ork," recalls the single
instrumentalist.
After a few years of working in New
York, Cohen was hired by Panamanian jazz
pianist Danilo Perez, performing on his
recording Panamonk and giving a copy of a
demo tape to Corea's assistant. Soon
Cohen was invited to join Origin._
"A lot of what I hear in rriy-he44W-,:-,,-,
beautiful, old Sephardic melodies

.

grew up with," Cohen says. "My mother's
side was Sephardic, and a lot of what my
music is about is from that I just want to
keep writing and be creative. I'm recording
a new album. It's probably going to come
out in April and be called Devotion. It will
be 90 percent original music." 1

— Suzanne Chessler

Avishai Cohen will appear with
Chick Corea and Origin in an
Ameritech Jazz Series concert at 8
p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, at Orchestra
Hall. $15-$60. (313) 576-5111.

1/22
1999

Detroit Jewish News

87