Interaction | Anat Cohen, Avishai Cohen, Yoval Cohen, Oded Lev-Ari & WDR Big Band

The members of all-star family jazz band The 3 Cohens — featuring Anat Cohen (clarinet), Avishai Cohen (trumpet) and Yuval Cohen (soprano saxophone) — have always taken time out from their ever-burgeoning careers as soloists and bandleaders to reconvene for music-making together. The siblings developed a deep musical bond growing up in Tel Aviv, with improvising together becoming second nature for them. The 3 Cohens recorded four studio albums over a decade: 2003’s One, 2007’s Braid, 2011’s Family and 2013’s Tightrope, with the last three released by Anzic Records, the indie label founded by Anat with kindred-spirit producer-collaborator Oded Lev-Ari. DownBeat put The 3 Cohens — with Anat the middle child to the elder Yuval and younger Avishai — on the cover of its January 2012 issue, hailing the trio’s “chemistry, alchemy, telepathy.” Ten years on from that milestone, the 3 Cohens reunited for a live collaboration with Germany’s lauded WDR Big Band (a Köln-based ensemble that has been performing jazz on West German Radio since 1957); the program showcased tailormade arrangements by Lev-Ari of compositions by himself and each member of The 3 Cohens, as well as two of their favorite classics: Gerry Mulligan's “Festive Minor” and the Louis Armstrong hit “Tiger Rag.” The performance was recorded for a very special live album, Interaction.