Greg Cohen
Greg Cohen ( born June 13, 1953 in Los Angeles ) is an American jazz bassist.
Life and work
Cohen grew up in Los Angeles; together with his brother Danny Cohen he first played in the surf oriented sound garage bands. In high school he became interested in jazz and other genres. Initially it was through his work in the band of Tom Waits known, in which he played since 1978 ( and until the early 1990s remained ). He also played on the West Coast with Victor Feldman, Conte Candoli, Teddy Edwards, Billy Higgins and Jack Sheldon. In 1984 he moved to New York City, where he participated in numerous projects of the New York saxophonist and bandleader John Zorn, as in his Masada quartet or the Masada Chamber Ensembles, involved; but he also played in Dave Douglas Charms of the Night Sky. He also appeared in Robert Altman's Short Cuts. Since 1996, he has also appeared with his own groups and went there with precise arrangements " into the waters of Duke Ellington " (Wolf Kampmann ).
In recent years, he went on tour with Ornette Coleman and collaborated on his album Sound Grammar with. In addition, he worked on the Traditional Jazz field, with musicians such as Ken Peplowski, Kenny Davern and the film director and clarinettist Woody Allen. He is a regular member of Woody Allen and his New Orleans Jazz Band and appears in the documentary Wild Man Blues directed by Barbara Kopple, documenting the European tour the band in 1996. He participated at the latter's album The Bunk Project (1993 ) and the soundtrack album of Wild Man Blues ( 1997).
Furthermore, Cohen played with David Byrne, Sanda Weigl and Elvis Costello. He produced and arranged for Marisa Monte, David Byrne, Holly Cole, Dagmar Krause, David Sanborn, Tom Waits and Gal Costa. He also arranged the music for the film Ed Wood and Fried Green Tomatoes. As part of the Charles Mingus project Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus, he worked in 1992 with Bill Frisell, Art Baron, Don Alias and Don Byron together.
Cohen was involved in recordings of Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. He also worked with artists as diverse as Susana Baca, Gal Costa, Willie Nelson, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Tricky, Joey Baron, Donovan, Crystal Gayle, Bob Dylan, Alan Watts, Lee Konitz, Richie Havens, Dino Saluzzi, Odetta and Danny Barker.
In August / September 2006, he was artistic director of the festival Century of Song in the Ruhr Triennale. He invited songwriters and artists such as David Byrne, Holly Cole and Laurie Anderson.
Since 2009, Cohen has taught as Head of Department bass at the Jazz Institute Berlin. He lives in Berlin.
Disco Graphical Notes
- Way Low ( DIW, 1996)
- Moment to Moment ( DIW, 1998)
- Golden State ( Relative Pitch Records LLC, 2013)
With Kenny Davern Ken Peplowski and
- The Jazz KENnection ( Arbors Records)
With Dave Douglas
- Charms of the Night Sky