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...and thanks for stopping by my website! I really appreciate your interest, and I hope you find these pages informative with regards to my musical activities in Chicago and elsewhere.
Make yourself at home!
Lorin
Concert in Wiehl, Germany with Monty Alexander and George Fludas, 5/12/07
Photograph by Günther Melzer
"On Friday at Symphony Center (violinist Regina Carter) offered a set that began as mere versatility and magically transformed into an intriguing performance by a fine quintet. There were two catalysts for this transformation. One was her young clarinetist Darryl Harper...
...The other catalyst was...the superb Chicago bassist Lorin Cohen, whose top-of-the-beat energy and quick responses fit like a glove with drummer Alvester Garnett and pianist Xavier Davis".
-John Litweiler, Chicago Sun-Times, March 19, 2007
Read Full Article at www.suntimes.com
Read an article from Yamaha Corporation of America about my use of the SVB-200 bass.
Listen to an interview with Chicago Public Radio's Steve Edwards regarding my 2004 tour of Southeast Asia as a "Jazz Ambassador".
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12/30/07
It's been a while since I've added any news to the site, but I finally have some time to share some of the things I've done this fall. 2007 was a great year for me, and things really got exciting over the last few months.
At the end of September I played a weekend at Scullers in Boston with Monty Alexander's "Jazz and Roots" group. This group consists of a Jazz trio and Reggae trio playing together on the same stage! George Fludas and I were the jazz rhythm section with Monty, and some hard-grooving gentlemen from Jamaica provided the "riddim": electric bassist Glen Browne, drummer Desi Jones, and vocalist/guitarist Junior Jazz. Maestro Alexander conducted the entire ensemble through his unique arrangements of his own pieces, Bob Marley tunes and jazz standards (I really need to get down to Jamaica one of these days). Amazingly, this all went down with a brief sound-check rehearsal, and as is typical with Monty, no charts! After the great weekend in Boston the trio went to Switzerland for a gig in Bulach, an idyllic village just outside of Zurich.
In October I went to New York with pianist Ryan Cohan and Saxophonist Geof Bradfield for some workshops at Jazz at Lincoln Center for our upcoming American Music Abroad/Jazz at Lincoln Center tour of South and East Africa. We got to hang out with the other groups that were selected to go on tour, and it was a great time. While we were in NYC we rounded out Ryan's quartet with Rodney Green on drums for a gig at the Motema performance space in the Langston Hughes house in Harlem. Motema is a new label that is releasing Ryan's latest CD, "One Sky". It's a really cool little label, and I'm sure they're going to do some exciting stuff with the record (which, by the way, was named by the Chicago Tribune's Howard Reich as one of the top ten CD's of 2007-way to go Ry!).
October also afforded me the opportunity to work with the legendary Von Freeman for his regular Tuesday night residency at The New Apartment Lounge. I did three Tuesdays on the South Side with Von, and it was uplifting as always. Drummer Michael Raynor and guitarist Michael Allemana sounded beautiful as usual, and Von was swinging like only he can. It was also fun to make some new friends playing for the jam session after Von's set.
At the end of November George and I went to NYC for a record date with Monty Alexander for the Chesky label. The music was all stuff associated with Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett. We recorded 36 tunes in two days!!! Apparently Chesky is going to release two records, one for the Spring and one for the Fall of '08. This was an absolutely awesome and transformative experience for me. Chesky is an audiophile type label that records totally live, in a Church with almost no close mic-ing and no editing. Needless to say, this type of recording leaves no room for error, and given the fact that we had no rehearsal, I had to be completely focused and at the top of my game! They had a Fazioli for the session which really brought out the beauty of Monty's exquisite touch.
I came back to Chicago and played a weekend at the Green Mill with Ryan Cohan's sextet to celebrate the release of "One Sky". Dana Hall played drums along with Jim Gailloreto, Tito Carillo and Geof Bradfield in the front line. Ryan's challenging music was executed with fire and soul and the composer also played a whole lot of piano! We had a blast.
I worked with Monty's trio again this month, having just returned from a week in Italy at the Blue Note in Milan with Monty and the formidable George Fludas on drums. George and I had a great time both on the bandstand and off, traveling to Verona ("Two Gentlemen from...") and Venice on our off day. Besides being one of the most swinging drummers on the planet, George is one of the funniest cats around. Monty and George kicked my butt every night musically and I'm glad they did-they are both such natural musicians, and it was an honor to share the stage with them.
The recent gigs I've done with Monty have been milestones for me. In addition to his titanic piano playing, his abilities to create arrangements spontaneously on the bandstand and to connect with an audience are truly inspiring. He is a masterful artist of unparalleled warmth, soul and swing (also, if you need to know anything about the Three Stooges or Gene Autry, he's the man!).
Otherwise, I have been having a great time playing electric bass in a new hip-hop/jazz group called Vertikal (www.myspace.com/vertikalchicago). It's a 9 piece group with three horns, DJ, Emcee and vocals. The band just finished our first demo and have been gigging around Chicago at the Double Door, Morseland and The Funky Bhudda. We came in second place at the Emergenza competition in the summer of '07, playing at Chicago's famed Cabaret Metro.
Next up, the African Adventure with Ryan Cohan's group in February. We're going to Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Jordan. I'm sure this will the trip of a lifetime-stay tuned!
Thanks for reading – I wish everyone all the best in '08...
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