Tal Cohen’s unique piano style owes its roots to the Jewish folk songs and classical music he played in his formative years growing up in Israel.
After moving to Perth at the age of 16, Tal received a music scholarship at Churchlands Senior High School. He continued his music studies at the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts where he completed a bachelor degree, honours and masters in jazz performance.
Tal’s began performing nationally in 2010 with his involvement in the successful Australian tour of the Jamie Oehlers Quartet, which included shows at Sydney’s 505 and Melbourne’s Bennett’s Lane and Uptown jazz clubs. In the same year he also performed with New York saxophonist, George Garzone.
In July 2011, Tal performed at the Melbourne Jazz Festival in a quartet that featured highly acclaimed New York drummer Ari Hoenig, along with Australia’s Jamie Oehlers on saxophone and Sam Anning on bass. The group then went on to record an album, which is due for release in late 2012.
More recently, Tal released his first album as a leader in December 2011. Consisting almost entirely of original tunes, it showcases some of Perth’s finest musicians with Jamie Oehlers on saxophone, Chris Tarr on drums and Pete Jeavons on bass. The album was enthusiastically received by local audiences and has already enjoyed extensive radio airplay. The Australian newspaper gave it an impressive 4-star review and the album was featured in its full length on Israeli radio station, Reshet Bet in April 2012.
The late 2011 album release continued to an industrious beginning of the New Year for Tal, who had the honour of playing with iconic modern jazz bassist, Bob Hurst in Melbourne and Perth shows in June 2012, alongside Jamie Oehlers and drummer, Jacob Evans. On the horizon for the latter half of 2012 lays a national tour with the Jamie Oehlers quartet and the release of the Ari Hoenig/Jamie Oehlers CD.
‘Tal is a very talented and disciplined piano improviser. He is a special talent that needs to be heard… check him out’ George Garzone
‘Incendiary, fervent and ebullient’ Mark Fitzgibbon.
‘One of the best young jazz talents in Australia’ Jamie Oehlers.
‘Tal Cohen is a fine young jazz pianist . He has a great technique and a real talent for improvising . He is well on his way to making an esteemed contribution to Australian and international contemporary jazz piano’ Sean Wayland