The best jazz groups are made up of kindred spirits, but the rare family band has something more – an intuitive feel for each other that goes beyond words and gestures to a kind of bred-in-the-bone telepathy. The 3 Cohens are that sort of uncommon collective, a trio of siblings – tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen, trumpeter Avishai Cohen and soprano saxophonist Yuval Cohen – whose sense of improvisational interplay is both uncannily fluent and wonderfully, infectiously warm. In Tightrope the group digs deep to explore this connection in an unaccompanied setting. Stellar guests Fred Hersch, Christian McBride and Jonathan Blake individually add their voices to the conversation.

PERSONNEL:

ANAT COHEN, clarinets and tenor sax
AVISHAI COHEN, trumpet
YUVAL COHEN, soprano saxophone
FRED HERSCH, piano (#3, #9, #12)
CHRISTIAN McBRIDE, double-bass (#6)
JONATHAN BLAKE, drums (#5)

TRACKS:

01. Blueport
02. Conversation #1
03. Song Without Words #4: Duet
04. Conversation #2
05. Black
06. Just Squeeze Me
07. Hot House
08. There’s No You
09. Estaté
10. Conversation #3
11. Indiana
12. I Mean You
13. It Might as Well
14. Festive Minor
15. Conversation #4
16. Conversation #5
17. Ai Li Lu Li Lu
18. Mantra