For obvious reasons, Israel was never a main stage for world-famous musicians; even more so during the last few years. Again, for obvious reasons.

And so, I grasp onto any live performance I can get. When I heard about the homecoming of Avishai Cohen, who has turned into a first-class jazz musician while living in the land of opportunities, I knew it was an opportunity I simply could not miss.

It’s not that I know every single album the man has released – in fact, I knew none. More precisely, I knew nothing but his name (Israeli musicians that really "make it" in the big world are rare, and you cannot miss their success); But not even the not-so-modest price of admission kept me away from the Enav Center, which contains a beautiful, intimate concert hall located on the roof of one of Tel Aviv’s malls.

The Avishai Cohen quartet entered after a fashionable delay of less than 15 minutes. After being to some rock gigs recently, mostly of local fame, this was quite a refreshing change from the norm around here. It was but the first sign of respect the band showed towards the audience.

The band played numbers mostly taken from Cohen’s latest album, Lyla, and his upcoming one. Their brand of jazz was fresh and vibrant, and there’s no doubt that some people that consider jazz "old" might change their mind after witnessing this quartet.

Avishai Cohen was in full control of his contrabass and his electric bass, and while he did solo every now and then, his masterful playing and directions were mostly the motor behind the quartet’s machine, linking the different instruments, speeding things up and slowing down, changing time-signatures smoothly. His lexicon of playing relies mostly on the work of his fingers exploring the instrument, but he also used the bow and occasional drumming on the wooden contrabass chest.

Mark Guiliana is probably the wildest drummer I saw playing live – at times, it seems as if he was battling with his compact drum-kit, at other time he was lashing at it like a violent educator; but there were moments of gentle expressive loving as well, and to tell you the truth, it seemed that these moments required the most out of him. His playing was fluent and mesmerizing.

Sam Bar-Sheshet handled the keyboard and piano work professionally, as well as providing some entertaining takes on melodica. Some of his work was mood-setting, but he was also a driving force, and dominant while exchanging notes with Cohen and complementing the wonderful saxophone playing of Yosvany Terry, who also contributed a tribal scent to some of the compositions with his chekere playing.

After about 90 minutes of wonderful music (including an encore) the show was over. But the respect and love the audience felt was not. Outside of the hall, many people were gathered around the CD stand, which offered Avishai Cohen’s four studio albums. They were all interested to take some of his music home. I think that even Cohen himself was surprised to see this amount of people buying his recorded work, when he came out with his band members to hang around his listeners.

To me, it seemed as one of the most rewarding moments a musician can have – watching many of an audience who were unfamiliar with his work and came to see him because of his world acclaim, being influenced and inspired to pick up his work due to a powerful live performance.

Readers from around the world are most likely to get a chance to witness this live experience before the Israeli crowd gets another one. Make sure you don’t miss it!