Tel Aviv native Avishai Cohen took an interest in music early in his life. As a teenager, he played with the Young Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. Later, he attended Boston's Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship. After settling in New York, he honed his improvisational and compositional chops by playing at the Smalls jazz club alongside Claudia Acuna, Jason Lindmer and Omer Avital. Cohen's first album as a leader, the aptly-titled The Trumpet Player, came out in 2003. As co-leader or sideman, he has been performing with the SF Jazz Collective, Third World Love and Lemon Juice Quartet. With sister Anat and brother Yuval, he also performs as 3 Cohens. In 2010, the trumpeter released Introducing Triveri.