Oct. 22--Mention the name Avishai Cohen in jazz circles these days and chances are you'll need to be more specific. Avishai Cohen the internationally prominent Israeli-born musician? There are two of them. Played with singer Claudia Acuna? Sorry, that could be either of them. Has an upcoming Portland show being presented by PDX Jazz? Sure, take your pick.

The easy way to distinguish them is by instrument. Avishai Cohen the trumpeter will perform in a band called the 3 Cohens as part of February's Portland Jazz Festival. But the better-known musician is Avishai Cohen the bassist (pictured), who'll lead an uncommonly beguiling quartet in town this weekend. Adept at double bass, electric bass, piano and vocals, he came to prominence playing alongside Chick Corea from 1996 to 2003, and in his subsequent work as a leader has -- as a July cover story in Bass Player magazine put it -- "consistently danced on the bridge between contemporary jazz and world music." Using a fierce technical facility to fuse a wide range of influences, he can burn with the best of them. But his latest album, "Aurora," is instead a reflective beauty that mixes quietly graceful original songs with adaptations of Israeli and Ladino folk tunes.

Once you hear him, you'll think of him as one of a kind.

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Winningstad Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway; $30-$37, Ticketmaster

-- Marty Hughley