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When Avishai Cohen first picked up the acoustic bass, it should have been an “ahhhh” moment. Instead, after plucking the thick metal strings, says the Israeli jazz musician, “it was an ‘ouch’ moment.”

But it didn’t take long for Cohen to realize he’d found his instrument, and over the last dozen years he has emerged as one of Israel’s premiere jazz players and composers.

Cohen, 33, returns to the SFJazz festival with a concert Saturday, March 26, at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco. He will share the bill with Anthony Coleman’s Sephardic Tinge Trio.

It’s a logical pairing. Cohen’s music is as much influenced by the Sephardic melodies of his childhood as by the rhythms of bass legend Jaco Pastorius.

“It’s naturally a part of me,” he says. “Growing up in a Sephardic heritage on my mom’s side, and being in Israel surrounded by those influences, I soaked it up to where it’s part of me, more than I understood.”

Though the last 100 years has seen jazz expand from its African American roots to a universal art form, few people think of Israel as a hotbed of jazz. But Cohen says there is a growing jazz scene in the Jewish state.

“There is more awareness of the music in Israel over the last 10 years,” he says, “and more young people shaping themselves to be serious voices. That’s a beautiful thing to see.”

He cites as further proof the emergence of Israeli jazz institutions like the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Tel Aviv and the Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, now in its 16th year. Cohen is a familiar face at both, and has become a hero to Israel’s up and coming jazz performers.

“I get a lot of joy seeing that my investment of 10 years is having a life, a following and an effect that is already beyond me,” he says.

Cohen started his musical life studying piano as a boy. His family lived in both Israel and the United States, so he is nearly flawless in American English. He spent his time in the Israeli military playing in an army rock band, but once he took up jazz, Cohen left rock behind.

He started playing jazz bass relatively late — age 20 — but made up for lost time with three years of intense study. He worked his way up the jazz food chain, ultimately becoming a close collaborator with pianist Chick Corea. That sealed his reputation as a formidable artist in his own right.

A few years ago, he formed his own label, Razdaz Records, and began releasing solo albums. His latest, “At Home,” just arrived in stores a month ago. Cohen tours the world regularly, dividing most of his time between Israel and New York.

One place he loves to play is Spain, the place where Sephardic/Ladino music was born. “I love flamenco,” he says. “The connection there is very strong. They like my music and [the Spanish] are jazz fans. I’m thinking about collaborating with a Spanish artist, maybe on the next record.”

For now, he is having fun playing with his trio, which also includes Mark Giuliana on drums and Sam Barsh on keyboards. “Both are fresh young geniuses in the making,” says Cohen. “They’re still brewing, as we all are.”

Cohen says he never encounters anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment while on the road. Rather, he has let his music do the talking, which has been his contribution to global harmony, in every sense of the word.

“By playing and doing what we do, we send an important message,” he says. “But jazz is the music of whoever can hang. That’s what makes it special.”

The Avishai Cohen Group performs 8 p.m., Saturday, March 26, at the JCCSF, 300 California St. Tickets: $25. Information: (415) 776-1999, or www.sfjazz.org.