Jazz at Lincoln Center is celebrating the 50th birthday of Grammy-nominated clarinetist, saxophonist and composer Anat Cohen this weekend with a series of live concerts, several of which will be livestreamed.
The concerts will take place in JALC’s Appel Room at 7 p.m. and 9 pm. on March 14 and at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on March 15; the two concerts on March 14 will be livestreamed at jazzlive.com.
JALC said all the concerts will spotlight Cohen’s “broad mastery of jazz—from early swing styles through post-bop expressions—and her deep immersion in choro and other Brazilian traditions. Cohen’s eclectic performance also pays homage to klezmer, rock and chamber music.”
The concerts, JALC continued, will take “listeners on an immersive sonic journey, seamlessly transitioning from intimate solo and duo performances with 7-string guitarist Marcello Gonçalves, to small ensemble contexts, including her mighty Quartetinho, culminating in her expansive Grammy Award-nominated Tentet. This rich performance event (will feature) an all-star lineup including her brother and frequent collaborator, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, as well as Nadje Noordhuis on trumpet and flugelhorn, Nick Finzer on trombone, Owen Broder on baritone saxophone, Christopher Hoffman on cello, James Shipp on vibraphone and percussion, Vitor Gonçalves on piano, keys, and accordion, Sheryl Bailey on guitar, Tal Mashiach on bass and guitar, Ofri Nehemya on drums and Oded Lev-Ari as the Tentet’s musical director.”
Cohen has been named Clarinetist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association every year since 2007 and also has been named the top clarinetist in both the readers’ and critics’ polls in DownBeat for multiple years running, as well as rising star in the soprano and tenor saxophone categories in DownBeat, plus jazz artist of the year. In 2009, ASCAP awarded Cohen a Wall of Fame prize for composition and musicianship.
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Cohen attended the Tel Aviv School for the Arts, the Thelma Yellin High School for the Arts and the Jaffa Music Conservatory. She began clarinet studies at age 12 and played jazz on clarinet for the first time in the Jaffa Conservatory’s Dixieland band. At 16, she joined the school’s big band and learned to play the tenor saxophone; that same year she entered the Yellin school, where she majored in jazz. She served in the Israeli military from 1993 to 1995, playing tenor saxophone in the Israeli Air Force band.
Cohen later attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she expanded her musical horizons, developing a deep love for various Latin music styles. During her Berklee years, she visited New York during semester breaks, making a beeline for the West Village club, Smalls. She moved to New York in 1999 after graduating from Berklee, spending a decade touring with Sherrie Maricle’s all-woman big band, the Diva Jazz Orchestra; she also worked in Brazilian groups such as the Choro Ensemble and Duduka Da Fonseca’s Samba Jazz Quintet.
Cohen also has recorded four albums as part of the 3 Cohens Sextet with her brothers, saxophonist Yuval (her elder brother) and trumpeter Avishai (her younger brother): 2003’s One, 2007’s Braid, 2011’s Family and 2013’s Tightrope.
In an interview this week with Forbes.com, Cohen said the concerts this weekend will not only celebrate her 50th birthday but also the release of her newest album, Quartetinho Bloom, featuring her foursome, Quartetinho. This features compositions by each member of the quartet and arrangements of music by Thelonious Monk and Paraguayan guitarist-composer Agustin Barrios Mangore.
Cohen said she hoped the concerts this weekend will help listeners relax and “let me take them on a journey, a celebration of people, connections, cultures and genres.”