Thursday, February 13, 2014

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Anat Cohen

Artist:Anat Cohen
Song:J Blues
Album:Notes From The Village





If you're a long time jazz fan, you'll know that in the Swing Era, the clarinet was the most popular lead instrument. Bebop changed that and very few jazz musicians play the clarinet anymore. They prefer the sax. Anat Cohen is keeping the clarinet alive. She was born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1975 and she comes from a family of musicians. Her brothers are sax player Yuval Cohen and trumpeter Avishai Cohen. Anat began playing clarinet as a child and studied at the Jaffa Music Center. She also played in the Israeli Air Force Big Band. She moved to the US in 1996 and earned a BA degree in music at Berklee in Boston. She first recorded with her brothers in 1997. Anat moved to New York City and was in the all female big band DIVA and the spinoff band Five Play. She plays sax, clarinet and flute but has found a niche playing the clarinet because very few jazz musicians play the clarinet. She played Brazilian music with the Choro Ensemble and has played with all kinds of musicians including Louis Hayes, Flip Phillips and Bucky Pizzarelli. Anat made her debut as a leader in 2005. J Blues is from the 2008 CD Notes From The Village. Her band on this CD is pianist Jason Lindner, bassist Omer Avital, drummer Daniel Freedman and special guest guitarist Gilad Hekselman. Anat has won awards from the Jazz Journalists Association and Down Beat Magazine mostly for Clarinestist Of The Year. Anat also plays in the big band the Anzic Orchestra and is in 3Cohens with her brothers. Her latest CD Claroscuro was released in 2012. Lindner and Freedman are still in her band and another noted clarinetist, Paquito D'Rivera, makes a guest appearance. Anat Cohen is constantly touring. So she is worth checking out if she is coming your way. Here's Anat Cohen with Jason Lindner performing J Blues at 106fm in Israel Aug. 18, 2011.

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