Anat Cohen’s new album, her sixth as a bandleader, is called Claroscuro.
The 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center again this year is a participating venue in the Fredonia Jazz Festival, which is produced by the Fredonia Jazz Society and is from today to Saturday.
The Opera House serves as the venue for the Festival’s headline performance with the Anat Cohen Quartet at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Ever charismatic, prolific and inspired, Grammy-nominated clarinetist-saxophonist Cohen has won hearts and minds the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. The New York Times writes, “Ms. Cohen on the clarinet was a revelation. Using the clarinet’s upper register, she could evoke infectious joy. In the lower register, her playing could conjure a deep, soulful melancholy. On up-tempo numbers, her improvisations weren’t just bebop fast; they had a clarity and deep intelligence that is really quite rare. She made it look effortless, even as she was playing the most technically difficult of all the reed instruments… she took my breath away.”
Cohen has been declared 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 magazine for multiple years running. That’s not to mention years of being named Rising Star in the soprano and tenor saxophone categories in DownBeat, as well as Jazz Artist of the Year. In 2009, ASCAP awarded her a Wall of Fame prize for composition and musicianship, among other honors. As the Chicago Tribune has said about her, “the lyric beauty of her tone, easy fluidity of her technique and extroverted manner of her delivery make this music accessible to all.”
Cohen was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and raised in a musical family. She 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; it was this same year that she entered the prestigious Thelma Yellin school, where she majored in jazz. After graduation, she discharged her mandatory Israeli military service duty from 1993-95, playing tenor saxophone in the Israeli Air Force Band.
Moving to New York in 1999 after graduating from Berklee College of Music, she spent a decade touring with Sherrie Maricle’s all-woman big band, The Diva Jazz Orchestra; she also worked in such Brazilian groups as the Choro Ensemble and Duduka Da Fonseca’s Samba Jazz Quintet, along with performing the music of Louis Armstrong with David Ostwald’s “Gully Low Jazz Band.”
Cohen has been a force on the New York City jazz scene for the past two decades. Her talents keep growing as she absorbs swing, samba, Middle Eastern and classical influences into her organic and inviting concept. Her playing evokes “infectious joy,” says The New York Times, calling her “an improviser with gusto.” With a sense of unbridled freedom, she has a musical conversation with her collaborators that is full of humor, beauty, and surprise.
Her appearance at the Fredonia Jazz Festival includes Tal Mashiach on bass, Gadi Lehavi on piano, and Ofri Nehemya on drums, all of the GTO Trio.
The New Alumni Quartet will open for Cohen. The group includes musicians Dylan Jaques on piano, Caleb Duden on bass, Sam Schaeffer on drums, Vincent Heller on trumpet, and Matthew Erman on sax. Tickets are reserved seating and are priced $35-$55.
Performances at other venues that are part of the Festival include Benny Benack III at Domus Fare restaurant today at 5:30 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. Tickets are $50. On Friday, the Fredonia Jazz Orchestra performs at Rosch Recital Hall, SUNY Fredonia, at 8 p.m. Admission is free. And earlier on Saturday, A Jazz Jam! will be at Domus Fare restaurant at 2 p.m.; admission is free. The Dave Golando Quintet will perform at the Fredonia First Methodist Church at 4 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door, or free to Anat Cohen ticket-holders.
Tickets for all Jazz Festival events are available at www.FredoniaJazzSociety.com/tickets
The Fredonia Jazz Society supports and hosts live performance and related activities throughout western New York for the benefit of music lovers of all ages and backgrounds. With an emphasis on high standards and on local and guest artists, the aim is to enhance the quality of life through music and the arts.
The 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center is a member-supported not-for-profit performing arts center with a mission to “present the performing arts for the benefit of our community and region … providing access to artistic diversity … and high quality programming at an affordable price.” It is located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.fredopera.org.