Anat Cohen Quartetinho
Saturday, July 26, 6:30 pm
Charismatic, prolific and inspired, clarinetist-saxophonist Anat Cohen has won fans the world over with her virtuosity and delightful stage presence. Born in Tel Aviv into a musical family, Anat began clarinet studies at age 12. Later, she did her mandatory military service in the Israeli Airforce Band and then came to the US for studies at Berklee. After graduating in 1999, she moved to New York and joined the Diva Jazz Orchestra, touring with the all-female group for 10 years. With a real feel for world music, she teamed up with bands as disparate as Duduka Da Fonseca’s Samba Jazz Quintet and David Ostwald’s Gully Low Jazz Band to critical acclaim, and her career flourished.
Since 2005 she has recorded numerous albums on her Anzic label. She received GRAMMY nominations for two Brazilian-inspired albums released in 2017—Outra Coisa: The Music of Moacir Santos and Rosa Dos Ventos. Two years later, Triple Helix with her Tentet was also GRAMMY nominated and premiered live at Carnegie Hall and the Chicago Symphony Center. Her brothers, saxophonist Yuval and trumpeter Avishai, joined her as the 3 Cohen’s Sextet for four further Anzic recordings.
Anat plays regularly with the great Paquito D’Rivera and many others. She appears at major European festivals with ARTEMIS, an all-female band led by pianist Renee Rosnes. She was also selected as director of the Newport Jazz Festival’s Now 60! Anniversary Band’s US tour.
A perennial winner of awards from JazzTimes, DownBeat and the Jazz Journalists Association, this year she was selected not only as the top-ranking clarinetist in the DownBeat Readers Poll, but she won with an astonishing 4184 votes, the highest number of votes ever cast for any artist in any category. With all this, she still finds time for teaching residencies across North America.
Anat calls her latest band, Anat Cohen Quartetinho. Pronounced “quartet-CHIN-yo,” the name is Portuguese for “little quartet.” Each member is an ace on multiple instruments: Anat on various clarinets, Tal Mashiach on bass and guitar, Vitor Gonçalves on piano and accordion, and James Shipp on vibraphone and percussion. This is Anat’s third appearance at Litchfield and her first with Quartetinho. An anonymous donor has provided support for Anat’s program.
