Anat Cohen has been winning both critics and readers national jazz polls for several years and she tours continually, playing major jazz festivals and clubs around the world. The last week of July found her in Port Townsend, WA where she was teaching and performing at Centrum’s annual jazz workshop and Jazz Port Townsend Festival at Fort Worden State Park. Her performance with Dawn Clement, piano, Chuck Deardorf, bass and Jeff Hamilton, drums was recorded for Jazz Northwest and will air on Sunday, August 18 at 2 PM (PDT) on 88.5 KPLU and simultaneously stream at kplu.org.
Anat Cohen was born in Tel Aviv and received her early musical education and experience playing jazz there. While attending Berklee College of Music in Boston she encountered students from Latin and South American cultures which she absorbed into her own music. That experience was further enhanced by a move to New York after graduation which expanded her musical horizons in a variety of settings.
She started her own record label, Anzic Records and has recorded seven CDs as a leader, the most recent is titled Claroscuro. She also plays soprano and tenor saxophones with authority, but her clarinet playing has drawn the most favorable attention and she choose to concentrate on clarinet in this concert. Included are the Artie Shaw theme song Nightmare, Fats Waller’s Jitterbug Waltz, Jimmy Rowles’ ballad,The Peacocks and a Brazilian choro by Pixinguinha, Um a Zero.
Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced by Jim Wilke exclusively for 88.5, KPLU. The program airs Sundays at 2 PM (Pacific) and is available after the broadcast as a streaming podcast at kplu.org