Noir by Anat Cohen

Together in high school in Tel Aviv, they both had classical training--she on clarinet, he on piano--and both discovered jazz about the same time.

"My father loves American music, so I always heard it around the house, records and radio, and I remember listening to Louis Armstrong on my Walkman," Anat said. "Louis mad Ella."(For an old-timer like this writer, there is something wonderful about discovering Louis via Walkman) For Oded, the first conscious jazz encounter was "Ella in Berlin," which he describes as "amazing." The first record he bought was a Keith Jarrett album. Anat and Oded joined forces for their first CD--very expensive for highschoolers--which was a fine choice, Sonny Rollins' "The Bridge," which they swapped back and forth.

But that was not where Anat's jazz playing began; there was Dixieland group at the conservatory, and a book of transcribed solos, "Which was good because I had no idea of improvisation." She's going back now, she comments, with her work in tubaist David Ostwald's group dedicated to the music of Armstrong, and her appearances for the Sidney Bechet Society. It was at a recent Bechet concert, where she performed, among other fine things, an astonishing duet with guitarist Howard Alden on Jelly Roll Morton's "Shreveport Stomp" that George Wein apparently caught her for the first time and pronounced her "incredible." Her first attempts at improvisation, however, came in the conservatory's big band. "I was shy, and for the longest time I wouldn't improvise. But my older brother Yuval was studying jazz and was practicing Charlie Parker solos, and had Music Minus One records, so I would play a melody again and again and again to learn to improvise--it fascinated me."

Both Anat (in the Air Force) and Oded (in the Army) developed further in military big bands, he mainly as a conductor and arranger, she on tenor sax as well as clarinet, and then, in l996, they both embarked for the U.S., Anat on a scholarship to Berklee College, Oded to attend New England Conservatory, where his main teacher was Bob Brookmeyer.

"We lived across the hall from each other in Boston; we were eight Israelis there, like on big kibbutz." By the turn of the century, they both settled in New York, Oded doing freelance arranging, including an album for the venerable Theodore Bikel, "and all sorts of things." Anat's all sorts of things, too many to mention all, include her stints with Diva, a formidable big band, and with the Choro Ensemble, a quintet in which she is the only non-Brazilian but a perfect fit ("For me, Choro is jazz," she said). {She has frequently toured in Brazil, as well as all over Europe and in Japan, and when she's home in New York, you can find her most Tuesday with her own groups at Jules Bistro on St. Marks Place, where the Choro Ensemble also performs, on Sundays.} She made her debut CD as a leader, the highly praised "Place & Time," in 2004; it features several excellent compositions of her own.

The Anzic Orchestra is no ordinary ensemble but an array of genuine all-stars, distinguished by an unusual combination of instruments. Oded wanted to challenge himself, and he has succeeded in finding his own sounds. "Anat and I have shared many musical moments over the years, and I could not have asked for a more inspiring muse," he told me. "Brining the arrangements to life with this extraordinary group of musicians was thrilling. This project has been a joy, and I am honored to be a part of it." His settings for Anat always enhance the soloist, creating a gorgeous tapestry of sounds. The textures are fresh and original, and those terms also apply to Anat.

Most young musicians, no matter how gifted, tend to reflect their influences, but Anat has found her own distinctive voice, on all her instruments. She never plays to the gallery; even her high notes are not for show, but part of the musical message. There are not many musicians on today's scene who communicate such genuine joy in what they do; Branford Marsalis recently commented that young musicians lack charisma. Maybe he hasn't heard and seen Anat. She loves to make music, and while she is a physically expressive player, her moves, like her music, are a true reflection of what she feels.

Unlike most Noir films, this wide-ranging musical trip will leave you elated, happy and grateful that such beautiful, life-affirming music can still be made in this world of ours. That we will hear more from our protagonists is certain, and may it be soon!

- Dan Morgenstern

Personnel:

ANAT COHEN - Tenor Alto Soprano Saxes/Clarinet

ODED LEV-ARI - Arranger/Conductor

Ted Nash - Alto Soprano Saxes/Flute

Billy Drewes - Tenor Sax/Clarinet

Scott Robinson - Baritone Sax/Bass Clarinet

Frank Greene - Trumpet/Flugelhorn

Tanya Darby - Trumpet/Flugelhorn

Avishai Cohen - Trumpet/Flugelhorn

Deborah Weisz - Trombone

Yonatan Voltzok - Trombone

Guilherme Monteiro - Guitars

Barak Mori - Bass

Ali Jackson Jr. - Drums Tracks 2/4/5/6/8

Antonio Sanchez - Drums Tracks 1/3/7/10

Duduka Da Fonseca - Drums Track 9 Percussion Tracks 3/7

Zé Maurício - Percussion

Erik Friedlander - Cello

Robert Burkhart - Cello

Greg Heffernan - Cello

Yuval Cohen - Soprano Sax Track 7

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