Thursday, February 15, 2018

Anat Cohen & Fred Hersch Present Their Debut Duo Recording LIVE IN HEALDSBURG

Anat Cohen and Fred Hersch, two of most prolific and celebrated artists in modern jazz today, proudly announce the release of their debut duo recording, Live In Healdsburg. The album, due out on Anzic Records on March 9, displays qualities these world-class artists, and expert collaborators, have in abundance: empathy, open hearts, big ears, quick instincts, and an ego-less approach to the music. Cohen and Hersch also have the rare gift of combining virtuosity and beauty, which permeates every note they play. 

As remarkable a clarinetist as she is, I have rarely played with a musician who listens so well. Often in the middle of a solo, she will stop playing and just check out what I am doing. She has amazing ears and such an ease with her instrument that she can really 'tell stories' in the moment. And Anat always imparts a sense of joy and passion to everything she plays. It is a true pleasure to make music with her! - Fred Hersch

Playing with Fred feels like swimming in an endless sea of possibilities. Fred is finely tuned to the moment and always ready to take the music in any direction - swinging, open, serious, humorous, groovy and always tasteful. Fred's incredible playing and his fascinating palate of colors and moods inspire me to jump in with my clarinet and go on an adventure together. It is a true pleasure to make music with him! - Anat Cohen
  
Live In Healdsburg comes on the heels of Anat's Tentet recording, Happy Song, and her two Brazilian albums, Outra Coisa: The Music of Moacir Santos (with 7-guitarist Marcello Gonçalves) and Rosa Dos Ventos (with Trio Brasileiro), both nominated for Grammy Awards this year. This trio of releases follows her previous album, Luminosa (2015). "The sound of Luminosa reflects my musical life in New York City," she explained. "I flow between modern and traditional jazz, between samba and choro - all maybe in a week's time. The title is Portuguese for luminous and to me, music is a luminous experience. Whenever I'm immersed in it, life lights up for me, no matter what else is going on." In a feature on Luminosa, NPR said: "Jazz musicians don't get much more global than Anat Cohen." Prior to that release came Claroscuro in 2012, another worldly collection that featured such guests as Paquito D'Rivera and Wycliffe Gordon - and garnered a four-and-a-half-star review in DownBeat Magazine. In 2009, Anat was the first Israeli to ever headline the hallowed Village Vanguard, a stand that yielded a quartet tribute to the Benny Goodman songbook in Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard (2010). Notes from the Village (2008) was a showcase for her multi-reed talents in quartet and quintet settings, and she released two albums in 2007, the orchestral Noir and string quartet-laced Poetica. Anat made her leader debut with the small-combo Place & Time (2005). Anat has also recorded four acclaimed albums as part of the3 Cohens Sextet with her brothers, saxophonist Yuval and trumpeter Avishai: One (2003), Braid (2007), Family (2011) and Tightrope (2013), with their work together landing them on the cover of DownBeat.

All About Jazz aptly called Anat "one of a kind," and she has won over the most knowing of jazz sages: Dan Morgenstern praised her "gutsy, swinging" style, Ira Gitler her "liquid dexterity and authentic feeling," and Gary Giddins her musicality "that bristles with invention." The late Nat Hentoff said: "Anat does what all authentic musicians do: She tells stories from her own experiences that are so deeply felt that they are very likely to connect listeners to their own dreams, desires and longings."
  
For Fred Hersch, Live In Healdsburg is the follow up recording to his latest CD, the double Grammy nominated, Open Book (his 7th and 8th nominations). This album with Ms. Cohen is also the latest recording in a stunningly impressive discography that dates back to the 1980s and encompasses more than twenty albums as a leader. Hersch has also appeared on more than twenty recordings as co-leader, over two dozen albums as a featured soloist (including the album Tightrope from The 3 Cohens, on Anzic), and more than sixty recordings as a sideman, for the likes of Art Farmer, Lee Konitz, Toots Thielemans, Eddie Daniels, Billy Harper and many others. Hersch, a Guggenheim fellow, recently released his memoir, Good Things Happen Slowly, which was featured in the Sunday New York Times and was named one of 2017's Five Best Memoirs by The Washington Post.


ANAT COHEN/FRED HERSCH - Live In Healdsburg
1. A Lark (Fred Hersch) 8:23
2. Child's Song (Fred Hersch) 7:21
3. The Purple Piece (Anat Cohen) 8:27
4. Isfahan (Billy Strayhorn) 8:05
5. Lee's Dream (Fred Hersch) 5:19
6. Peacocks (Jimmy Rowles) 10:25
7. Jitterbug Waltz (Fats Waller) 8:19
8. Mood Indigo - Encore (Duke Ellington) 5:13

Recorded live at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, Raven Performing Arts Theater, Healdsburg, CA, June 11, 2016


Anat Cohen On Tour - 2018

March 2 - NYC @ The 92nd Street Y

March 10 - Cambridge, MA @ Sanders Theatre
Double Bill with Ben Wendel Seasons Group

March 14-17 - Davis, CA @ Mondavi Center for The Performing Arts
Fred Hersch & Anat Cohen Duo

March 18 - Boise, Idaho @ Boise State University
Fred Hersch & Anat Cohen Duo

March 20 & 21 - Seattle, WA @ Dimitriou's Jazz Alley
Fred Hersch & Anat Cohen Duo

April 5 - Lawrence, KS @ Lied Center of Kansas
Special Guest w/ KU Jazz Ensemble I

April 7 - Kansas City, MO @ American Jazz Museum
Anat Cohen Tentet

April 8 - Columbia, MO @ "We Always Swing"® Jazz Series
Anat Cohen Tentet

April 9 & 10 - Lebanon, IL @ Hettenhausen Center for the Arts,
McKendree University
Anat Cohen Tentet

April 11 - Dayton, OH @ Sears Recital Hall, University of Dayton
Anat Cohen Tentet

April 21 - Davie, FL @ Bailey Hall, Broward College
Anat Cohen Quartet

May 5 - Washington, DC @ John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts
Celebrate Mary Lou Williams featuring the Anat Cohen Tentet

May 31 - Sante Fe, NM @ Lensic Performing Arts Center
Fred Hersch & Anat Cohen Duo


No comments:

Post a Comment