Anat Cohen

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Anat Cohen

Anat Cohen is an Israeli jazz clarinetist, saxophonist and bandleader. Her debut album, Place & Time, was released in 2005 on Anzic Records. In 2007 she won the awards for Up and Coming Artist and Clarinetist of the Year from the Jazz Journalists Association. Cohen performs regularly and has appeared at a number of notable jazz festivals, such as the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival. She also developed a notable work of research about Brazilian music, especially the Choro.

Raised in Tel Aviv, Anat Cohen and her two brothers (Yuval and Avishai) all have careers in jazz, to the amazement of their parents. As students, they played together in the Dixieland ensemble and big band. Maybe having her brothers there helped Anat feel comfortable, or maybe she was just born to be a musician — first on clarinet and then on additional saxophones.

After she majored in jazz at Thelma Yelin High School for the Arts, Cohen spent two required years in the military and played tenor in the Israeli Air Force Band. When she came to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Cohen began to absorb new rhythms. Anat's small-group CD is titled Poetica. With her Anzic Orchestra, she's also released Noir, and Braid is with brothers Yuval and Avishai. Her latest disc is titled Notes from the Village; appropriately enough, you can hear a new set from Anat Cohen recorded live at the Village Vanguard here.

When not on the road, Cohen lives in New York and has been known to play Dixieland at Birdland and Brazilian music with a group called the Choro Ensemble. Her flow and dance and concentration in performance all make her one of the best reasons to go out and see jazz.