Anat Cohen & Fred Hersch Live at Healdsburg

Anat Cohen & Fred Hersch
Live at Healdsburg
Anzic Records

This album of duets (actually musical conversations) by the marvelous clarinetist and pianist was recorded in June 2106 at the Raven Performing Arts Theater in Healdsburg, California as part of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. It must been a delightful performance as heard here with the delightful interplay throughout the eight compositions in this intimate context. Hersch contributed three tunes, Cohen one, and there are four covers.

Hersch's "A Lark," is the first track which allows Cohen's singing clarinet to dance over the textures Hersch lays down before his own explorations. It is followed by another delightful Hersch original, "Child's Song," with the clarity and inventiveness of their playing. The overall tone here and throughout the performances is restrained elegance. Cohen's "The Purple Piece" displays the way the pair employ dynamics in unhurriedly building the intensity here. Then there is an enchanting rendition of Billy Strayhorn's "Isfahan," and Hersch's understated lyricism complements Cohen's explorations from a deep, warm chalumeau register to the upper altissimo. Hersch's "Lee's Dream," finds them in a more playful mood followed by a lovely, ruminative rendition of "The Peacocks." Then there is Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz" played with a restrained buoyancy with Cohen's swirling clarinet flights set against rumbling riffs.

Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" served as the concert's encore with Cohen's playing displaying the warmth so invests in her playing complemented by Hersch's spare accompaniment. It is a delightful close to the beautiful musical conversations that the two performed that night.

I received a review copy from a publicist. Here the two perform Jimmy Rowles' "The Peacocks."

Duchess Laughing at Life

Duchess
Laughing at Life
Anzic Records

Duchess, the flirty and fun jazz vocal trio of Amy Cervini, Hillary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou, have a second recording that provides a contemporary take on such classic vocal trios as the Boswell Sisters and the Andrews Sisters as they provide fresh and delightful takes on mostly classics of early jazz, and the American Songbook. They are backed by pianist Michael Cabe, bassist Matt Aronoff, and drummer Jared Schonig with guitarist Jesse Lewis appearing ion 9 of the 14 selections and tenor saxophonist Jeff Lederer on four. Additionally Wycliffe Gordon adds trombone to two selections and Anat Cohen adds clarinet to two. The trio share vocals on eleven tracks while each is featured on one.

The trio opens with a delightful take on Clarence Williams' "Swing Brother Swing" which is handled a bit more sweetly than Catherine Russell's recent recording of this number. Lederer rips off some ferocious tenor sax on it. "On The Sunny Side of the Street" is a pretty familiar standard and their backing trio adds fresh accents to the harmonies and vocal interplay with Cabe taking a lively solo. The title track is a sprite number new to these ears followed by a lively rendition of the classic "Everybody Loves My Baby" with Anat Cohen's adds fills around the vocals that include some double time singing and scatting before she takes a wonderful solo. This is a marvelous performance followed by a lazy, wistful "Stars Fell on Alabama," with Wycliffe Gordon adding some growling and crying trombone.

Amy Cervini sings Cole Porter's amusing "Give Him the Oo La La" with Gardner and Stylianou adding their backing while Stylianou takes lead on, "Where Would You Be Without Me," from a sixties Broadway show and Lewis takes a guitar solo here. Gordon joins again on Ellington's "Creole Love Call," on which Duchess sings lyrics in addition to wordless vocalizing. Gordon conjures up Bubber Miley and Tricky Sam Nanton with his growling mute as well as adds his own vocalizing and scatting to that of Duchess on a marvelous take on Ellingtonia. Gardner is up front on a nice take on the Ray Charles classic, "Hallelujah I Love Her (Him) So," and then the trio provides a ruminative take on Porter's "Er'ry Time We Say Goodbye." Johnny Mercer's "Strip Polka" is far from reflective with its zany lyric of a burlesque queen who strips as the band plays a polka while she is always a lady who stops just in time with Lederer's tenor sax providing the right atmosphere.

After a bouncy "Here's to the Losers," Cohen adds some warm clarinet to a lovely "We'll Meet Again" before a bonus track, "Dawn" which sounds like a lullaby. It is an enchanting finish to another delightful recording from Duchess.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the March-April 2017  Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 371) but I have made a few corrections and minor changes. Here Duchess sings "Everybody Loves My Baby."

Anat Cohen's Brazilian Collaborations

Anat Cohen & Marcello Gonçalves
Outra Coisa: The Music of Moacir Santos
Anzic Records

Anat Cohen and Trio Brasileiro
Rosa Dos Ventos
Anzic Records

One of the most prominent clarinetists in jazz today, the Israeli born Anat Cohen has been delving into the richness of Brazilian music for some time. Now she has two new releases of Brazilian music, recorded in recorded in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia as close collaborations with native musicians. Since Anat first visited the country in 2000, Brazil has become a home away from home for her, a frequent destination for her to explore in depth music that has captured her heart.Her previous seven albums as a leader have included Brazilian classics and original pieces she composed under the influence of Brazilian music. Marcello Gonçalves, the 7-string guitarist who collaborated with Cohen on "Outra Coisa: The Music of Moacir Santos," says about her, "Anat has such a great passion for Brazil. She speaks Portuguese far better than I speak English. More than that, Anat can play Brazilian music better than many Brazilian musicians. Her accent is perfect."

As indicated by its title "Outra Coisa: The Music of Moacir Santos" is devoted to the music of the innovative composer, arranger and educator who influenced countless Brazilian musicians including Baden Powell and Sergio Mendes. For this recording, Gonçalves arranged a dozen Santos pieces from their large-ensemble scores into intimate, lyrical duets, with Anat often employing the clarinet's rich lower register and Gonçalves channeling the orchestral textures of the originals into his 7-string guitar (which has an extra bass string). The two recorded besides each other and without headphones to allow the music sound as natural as possible.

There is playfulness during the opening "Amphilbious," with the two musically dancing with each other whether playing in unison of interweaving their lines and the warmth and sportive quality of Cohen's clarinet and the spirited solo from Gonçalves with Cohen comping is delightful. In contrast, "Coisa No. 1" is a beautifully played ballad with the two exchanging leads and one appreciates the tone of Gonçalves' guitar as well as his playing on this gorgeous sounding duet. "Nanã (Coisa No. 5)" is perhaps Santos' most famous composition having been recorded over 100 times, and after some almost hard guitar chords emulating the horns on the original, turns into a light-hearted duet full of lyricism warmth, and wit with Cohen's soaring phrases complimented by the nimble mix of chords and single note runs. It is followed by the lovely, wistful "Coisa No. 9," and then the two have some fascinating interplay on "Mae Iracema." The joy and camaraderie the two have for each other, Santos' music and Gonçalves' arrangements is evident throughout this stunning recording. I suspect some, like I already have, will start to explore Santo's own recordings after hearing this.

Cohen's musical encounter with Trio Brasileiro is similarly delightful. The trio was formed in 2011, and is dedicated performing traditional choro music (a music contemporaneous with ragtime) as well as their own compositions that put a contemporary spin on choro. The group comprises percussionist Alexandre Lora (whose array includes the pitched "hand pan"), guitarist Douglas Lora and Dudu Maia, one of Brazil's finest mandolinists (who plays a special 10-string bandolim mandolin on "Rosa Dos Ventos"). Cohen expresses part of the allure of choro, "As with the style of early New Orleans jazz, choro functions on group polyphony where everyone has a role yet it's open and free-spirited, with simultaneous melodies happening. It can be groove-oriented like a party, or it can be full of saudade, of longing. It was actually choro that brought me back to the clarinet after years of concentrating on the saxophone." There are differences of course between Cohen's duets Gonçalves and the interaction she has playing with this trio, but the results are very similar in the lively recorded performances.

The playful and lively sounds here opens with "Baião Da Esperança," which is the first sample of the interplay between the Trio and Cohen with Alexandre Lora's percussion accenting her and the stringed instruments. Maia and Cohen are the focus as Douglas Lora's percussive guitar here serves as a foundation for Cohen's clarinet flourishes and Maia's dazzling mandolin runs. "Pra Você, Uma Flor," is a more pensive performance with its lyrical quality a result of the the intricate interplay of the musicians. Douglas Lora composed the first two, while Maia wrote the lively "Das Nieves," while Cohen's "Valsa Do Sul," opens with the warmth of Cohen's clarinet followed by nimble guitar and mandolin runs. Alexandre Lora's "Flamenco," evokes images of Flamenco dancers and guitars with the composer's hand percussion and the guitar of his brother, while the title track is a delightful duet by Cohen (with swoops and swirls in her playing) and Alexandre Lora.

There are also the fascinating evocation of Indian classical music with its characteristic drone on “O Ocidente Que Se Oriente,” while Maia's appealing, "Lulubia," has Cohen embellishing the simple guitar accompaniment and Maia's spare mandolin lead. Like Cohen's duets with Marcello Gonçalves, the collaboration of Cohen and Trio Brasileiro is not simply marvelously played, but also makes for captivating listening.

I received downloads of both from a publicist. Here is Anat Cohen and Marcello Gonçalves.

Melissa Stylianou No Regrets

Melissa Stylianou
No Regrets
Anzic Records

Canadian born and New York based vocalist Melissa Stylianou has a new recording (her 5th album) on Anzic Records “No Regrets.” Produced by Oded Lev-Ari, Stylianou is backed by a trio of Bruce Barth on piano, Linda Oh on bass and Matt Wilson on drums with appearances by Billy Drewes on alto saxophone on two songs and Anat Cohen on clarinet on two songs. The album was recorded live to two-track on an album that mostly sticks to jazz standards.

There is plenty to delight in Melissa Stylianou’s singing and here she is backed by a superb trio augmented by sax or clarinet at times. Her rendition of the Gershwins’ “Nice Work If You Can Get It” features an introduction that this writer was not familiar with. After her delivery of the lyric, each member of the trio takes a brief break and there is a couple of brief exchanges between her and Wilson. Not all of theses selections are as well known such as “Remind Me” by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields with her perky delivery of the amusing word play here (“Remind me not to mention that I love you, Remind me I am sorry that we are met) with Barth supplying the arrangement.

Drewes’ alto opens a marvelous rendition of the Ellington-Webster lament “"I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)" ,” and Melissa is playful on “Humming to Myself.” Linda Oh’s bass opens “I Wish I Knew” and duets with Melissa until mid-way through the first verse. A Billie Holiday song, “Somebody’s On My Mind” is one of the selections with Cohen with just Oh’s bass providing apt support for Stylianou’s languid vocal. Known for her adaptations of songs by Bjork, Johnny Cash and Tom Waits among others, her one unusual selection is a folky adaptation of William Butler Yeats’ poem “Down by the Salley Gardens” accompanied just by Wilson.

Her lovely voice, phrasing and dynamics are factors that enchant the listener. Gutbucket alto sax against the firm backing of the rhythm section spices up "A Nightingale Can Sing the Blues.” Cohen returns with more lovely playing on “"I'll Never Be the Same.” There is a lilting quality to the rendition “Polka Dots And Moonbeams” (with a choice Barth solo), before the album concludes with a bright, delightful rendition, backed just by piano, of Jon Hendricks’ lyrics to Monk’s “I Mean You,” with her scatting and trading fours with Barth.

Melissa Stylianou touches the heart and brightens our spirits throughout “No Regrets.” It is a recording with plenty to charm listeners.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the May-June 2015  Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 360) although a few revisions and corrections have been made.Here she sings "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good."

 

Anat Cohen and the Music of Brazil in Luminosa

 

While the music of Brazil has always been an inspiration for Anat Cohen, on her new Anzic Records release, "Luminosa" the focus is such music. Employing clarinet, bass clarinet and tenor saxophone, she is joined by her band of Jason Lindner (one of her co-producers) on keyboards; Joe Martin on bass and Daniel Friedman on drums. Special quests include percussionist Gilmar Gomes, guitarists Romero Lumbarbo and Gilad Hekselman and on two selections, and two selections feature Choro Advenuroso, composed of Vitor Gonçalves on accordion, Cesar Garabini on 7-string guitar and Sergio Krakowski on Pandeino. The selections include compositions by Milton Nascimento, Romero Lumbarbo, K-Ximbinho, Severino Araujo, Edu Lobo & Chico Buarque and Cohen who contributed four originals.

Cohen is one of the foremost clarinetists in contemporary jazz and her singing, lyrical playing contrasts with the dark chords of Lindner on the opening "Lilia" followed by a more playful attack on "Putty Boy Strut," with an intriguing rhythmic underpinning. "Ima" is a lovely ballad with some delicate playing from Cohen and Lindner. Romero Lubambo's acoustic guitar serves to help pace the lively "Bachiao" More of Cohen's playful side can be heard with her lilting playing on "Happy Song," while a more reflective tone characterizes "Ternura," one of the two choro selections with the accordion of Gonçalves providing a contrast as does Garabina's 7-string guitar. The other choro performance "Espinha De Bacalhau," is a terrific, spirited performance evocative of some classic choro recordings along with some recordings of New Orleans based pianist Tom McDermott, who has also delved into choro (a Brazilian music with parallels to ragtime and early New Orleans jazz).

Cohen takes up tenor saxophone for her composition, "The Wein Machine," dedicated to the legendary jazz impresario. Her robust playing here completes another recording marked by the mix of latin accents, lyricism and charm, and marvelous ensemble playing that is sure to enchant many.

I received my review copy from a publicist. I have made a few minor edits in the review that was originally published in the May-June 2015 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 360). Here is a video taken from The Pace Report for "Luminosa."
 

Django Festival All Stars Live at Birdland and More

The Django Festival Allstars, purveyors of Gypsy jazz in vein of the legendary Django Reinhardt, have become frequent visitors to the States, including regular runs in New York City. Led by guitarist Dorado Schmitt and accordionist (Ludovic Beier) with Franko Mehrstein on rhythm guitar (with Dorado’s sons Samson and Branson also becoming regulars), their performances at venues such as Birdland and the Kennedy Center are to full houses. This writer was fortunate to see them a couple years ago at the Kennedy Center for an exhilarating evening full of virtuosity, passion and heart, and will be there when they return in this fall. 

While not part of the Allstars when I saw them, they also include violinist Pierre Blanchard. The latest recording is Live at Birdland & More, (Three’s A Crowd Records) reflecting that it includes some live performances from NYC’s Birdland club as well as some Paris studio recordings that includes guest appearances by saxophonist Anat Cohen and cellist Jisoo OK. This CD is the first time that members of the Schmitt family dynasty performing together have been recorded for North American release.

There are plenty of pleasures to be heard here starting with the traditional Gitan Swing which provides Dorado a chance to dazzle with astonishing technique along with Beier’s similarly dazzling accordion playing on this hot jazz performance. Dorado switches to violin for a lovely original For Pierre, that is dedicated to Blanchard and displays Dorado’s warm style. Blanchard is featured on his own original Balkanic Dance, with evocation of Indian solo violin and Balkan folk dances that morphs to a driving gypsy swing performance with Beier’s accordion complementing Blanchard’s fiery playing. Anat Cohen guests on soprano saxophone on what is perhaps Django Reinhardt’s most famous composition Nuages, with some lovely and very warm playing in her own style. 

Another Blanchard original, Valse En Exil, is a lovely piece of romanticism with Samson Schmitt exhibiting a precise technique in his guitar solo while Dorado’s El Dorado has a Brazilian flavoring with delightful interplay between Beier and Dorado. On Reinhardt’s Manor De Mes Reves, Beier is heard on the accordina (a mouth accordion) then lends a wistful quality. The marvelous Out of Nowhere, displays the lovely gliding violin of Blanchard and Dorado’s cleanly, articulated playing set against a simple rhythm on this standard. There are moments of faux-Middle East sounds (think of Juan Tizol’s Caravan) on Beier’s vibrant Camping Car with fiery solos from Blanchard and him. Dorado is again featured on violin, on his own Song For Ettore, exhibiting a strong romanticism in his playing while his son, Amati is featured on lead guitar. Son Bronson contributed Bronson’s Song, with fleet and imaginative playing suggesting some influence from Grant Green. Them Their Eyes, perhaps familiar from Billie Holiday is a tour de force for Samson, Beier and Blanchard, who also shine on Dorado’s Melissa. 

Bossa Dorado closes this lively and enchanting recording with Dorado taking the lead against the rhythm guitars of Samson and Mehrstein with Jisoo Ok providing a different musical tone with her charming cello playing. This is a spirited close to a recording of virtuosity and passion that is full of charm as well as exhilaration. This was produced by Pat Philips and Ettore Stratta, who are founders and producers of the regular Django Reinhardt New York Festival which is in midst of its 14th year in celebrating the legacy of Django Reinhardt and the Gypsy jazz tradition, which this release helps document.

I received by review copy from a publicist.  Here is a clip of Dorado Schmitt and the Django Festival Allstars performing How High The Moon.

Clarinetist Anat Cohen's Joyful Claroscuro

The award-winning, Israeli born Clarinetist Anat Cohen’s latest release is Claroscuro (Anzic). Cohen and her clarinets and saxophones are joined on this recording by her quartet of pianist Jason Lindner, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Daniel Freedman. There are also appearances by Paquito D’Rivera on clarinet, Wycliffe Gordon on trombone and Gilmar Gomes on percussion.

The album takes it title from the Spanish word describing the play of light and shade (chiaroscuro in Italian) and was a title that Cohen believes most accurately describes “the contrasts within the sounds of the album mainly between light (buoyant and joyous) and dark (multi-layered and intense).” The music exhibits playfulness on Lindner’s Anat’s Dance, exhilaration in the duet with D’Rivera on Pixinuinha’s Um a Zero, as well as melancholy on another duet with D’Rivera on Artie Shaw’s Nightmare. There is an intensity manifested by the clarinets on that number that contrasts with the pensiveness Cohen, on tenor saxophone exhibits during Abdullah Ibrahim’s The Wedding. 

In addition to the variety of emotions expressed, Cohen transverses the traditional and the modern. La Vie En Rose, a song associated with Edith Piaf. H Wycliffe Gordon adds trombone (with some nice growling mute playing) and a Louis Armstrong-inspired vocal in addition to Cohen’s lovely clarinet that would bring a smile to Barney Bigard. A favorite selection is the contemporary rendition of Pixinuinha’s classic choro Um a Zero, with the dazzling clarinet duets between Cohen and D’Rivera. On this, percussionist Gomes and drummer Freedman also get some of the spotlight. Cohen, on tenor saxophone, plays more contemplatively in her interpretation of the afore-mentioned rendition of Abdullah Ibrahim’s The Wedding. This is the final selection in another outstanding recording from one of today's most significant jazz voice. 

My review copy was provided by a publicist for the release. Here is Anat Cohen and her quartet in performance. 

Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet's Bridges Samba And Jazz

Brazilian born drummer Duduka Da Fonseca bridges the world of samba and jazz on his latest recording, Samba Jazz - Jazz Samba (Anzic Records). His quintet includes a band of well-regarded players (and bandleaders): Anat Cohen - clarinet and tenor saxophone; Helio Alves - piano; Guilherme Monteiro - guitar; and Leonardo Cioglia on bass. This release is a follow-up to the acclaimed Samba Jazz in Black and White (Zoho).

The liner notes note that despite not performing often, regular rehearsal has helped develop the ensemble’s style. Dom Salvador’s Depois Da Chuva opens with Cohen on tenor while pianist Alves also shines with the leader and Cioglia providing a solid, nuanced groove. Da Fonseca opens Sabor Carioca with some crisp playing before Cohen states Raul Mascarenhas’ theme. Monteiro taking the initial solo before Cohen plays some more robust tenor sax. Given the spotlight on Cohen’s clarinet playing, one forgets just how marvelous she is on tenor playing. They swing nicely and Monteiro, Alves and Cohen trade fours.

On Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Rancho Des Nuvens, Cohen switches to clarinet and establishes the morose spirit of the performance embellished by Alves’ light comping and the understated rhythm. It is followed by Cohen’s imaginative arrangement of Ornette Coleman’s Blues Connotation, transforming it into a straight-ahead number with fine playing by Monteiro along with Cohen’s sinewy tenor. Based on this stunning performance, one would not be surprised if Cohen’s arrangement of the Coleman classic was adopted by organ jazz combos.

Cohen’s woody clarinet lends a wistful flavor to Jimmy Rowles’ The Peacocks, while Monteiro adds melodic single note guitar. The leader’s Flying Over Rio, is a charming original with a light samba feel with Cohen’s tenor enchanting as is Alves in his solo. Cioglia also takes a solo with light embellishments from the leader with exemplary cymbal playing. Da Fonseca plays more vigorously, pushing the groove on Toninho Horta’s Dona Olimpia.

The lively Melancia closes Samba Jazz - Jazz Samba, an appealing album with strong ensemble playing on a varied set of compositions. Duduka Da Fonseca throughout keeps his group flowing and swinging whether with brushes and light cymbal work or more emphatic playing on his kit. One looks forward to more from the Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet.

I received a review copy from a publicist. Here is a video clip of the Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet performing.

DC Jazz Festival Picks for June 7

Michael Thomas

This is the seventh post I am making to highlight some of the shows associated with this year’s DC Jazz Festival. I am specifically not highlighting the DC JazzLoft Fest since I have posted on this already. I will may also pick a few other shows around the DC Virginia area that should not be overlooked. I am posting this a day ahead of the date of performances.  For more information visit http://www.dcjazzfest.org/content.cfm/schedule_and_major_events.

At 1:00 PM, as part of the East River Jazz Festival, Todd Marcus Ensemble will be at the East River Washington Senior Wellness Center. Todd Marcus, one of the few who specialize in the bass clarinet, leads a little big band which displays his compositions and ability to make use of a variety of musical colors. Capital Bop notes that he leads a nine piece ensemble. “Thankfully, both Marcus’s oddball instrumentalism and his offbeat ensemble are astonishingly strong, modern and infectious. Few people improvise with more fervor or write music better than he does.”

At 5:00PM, trumpeter Michael Thomas will be featured at the Phillips Collection with their hard bop and blues inspired by such legendary figures as Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard and Art Blakey. This is hard swinging music at its finest.

Roberta Gambarini

The Hamilton hosts the wonderful singer Roberta Gambarini along with the Cyrus Chestnut Trio, led by one of today’s most accomplished pianists.

The 6th and I Historic Synagogue will host the Anat Cohen Quartet. Proficient on saxophone as well as clarinet, Anat Cohen is a repeat poll winner on the clarinet and brings a contemporary approach to traditional jazz and Brazilian music as well as displays her mastery of the modern jazz canon.

Anat Cohen with guitarist Howard Alden

DC Jazz Festival Brings 10 Days of Jazz To The Nation's Capital

Ron Carter

The 2012 DC Jazz Festival takes place in the Nation’s Capital June 1 and runs through June 10. The Festival this year will have a variety of signature programs including Jazz Meets the Classics at the Kennedy Center; Jazz in the ‘Hoods at a variety of clubs and museums, presented by Events DC; Jazz’‘n’ Families Fun Days at The Phillips Collection; Jazz at the Hamilton presented by The Washington Post; and Jazz at the Howard.

Jazz Meets the Classics, co-presented by the Kennedy Center on June 4th, will feature an all-star lineup performing unique and exciting jazz interpretations of works by Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. Headlining the concert is the Classical Jazz Quartet, with NEA Jazz Masters bassist Ron Carter and pianist Kenny Barron, vibraphonist Stefon Harris and drummer Lewis Nash. Also headlining is NEA Jazz Master and 10-time Grammy Award-winner Paquito D’Rivera, joined by Spain’s Pepe Rivero Trio, Michael Phillip Mossman and Pernell Saturnino.

Lena Seikaly

The Jazz in the ‘Hoods program highlights the innovative CapitalBop D.C. Jazz Loft, Bohemian Caverns, and more than 80 performances at over 40 museums, clubs, restaurants, hotels, and galleries across the city with performers like Loide, Michael Thomas, Mark Prince, and Rodney Richardson with Lena Seikaly. The D.C. Jazz Loft Series, presented by Capital Bop, returns to spotlight some cutting edge music and will span 3 days including an all day manifest on June 9. Performers include Marc Cary’s Cosmic Indigenous; Tarbaby, featuring Orrin Evans, Nasheet Waits. Eric Revis; and the Todd Marcus Nonet. I will hopefully have a separate post on Capital Bop’s DC Jazz Loft Series separately.

Elijah Balbed

The free annual Jazz ‘n’ Families Fun Days at The Phillips Collection on Saturday, June 2nd and Sunday, June 3rd will treat families to performances from some of the finest musicians from around the region, including Marianne Solivan, Victor Provost, the Herman Burney Trio, and the Elijah Balbed Quartet. Jazz at the Hamilton, the Festival’s main venue, will feature 10 nights of performances with such noted artists as Randy Weston, Monty Alexander, Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Heath, David Sanchez, Les Nubians, Antonio Hart, Cyrus Chestnut, Jonathan Batiste, Ben Williams, Etienne Charles, John Scofield, Roberta Gambarini, and Marshall Keys.

Jimmy Heath

Jazz at the Howard celebrates the tradition of jazz in D.C. at the newly restored and reopened historic Howard Theatre. Headline artists include multiple Grammy Award-winning vocalist Dianne Reeves and famed Italian guitarist Pino Daniele. The Festival also hosts a performance by the dazzling clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, and six concerts co-presented by the Kennedy Center at the Millennium Stage featuring artists such as Malika Zara, the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, and Origem.  There is plenty of terrific jazz in a variety of musical flavors for the casual and discerning music lover at the 2012 DC Jazz Festival.

Roy Hargrove

The DC Jazz Festival (DCJF) is the largest music festival in Washington, D.C. A project of Festivals DC, Ltd., a 501 © (3) non-profit organization, the DCJF is one of the most highly-anticipated cultural events in the nation’s capital. The DC Jazz Festival is sponsored in part with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information about the DC Jazz Festival and upcoming programs, visit www.dcjazzfest.org.

All photos © by Ron Weinstock

GILFEMA's Enchanting Collaboration

The trio Gilfema takes its name from initials of its members, West African guitarist, Lionel GILles Loueke, Hungarian drummer, FErenc Nemeth and Swedish Italian bassist MAssimo Biolcati. Loueke is the best known of the three as a regular member of Herbie Hancock’s touring band and highly rated as a rising star guitarist in DownBeat’s critic’s poll. The three have been friends and musical collaborators since meeting at Berklee College of Music and have developed an intuitive interactivity that results from years of playing together. They had a prior album which received considerable acclaim. The trio’s new album is Gilfema + 2 (ObliqSound) reflecting the addition of Anat Cohen on clarinet and John Ellis on bass clarinet and ocarina.

The resulting recording is a marvelous mix of world music grooves and jazz with their use of West African grooves along with their New World counterparts as the opening Twins, by Loueke whose rhythms and vocal evoke Brazil as well as West African with the reed voices of Cohen and Ellis complementing and adding further seasoning here. Nemeth’s Question of Perspective, suggests some of Chick Corea’s compositions with Ellis’ smoky bass clarinet and Loueke’s scatting in unison with his deft single note runs. Loueke’s Your World, sports a mesmerizing African groove, with clarinets adding a flavor that suggests some of Abdullah Ibrahim’s recordings, with the deft interplay between Cohen’s clarinet and Loueke’s guitar being simply one of the small delights here.

The remaining selections are equally melodic as well as rhythmically lively as the quintet conjures up a different set of moods and rhythms with marvelous interplay throughout and interesting instrumental textures created by the clarinet and bass clarinet such as on Biocati’s Salomé. Gilfema + 2 is playful in spirit but deep in musical substance. Highly recommended.

This review originally appeared in the September 2009, Jazz and Blues Report (Issue 320). I do not recall if I was sent my review copy from the publication or a record company or its publicist.

Some JazzFest recommendations for Day 1 Friday April 29

Corey Ledet

I will be heading down to New Orleans for the Annual Jazz & Heritage Festival for the first weekend. I will also be attending Lil’ Band O’ Gold’s Bobby Charles Tribute at the House of Blues’ Parish Room on Friday Night and WWOZ Piano Night on Monday May 2. Of course this assumes no problems with my flight getting down there, etc. However, here are some recommendations of lesser known performers that you should think about seeing. I have avoided major touring acts like Jeff Beck, Robert Plant or Tom Jones or Wyclef Jean and also some of my favorites like the Joe Krown Trio and Irma Thomas.


For Day 1 here are several acts of note


11:15 at the Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do Do Stage - Corey Ledet & His Zydeco Band. Ledet is among the more traditional of today’s zydeco acts, but certainly can lay down a hot two step or waltz. He can channel Clifton Chenier or John Delaphose, and do a zydeco take of an Elvis hit, Burning Love. He has a fine CD A Matter of Time as well as with Cedric Watson recorded the excellent Going Down to Lousiana.

Henry Gray

12:00 in the Blues Tent - Henry Gray & The Cats. Howling Wolf’s pianist for over a decade before he moved back south to Baton Rouge for the past four decades or so where he has mixed in his Big Maceo influenced piano style heard on recordings by Wolf, Jimmy Rogers and others with a healthy dose of Louisiana Swamp Blues exemplified by his Cold Chills. He has never received the acclaim of a Pinetop Perkins, but in my mind he is Pinetop’s equal and a better singer. His annual JazzFest appearance is always a treat.


12:15 in the WWOZ Jazz Tent - Derek Douget. If Derek had moved out of New Orleans, he is a saxophonist people would be talking about. I have seen him play with the marvelous trumpeter Maurice Brown as well as with Irwin Mayfield’s NYNO. He has a terrific CD, Perpetual Motion, as well as appeared to numerous cds including those by Adonis Rose, Leah Chase, Maurice Brown and Ellis Marsalis (He is the saxophonist on An Open Letter to Thelonious).

Derek Douget

1:30 in the WWOZ Jazz Tent - Germaine Bazzle. . What can one add to New Orleans jazz Diva, a singer of exquisite tone, taste and nuance. Always has some of Crescent City’s best musicians supporting her.

Germaine Bazzle

2:45 at the Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do Do Stage - Warren Storm - Willie Tee & Cypress. As a drummer, One probably cannot count the number of recordings Warren Storm played on (many Excello swamp blues classic) but he is also a great blues-eyed soul singer which can be heard when he anchors Lil’ Band ‘0 Gold. I am less familiar with Willie Tee Trahan, but the saxophonist and Storm hooked up in the 1980s playing bars throughout the Gulf Coast and recording some fine ‘swamp pop.’ Really looking forward to seeing them.

Warren Storm

4:00PM in the WWOZ Jazz Tent - Anat Cohen Quartet. She is becoming a perennial nominee for Best Clarinet Player in the Jazz Journalist Awards and the DownBeat Awards. Conversant with traditional swing, hard bop and world music, the Israeli born Anat will be also leading her Quartet on Saturday in the People’s Health Economy Hall Tent which might suggest two very different performances displaying two different sides of this remarkable msuician and composer.]


There are a few selections. Plenty of other great music including John Mooney, Donald Harrison, Jon Cleary, Los Hombres Caliente, Keb' Mo and the Golden Striker Trio featuring Ron Carter. 

Anat Cohen

Anat Cohen's Marvelous Village Notes

Anat Cohen certainly has established herself among the rising new performers in jazz today. The following review originally appeared in the November 2008 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 310), although I have made minor edits. I believe I received a review copy from Jazz & Blues Report.
One of the many prominent Israeli born jazz artists to come to our attention, Anat Cohen has been receiving critical kudos from the jazz press as well as making her mark. The first female horn player to headline the Village Vanguard, she has opened eyes and ears with her marvelous reed playing.

This writer was captivated by her performance as part of the United Jazz Orchestra led by Paquito D’Rivera at the 2007 Duke Elllington Jazz Festival. Her latest album is the marvelous Notes From the Village (Anzic), and has her backed by Jason Lindner on piano; Omer Avital on bass; and drummer Daniel Freedman, with guitarist Hekselman appearing on three of the eight performances.

This is lively and uplifting music from the start with the opening Washington Square Park, incorporating latin elements along with modern and traditional jazz. the music sings and its hard to resist the urge to dance with this including Hekselman’s twisting, lively solo and Cohen’s serpentine soprano sax playing here. Its followed by Cohen’s lovely ballad Until You’re in Love Again, with its echoes of Gordon Jenkins’ Goodbye, with her lovely woody clarinet tone evoking Goodman’s legacy before taking the song into a new direction. It is as indicative as any track here showing the freshness of her music and playing.

Cuban composer Ernesto Lecouna’s Siboney, features an arrangement by Lindner which fuses elements of tango with the Afro-Cuban foundation as Cohen’s horn sings again. She plays bass clarinet on the lovely, wistful rendition of Coltrane’s After the Rain, with Lindner taking a nice solo. J Blues is a lively original with her playing mesmerizing, while her interpretation of Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come, opens with a work song like tempo as emphatically laid out by drummer Freedman, while her playing is both soulful and thoughtful.

A playful rendition of Fats Waller’s Jitterbug Waltz takes this out on another high note with a very fresh, effervescent arrangement by Cohen and her sax weaving its magic throughout, concluding a CD of music rooted in the past and present yet looking forward to the future. It certainly will add to the many kudos she already has received.