Notes from the Village (Anzic Records)
Anat Cohen
Released September 9, 2018
2008 Top 10 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k1XWna9vyWv9oURF-ArQhpdltaUQC1R_A
Spotify:
About:
Rising jazz star Anat Cohen leads her New York all-star quartet through fresh originals, tunes by Fats Waller, John Coltrane, Sam Cooke and Ernesto Lecuona. This captivating, soulful album builds on Cohen’s acclaimed 2007 releases Noir and Poetica capturing the thrilling energy of her live shows, and proving her to be an artistically adventurous writer and performer.
Track Listing:
1. Washington Square Park (Anat Cohen) 09:08
2. Until You’re In Love Again (Anat Cohen) 06:26
3. Siboney (Ernesto Lecuona) 08:21
4. After the Rain (John Coltrane) 09:12
5. J Blues (Anat Cohen) 07:07
6. Lullaby For The Naïve Ones (Anat Cohen) 05:42
7. A Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) 05:20
8. Jitterbug Waltz (Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller) 09:04
Personnel:
Anat Cohen: clarinet, tenor saxophone (6), soprano saxophone (1), bass clarinet (4)
Jason Lindner: piano, Fender Rhodes (6), Prophet 08 Keyboard (1)
Omer Avital: bass
Daniel Freedman: drums, percussion
Gilad Hekselman: guitars (1, 2, 6)
Produced by Anat Cohen & Jason Lindner
Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York City, May 14-15 by James Farber, assisted by Brian Montgomery
Mixed by James Farber, assisted by Brian Montgomery
Edited by Brain Montgomery
Mastered by Mark Wilder
Cover Photo by Todd Chalfant
Graphic Design by Lisa St. Cyr
Review:
A new name and voice have risen up in the jazz horn player scene and, for a change, they belong to a woman. Commanding clarinetist (and saxophonist on the side) Anat Cohen boldly entered the jazz atmosphere in 2007, with her acclaimed albums Noir and Poetica, and she generally became an instant sensation. Notes From the Village, her new recording for the Anzic label, is a solid and diverse next step in her exciting musical adventure thus far.
Once again, we can appreciate the Israeli-in-NYC Cohen’s flowing facility and creative heat on a jazz instrument in need of new heroes (and heroines), but she also demonstrates a flair and healthy curiosity as a composer. “Until You’re in Love Again” gleams with balladic sensitivity, mixing jazz sonorities with traces of Jewish melodic heritage. Her playful “J Blues” is a trickily hip, kinetically syncopated variation on the blues, and “Lullaby for the Naïve Ones” is an alluring exercise in more modular composition.
Her ensemble partners-pianist Jason Lindner, bassist Omar Avital, drummer Daniel Freedman, with cameos by guitarist Gilad Hekselman-are spot-on, sensitive to the musical causes. The album’s only distracting quirk, actually, is the otherwise impressive and inspired Lindner’s goofy, flatulent synth sound on his solo on the bubbling, African-esque “Washington Square Park.” This band needs no bells, whistles or gimmicks to state its formidable musical case.
In cover material, Coltrane’s “After the Rain” has a suitably tranquil, after-glow-ish air; Cohen brings a new arrangement spin-with the soulful legacy intact-to Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” (a song which, in the hands of Bill Frisell and others, has become something of a revitalized anthem in an era when change is indeed on its way). “Jitterbug Waltz” is more reinvented from the melodic ground up, with a fast polyrhythmic overlay on the Fats Waller classic, a fine foil for Cohen’s rich and serpentine clarinet eloquence.
