Anat Cohen & The Anzic Orchestra - Noir
ARTIST.....: Anat Cohen & The Anzic Orchestra
TITLE......: Noir
LABEL......: Anzic
URL........: www.anatcohen.com
RIP DATE...: Jan-25-2008
STORE DATE.: Jun-12-2007
GENRE......: Jazz
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 72,9 MB
Track Listing:
01 - la comparsa 04:46
02 - no moon at all 05:27
03 - carnaval de sao vicente 05:17
04 - do it 04:19
05 - cry me a river 05:33
06 - you never told me that you care 05:03
07 - medley- samba de orfeu/Struttin' with 05:23
some barbeque
08 - cry 04:37
09 - bebe 06:11
10 - ingenuo 05:27
─────
52:03 min
Release Notes:
From "Noir" Liner Notes by Dan Morgenstern :
There are moments in an artist's career when things come together
in a special way, and Noir is such a moment for Anat Cohen. From
the time I first encountered this remarkable musician in 200l I've
been delighted and amazed at every hearing, live or recorded, in
the many and varied settings that display her gifts. Anat is
nothing if not multifaceted, and this fine album presents almost
all these facets in the aggregate. (Almost-- since no record, no
matter how great, can do full justice to a living, breathing,
ever-developing creative multi-instrumentalist who will continue
to surprise us.)
It brings together two main streams in Anat's musical world, big
band jazz and Brazilian music, and it is also a reunion with an
old friend, Oded Lev-Ari, who here comes into view as an arranger
of great skill and originality. 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 ZΘ Maurφcio - Percussion Erik
Friedlander - Cello Robert Burkhart - Cello Greg Heffernan - Cello
Yuval Cohen - Soprano Sax Track 7
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