Anat Cohen Quartet To Make Miller Theatre Jazz Series Debut 2/11

Miller Theatre At Columbia University School of the Arts "turns up the heat" on its Jazz series with the Miller debut of Anat Cohen Quartet Saturday, February 11, 8:00 p.m.

Tickets: $25 • CU Students: $7 • All other students: $15 with valid ID

From Miller Theatre Director Melissa Smey:
“I am so thrilled to present the Anat Cohen Quartet as part of our Jazz series this season. Anat Cohen has been on my wish list for a while now, and I cannot wait to share her incredible gifts as a musician, bandleader, and improviser with our audience at Miller. The sheer range of her influences and interpretations makes her one of the most exciting jazz musicians today.”

Jazz at Miller Theatre
New York’s jazz heart wasn’t always located downtown. Once it was found on 52nd Street and before that on 125th, and for many decades its most powerful radio voice has been WKCR-FM on the campus of Columbia University. Just a few yards away, jazz finds an uptown home at Columbia’s Miller Theatre. This season’s Jazz series began in November with the astounding, inventive Lionel Loueke Trio and the bold and energetic Renee Rosnes Quartet. This spring the Anat Cohen Quartet, led by the Israeli woodwind virtuoso, makes its Miller debut and the amazing Don Byron brings his new project, the Don Byron New Gospel Quintet, to the stage.

Saturday, February 11, 8:00 p.m.
Anat Cohen Quartet
Known for artistically adventurous writing and performances, the Anat Cohen Quartet makes its first appearance on Miller’s stage with exciting new works by the Israeli woodwind virtuoso. Fluent in modern and traditional jazz, klezmer, Brazilian Choro, Argentine tango, and an expansive timeline of Afro-Cuban styles.

ARTISTS: Anat Cohen, clarinet and saxophones
Jason Lindner, piano
Omer Avital, bass
Daniel Freedman, drums

BIOS: An established bandleader and prolific composer, conversant with modern and traditional jazz, classical music, klezmer, Brazilian choro, Argentine tango, and an expansive timeline of Afro-Cuban styles, Anat Cohen has established herself as one of the primary voices of her generation on both the tenor saxophone and clarinet since arriving in New York in 1999.

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Anat began clarinet studies at age 12 and played jazz on clarinet for the first time in the Jaffa Conservatory’s Dixieland band. At 16, she joined the school’s big band and learned to play the tenor saxophone, which she later played in the Israeli Air Force band. In 1996, Anat matriculated at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Upon relocating to New York, Anat quickly found work in various Brazilian ensembles like the Choro Ensemble and Duduka Da Fonseca’s Samba Jazz Quintet, and started performing with David Ostwald’s “Gully Low Jazz Band,” which explores the music of Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet and their Pan-American contemporaries.

Anat has performed for audiences in New York’s Village Vanguard, Jazz Standard, Iridium, The Jazz Gallery, and the JVC Jazz Festival. She has also appeared at the Chicago Jazz Festival, Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, San Francisco’s Yoshi’s, Boston’s Regattabar, the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and the Montreal Jazz Festival. Anat’s July 2007 engagement at the Village Vanguard in New York was a historic one as she became the first female reed player and the first Israeli to headline at the club. In 2010, Anat Cohen released the album Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard, inspired by the music of Benny Goodman and celebrating his centennial, featuring an all-star rhythm section including Benny Green, Peter Washington, and Lewis Nash.

Her 2008 album Notes From The Village, her fourth album as a leader, features compositions written by Cohen as well as her interpretations of songs by Fats Waller, John Coltrane, Sam Cooke and Ernesto Lecuona. “In preparing for the recording,” says Anat “I really wanted to capture the free, risk-taking, open quality this band achieves when performing live. I also wanted to stretch my compositions, and arrangements.” Ms. Cohen’s accomplishments have been recognized in a flurry of awards and distinctions from critics and fans alike; the Jazz Journalists Association named Anat Cohen Clarinetist of the Year in 2007 through 2011 – the first time in the history of the awards that an artist has earned top clarinet honors five years running. Her 2007 albums Noir and Poetica both appeared on many year-end best-of summary lists, including those of Paste magazine, The New York Sun, Slate, JazzTimes, and others.

Jason Lindner
Hailed as a “musical universe” by Chick Corea, Jason Lindner first gained acclaim for his long-running Big Band, whose raw energy earned them a release on Corea’s label. Lindner has served as musical director for Lauryn Hill and Claudia Acuña, and collaborated with Meshell Ndegeocello, who produced his recent release Jason Lindner Gives You Now Vs. Now. The Brooklyn native grew up on hip hop and learned to play jazz from elders like Barry Harris and Chris Anderson, then further expanded his musical palette to include African, Afro-Caribbean, South American, and Middle Eastern music, all informing his own compositional style. Lindner appears on over 35 recordings, 5 as a leader. He has worked with many incredible artists, including Amel Larrieux, Matisyahu, Paul Simon, Mark Guiliana’s Beat Music, Dafnis Prieto’s Proverb Trio & Absolute Quintet, Chick Corea, Roy Haynes, Omer Avital, Christian McBride, Branford Marsalis, Elvin Jones, Lionel Loueke, Mark Turner, Bill Cosby, Roy Hargrove, Baba Israel, Avishai Cohen, Jimmy Lovelace, Paquito D’Rivera, The Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra, and many others. Lindner attended the Mannes College of Music and the New School, where he is an adjunct faculty member.

Omer Avital is a poet of the bass, widely hailed by international musicians, critics and fans as one of the most innovative and exceptional musicians of his generation. His compositions range from small jazz groups to orchestral and world music. Avital was born in the small Israeli town of Givataim where his formal training began at age 11 when he entered the Givataim Conservatory to study Classical Guitar. After spending less then a year in the Israeli Army (playing in its orchestra), Omer made his way to New York City in search of a more promising jazz setting. He quickly became a hotly sought after sideman – steadily performing, recording, and touring with such jazz legends as Roy Haynes, Jimmy Cobb, Nat Adderly, Walter Bishop, Al Foster, Steve Grossman, Frank Hewitt, Jimmy Lovelace, and Rashied Ali, as well as some of the great jazz artists of his generation including Joshua Redman, Jason Lindner, Jeff Ballard, Brad Mehldau, Claudia Acuña, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Larry Goldings, among others. In 1995, Omer formed The Omer Avital Group, which consisted of four saxophones, bass, and drums, and alternately included Mark Turner, Myron Walden, Gregory Tardy, Joel Frahm, Charles Owens, Grant Stewart, Jay Collins, and Jimmy Green, as well as drummers Ali Jackson, Joe Strasser, and Daniel Freedman.? Avital’s various bands and ensembles have included OAM Trio (with pianist Aaron Goldberg and Spanish drummer/percussionist Marc Miralta),?Third World Love (featuring trumpeter Avishai Cohen, drummer Daniel Freedman, and pianist Yonatan Avishai), and The Marlon Browden-Omer Avital Band.?In recent years, he has produced a number of chamber "concert" pieces for different ensembles, some of which were performed and broadcast on Israeli radio, alongside orchestral music based on Andalusian, Mediterranean, and Israeli folklore elements. Avital has deepened his knowledge of North African music (the music of his heritage) while playing with the Izraeli Magreb Orchestra, the Andalusian Orchestra Ensemble, and the legendary Algerian pianist Morris al Mdiuni. Avital's ideal is not only to play and create within the traditional forms, but to use these techniques to enrich his own musical world.

Drummer, percussionist, and composer Daniel Freedman was born and raised in New York City and grew up in a musical family. In high school he studied with masters Max Roach, Billy Higgins, and Vernel Fournier and later traveled to study music in West Africa, Cuba, and the Middle East. Daniel came up in the Smalls scene of the 1990s and during that time was a member of Jason Lindner's Big Band and Omer Avital’s sextet. Daniel is currently touring the world as a member of Grammy-winning singer Angelique Kidjo's band. He has played and recorded with many artists such as Tom Harrell, Wynton Marsalis, Sting, Claudia Acuña, Omar Faruk, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Toumani Diabate. Daniel is a co-leader of acclaimed band Third World Love, and tours frequently with clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen's band. As a composer and producer for NY-based jingle house Wicked Music, he has written many spots for television and the Web.?Daniel recorded a new album of his compositions that will be released in 2011 with Avishai Cohen, Mark Turner, Lionel Loueke, Jason Lindner, and Meshell Ndegeocello. His record Trio with Jason Lindner and Omer Avital, and guests Myron Walden, Joshua Levitt, and Tomer Tzur, on the Fresh Sound label received nine stars in Modern Drummer Magazine, and he was featured in the same magazine in the article "Jazz Lions".

Upcoming Jazz concerts at Miller Theatre:
Single Tickets: $25 • 4- Concert Subscription: $80
Don Byron New Gospel Quintet Saturday, February 25, 2012

Columbia University’s Miller Theatre is located north of the Main Campus Gate
at 116th St. & Broadway on the ground floor of Dodge Hall.

Subscriptions and single tickets are now available online at www.millertheatre.com.
The public may also purchase tickets through the Miller Theatre Box Office
in person or at 212/854-7799, M–F, 12–6 p.m.