Anat Cohen: "Mtisig:

Ticket Office' 734.764.2538 • www.annarborstirnmerfestivalory

has no gender,"

• :•

La dy Of Jazz
An d More

lnstru mentalist Anat Cohen brings her
talents to Temple Israel on Sunday.

Suzanne Che ssler

Special to the Jewish News

g

nat Cohen played clarinet
and saxophone before notic-
ing that not many females
did. Cohen, raised in Israel and now
living in New York, simply seemed to
fall in line with family interests.
She observed her mother as a music
teacher. She watched her father play
clarinet as a hobby. She tuned in to her
older brother, Yuval, as he got serious
with the sax on his way to building a
concert career.
Cohen, entranced by the instruments
and the talents, soon found she could
play by ear and enhanced her abilities
with considerable schooling. As she
was learning new skills, she connected
with all types of music and eventually
became a member of many groups,
including her own.
No matter how diverse the music
and musicians, jazz was always at
the center and will be when the An at
Cohen Quartet entertains at the Joh
M. Haddow Annual Memorial Progr m
in Jewish Culture 2:30 p.m. Sunday,
June 22, at Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield. The event, sponsored by
the Cohn Haddow Center for Judaic
Studies at Wayne State University, will
include Israeli and world music while
calling attention to the instrumental-
ist's original pieces and recent Poetica
recording.
"I was too young to know that these
instruments were not associated with
women," explains the 30ish Cohen, who
also performs regularly with Yuval and
her younger brother Avishai, a trumpet
player, in the trio 3Cohens.
"I believe that music has no gender
and I've never thought of myself as a
woman entering jazz in a male-domi-
nant field. I still don't think about it

that way when I make music"
At Temple Israel, Cohen will be
joined by Jason Lindner on piano,
Daniel Freedman on drums and Ben
Street on bass.
"I really enjoy playing in a group
because that makes it a social event:'
says Cohen, who studied at the Thelma
Yellin High School for the Arts in Israel
and the Berklee College of Music in
Boston.
"Music is a straight connection with
the emotions. It can take you wherever
you want to go. If you want to be happy,
music can make you happy. If you want
to be sad, music can make you sad:'
Through her musical experiences in
school and out, Cohen especially has
connected with Latin beats. One song
she wrote, "La Casa del Llano," builds
on the rhythm of the meringue as she
heard it in Venezuela.
"I like Latin music because it's sen-
sual and rhythmic and you can dance
to it;' says Cohen, who began compos-
ing simply by deciding it was time and
sitting down at the keyboard to do so
about 10 or 15 years ago. "You just feel
Latin music."
Cohen's newest quartet recording,
Notes From the Village, comes out in
September.
"I just accept and love music;' says
Cohen, who has worked with Brazooca,
the Choro Ensemble, New York Samba
Jazz, the Diva Jazz Orchestra and the
Gully Low Jazz Band. "I wish people,
m the same way, just could accept and
re spect others." ❑

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e Anat Cohen Quartet per-
for ms 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June
22, at Temple Israel, 5725
Wal nut Lake Road, in West
Bloo mfield. $25. (313) 577-2679.

Ticket Office: 734.764.2538 • www.annarborsummerfestival.org

,IN

June 19 2008 C5