EyeShotJazz | Jazz Photography

At Cornish College’s Poncho Concert Hall the Anat Cohen Ensemble put on a wonderful performance as Earshot Jazz Festival rolls on.

The 2012 Earshot Jazz festival continues. Click on the schedule here 2012 Earshot Jazz Festival 
Conversant with modern and traditional jazz, classical music, Brazilian choro and Argentine tango, Israeli clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen has established herself as a fresh voice in jazz. British bassist Orlando le Fleming and Texas drummer Rudy Royston joined Cohen at the PONCHO Concert Hall.

Cohen won both DownBeat magazine’s critics poll and Reader’s Poll in the clarinet category in 2011, and the Jazz Journalists Association named Cohen Clarinetist of the Year for five consecutive years, 2007-2011.

Her facility in that regard is on pristine display on Claroscuro (2012), her newest release, and sixth on Anzic Records. Pianist Jason Lindner, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Daniel Freedman join her on the record, with special guests.

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Cohen grew up with musical siblings – brothers saxophonist Yuval Cohen and trumpeter Avishai Cohen. She began clarinet studies at age 12 and played that and tenor saxophone for years before moving on to studies at Berklee College, where she met teachers Ed Tomassi and George Garzone and was further encouraged on clarinet by Phil Wilson. Cohen moved again, to New York, and quickly found work in Brazilian ensembles, like Duduka Da Fonseca’s Samba Jazz Quintet, and started performing the music of Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Sidney Bechet and their pan-American contemporaries with David Ostwald’s Gully Low Jazz Band.
Cohen is familiar with the Northwest from her performances at the Django festivals on Whidbey Island, Earshot festivals in Seattle and her friendship with Seattle pianist Dawn Clement. “Come and groove with us,” Cohen writes. “It’s going to be fun.”
– SG

Trio Commando made their public debut last noght at the chapel Performance Space opening up for Eric Barber, performing improvisations, excavations and conversations through a high powered trio configuration featuring Wayne Horvitz (piano), Samantha Boshnack(trumpets), and Beth Fleenor (clarinets/voice). Unexpected and brilliant set of music with exciting electronic and vocal intermixing.

Since arriving in Seattle in 1998, clarinetist/vocal percussionist/ composer Beth Fleenor has carved a place for herself as an energetic multi-instrumentalist and dynamic generative artist. Her robust sound, organic approach, and openness to experimentation in all forms, actively fuels a long and varied list of collaborations. Ranging from shows in nightclubs, festivals, schools and galleries, to prisons, parties and concert halls, Fleenor’s work has been featured in live music, theater, performance art, recordings, modern dance, film, sound art and art installations.

Samantha Boshnack has composed and performed with a plethora of Seattle-based musicians and groups since arriving from New York in 2003. The Bard College graduate uses a broad palette in her compositions, including jazz, rock, hip-hop, Balkan, and contemporary classical music influences. Her work has received acclaim from music critics around the world, and has received support from 4Culture, Jack Straw Productions, ASCAPlus, and the Seattle Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Wayne Horvitz is a composer, pianist, electronic musician, and producer. He has toured widely, and has collaborated with musicians such as Bill Frisell, Butch Morris, John Zorn, Robin Holcomb, Fred Frith, Julian Priester, Michael Shrieve, Bobby Previte, Marty Ehrlich, William Parker, Ron Miles, Sara Schoenbeck, Peggy Lee, Briggan Krauss, and many others. A recipient of numerous commissions and awards, his various ensembles include The President, Pigpen, Zony Mash, The HMP Trio, The New York Composers Orchestra, The 4 Plus 1 Ensemble, Sweeter Than the Day and The Gravitas Quartet.

Presented by NONSEQUITUR, which supports a wide range of adventurous music and sound art through recordings, performances, and exhibitions since 1989. They currently sponsor the Wayward Music Series in the Chapel Performance Space at the historic Good Shepherd Center in the Wallingford neighborhood.

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Josh Deutsch with Four Across at Tula’s Restaurant, Wednesday, October 22 & Thursday, October 23

One of the most promising jazz quartets now on the scene, Four Across makes its Earshot Jazz Festival debut presenting forward-thinking, sensitive jazz that blends folk melody, South American grooves, and New Orleans spirit. With Carmen Staaf on piano, Josh Deutsch on trumpet/flugelhorn, Kendall Eddy on bass, and Brian Adler on drums, this collection of New England Conservatory graduates, many with Seattle ties, released its first album, Four Across, earlier this year and is fresh off an east coast tour.

Trumpeter, composer, and fellow Seattleite, Josh Deutsch performs in a variety of musical settings, including the Josh Deutsch Quinet and Poisonous Birds, a quintet that specializes in jazz/rock/funk fusion. While at NEC he studied with Danilo Perez, Bob Brookmeyer, John McNeil, Allan Chase, and Lee Hyla, and he is currently pursuing a master’s degree in jazz performance and composition at the University of Oregon.

Click here for the complete schedule for the rest of the upcoming shows at the 2008 Earshot Jazz Festival

Photograph by editorial photographer Daniel Sheehan a photojournalist who specializes in portrait photography and photojournalism for publications and corporations. He is also a wedding photojournalist with a subtle, unobtrusive, story-telling approach creating artistic documentary Seattle wedding photography.

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Anat Cohen was another favorite of mine from last year’s Earshot Jazz Festival.

Tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Anat Cohen is winning high praise for her explorations of Afro-Cuban styles, Argentinian tango, Brazilian choro, classical,
and jazz music. In the decade since she came to the U.S. from her native Tel Aviv, Israel, Cohen has graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, played with such notable Latin American-
styled bands as the Choro Ensemble, New York Samba Jazz (led by Brazilian drum master Duduka Da Fonseca), the pop outfit Brazooca, and the Three Cohens
(with her musical brothers), in addition
to touring the world as lead tenor saxophone in Sherrie Maricle’s all-female big band, the Diva Jazz Orchestra.
In 2005, Cohen’s debut CD, Place and Time, netted the distinction of being one of All About Jazz: New York’s “Best Debut Albums of 2005.” She followed with two discs, Noir and Poetica, this year. On the first, Cohen plays clarinet and tenor, soprano, and alto saxophones at the head of an ensemble of three woodwinds, three trumpets, two trombones, three cellos, and a rhythm section of guitar, bass, drums, and percussion on 10 songs that jazz historian Dan Morgenstern describes as “unfold[ing] like a Pan-American film score.”
Poetica takes a different, but no less compelling, approach to showcasing Cohen’s continually impressive talents as an arranger and bandleader. Here supported
mostly by pianist Jason Lindner, bassist Omer Avital, and drummer Daniel Freedman, Cohen plays only the clarinet on a set list that includes Brazilian, Israeli, and French songs, plus John Coltrane’s “Lonnie’s Lament” and two originals. On the strength of these two releases, Cohen now comes to Seattle on a wave of critical praise.