Onstage and
on record, the music of Anat Cohen positively
glows—with virtuosity, with charisma, with the sheer joy of creation—and never
more brightly than on her seventh CD as a bandleader, “Luminosa.” The disc sees
the clarinetist/saxophonist play singing, dancing originals, interpret
Brazilian classics by the likes of Milton Nascimento, and even re-imagine
electronica as acoustica. Members of Anat’s touring quartet—keyboardist Jason
Lindner, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Daniel Freedman—appear on the album, as
do guest guitarists Romero Lubambo and Gilad Hekselman and the Brazilian
players from her new band Choro Adventuroso.
Warren Vache is ideally and nearly uniquely
qualified to interpret the music of Benny Carter. He was one of Benny’s
favorite musicians and they played together at numerous festivals over the
years. The genesis of a new project, “The Warren Vache Quintet Remembers Benny
Carter,” happened when Carter’s widow asked Vache to headline a tribute concert
in Connecticut, the success of which made the cornetist decide to put together
a disc featuring largely the same band as had played in concert. Saxophonist
Harry Allen was not available, however, so Vache called on the veteran reedman Houston
Person to sit in.
Also this
week, Grammy Award-winning bassist Mark
Egan unveils “Direction Home,” the second release from his all-star contemporary
jazz trio featuring drummer Danny Gottlieb and keyboardist Mitchel Forman; vocalist
Cassandra Wilson delves into the
Billie Holiday songbook in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of
the birth of Lady Day with “Coming Forth By Day”; and guitarist Steve Watson offers up a fresh fusion
of down-home Memphis blues and soul and melodic jazz on “Heat It Up.”
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