WRTI is thrilled to partner, once again, with Longwood Gardens for this year's Wine and Jazz Festival. The date is Saturday, June 1st from 12 noon to 5:30 pm. The Branford Marsalis Quartet will headline this year's festival as part of a superb lineup that will make for a full afternoon of first-class music. Other performers include the Anat Cohen Quartet, the Alfredo Rodriguez Trio, and jazz vocalist Joanna Pascale.
We're honoring ladies of jazz this month on WRTI. Take a moment to listen to jazz vocalist Julie London sing "Cry Me A River." In case you didn't know, Julie was named Billboard's most popular female vocalist in 1955, 1956, and 1957, and was on the cover of LIFE magazine in 1957. This video is from 1964.
Clarinetist Anat Cohen is one of a handful of Israeli jazz musicians making a mark on the American jazz scene. She's been voted Clarinetist of the Year six years in a row by the Jazz Journalists Association, and her most recent album, Claroscuro, showcases the range of her talents and musical influences, from New Orleans-style jazz to Israel to Latin music — particularly that of Brazil.
Cohen says that the clarinet's somewhat old-fashioned reputation may be the result of the very thing that attracts her to the instrument.
Born in Tel Aviv, Anat Cohen came to New York two decades ago to study the masters of jazz. In so doing, the clarinetist and saxophonist started a bit of a stampede: Today, Israel is exporting some of the most vital jazz out there.
