Anat Cohen Makes History Taking Two Top Jazz Honors In Single Day

New York (Top40 Charts/ Anat Cohe Official Website) - Yesterday was a day Anat Cohen will never forget. In two separate ceremonies both held in Manhattan, Cohen was named Clarinetist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) for the third consecutive year, and also received the first-ever ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame Prize for Musicianship and Composition.

Jazz Journalists Association Names Cohen 'Clarinetist Of The Year' For Third Consecutive Year; Ascap Bestows First-Ever 'Jazz Wall Of Fame Prize'

Awards Follow Raves For Cohen's Playboy Jazz Fest Debut Last Weekend: "The Future Of Jazz Is In Good Hands" (OC Register)

Both honors are unprecedented in their own way. Cohen's JJA award marks the first time that an artist has won the top clarinet prize for three years running. Meanwhile, the ASCAP award is being presented for the first time this year, alongside Wall of Fame inductions for jazz legends present and past - Jon Hendricks, Johnny Mandel, Annie Ross, and Randy Weston, as well as John Coltrane, Dave Lambert, and Tito Puente.

For Cohen, these awards follow two triumphant performances at the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles last weekend, with Bill Cosby's Cos of Good Music band, and leading her own quartet. Reviewing her LA performances, the OC Register wrote "the future of jazz is in good hands," while the LA Times observed that Cohen "added fire to [Bill Cosby's] group, and her own quartet found her venturing even further into her own groove."

Next up for Anat are two stretches at the legendary Village Vanguard in NYC. She begins with a June 23 - 28 run with the 3 Cohens sextet (featuring Anat and her brothers Avishai and Yuval). From June 30 - July 5, Anat will lead a tribute to Benny Goodman at the Vanguard called "Clarinetwork: Benny Goodman and Beyond," celebrating the incomparable clarinetist's centennial year. She'll be backed on those dates by a stellar rhythm section comprised of pianist Benny Green, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash. On July 3 and 4, saxophonists Ted Nash, Dan Block and Scott Robinson, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, and trombonist Wycliffe Gordon will join the group.
Dates at the Montreal Jazz Festival and George Wein's Jazz Festival 55 will follow in July and August.