Anat Cohen

Ever charismatic, prolific and inspired, Grammy-nominated clarinetist-saxophonist Anat Cohen has won hearts and minds the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. Anat has been declared Clarinetist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association every year since 2007 and has also been named the top clarinetist in both the readers and critics polls in DownBeat for multiple years running. That’s not to mention years of being named Rising Star in the soprano and tenor saxophone categories in DownBeat, as well as Jazz Artist of the Year. In 2009, ASCAP awarded Anat a Wall of Fame prize for composition and musicianship, among other honors.

Since 2005, Anat’s series of releases via her Anzic Records label have seen the clarinetist-saxophonist range from infectious swingers to lilting balladry, from small groups to larger ensembles and back again, exploring a universe of music along the way. In October 2017 –Happy Song – the debut release from the Anat Cohen Tentet found her drawing on diverse musical loves, from Brazilian music to African grooves, from vintage swing to touching ballads. One June 14, 2019 the Anat Cohen Tentet reached a new crest in its evolution with its second recording – Triple Helix. The album’s centerpiece is a three-movement concerto composed for Cohen and the Tentet, by her longtime collaborator Oded Lev-Ari, the Tentet’s musical director and Cohen’s producer/label partner at Anzic.

In between large ensemble recordings, in March 2018 Anat and the acclaimed pianist Fred Hersch released their debut duo recording – Live in Healdsburg of which Nate Chinen (WBGO) proclaimed “a beautiful document of mutual exchange, rooted in melody but alert to every possibility”

Marcello Gonçalves

One of Brazil’s most acclaimed seven-string guitarists, the Grammy Award–nominated Marcello Gonçalves is internationally renowned not only as a stellar performer, but also as a sought-after musical director, arranger, producer, and educator. His boundlessly warm nylon-string tone, broad sonic range, and irrepressible rhythmic finesse can yield a sound as full as an orchestra, revealing roots deeply planted in Brazilian popular, folkloric, and classical music traditions. Gonçalves’s creative synthesis of all these elements has elevated his artistry to a rare and transcendent level.

Gonçalves received his doctorate in music in 2019 and is currently a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), where he created the first academic course for Brazilian seven-string guitar, an instrumental discipline unlike any other. Over many years, he has had the opportunity to study with masters Dino 7 Cordas, Mauricio Carrilho, and Helio Delmiro, among others.

With clarinetist Anat Cohen, a major force in the New York and international jazz and world music scenes, Gonçalves recorded the duo album Outra Coisa: The Music of Moacir Santos (Anzic Records), which received a 2017 Grammy Award nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album, as well as a Premio da Música Brasileira (Brazilian Grammy) nomination for Best Instrumental Album. Gonçalves is also a longtime member of Trio Madeira Brasil, the Premio da Música Brasileira-winning group, with a celebrated catalog of recordings and a history of extensive worldwide touring.

Gonçalves has served as a seven-string guitarist, musical director, arranger and/or producer for the likes of João Bosco, Ney Matogrosso, Roberta Sá and Chico Buarque. His duo recordings with cavaquinho player Henrique Cazes have explored the legacies of the early 20th-century Brazilian music pioneers Pixinguinha and Garoto. His work with the group Rabo de Lagartixa has shed new light on the music of legendary Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. In addition, Gonçalves’ collaboration with Portuguese singer António Zambujo resulted in a Latin Grammy nomination for the platinum album Até Pensei que Fosse Minha.

As musical director for Brasileirinho, a documentary film about Choro music, Gonçalves helped draw international attention to this unique Brazilian idiom. Directed by Finland’s Mika Kaurismaki, the film premiered at the Berlinale Film Festival in 2005 and was screened in more than 25 countries.