Anat Cohen & Trio Brasileiro - Rosa Dos Ventos review: clear-toned, liquid playing, joyous groove

Rosa Dos Ventos
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Artist: Anat Cohen
Genre: Jazz
Label: Anzic Records

Rosa Dos Ventos – Portuguese for "weather vane" – is one of two simultaneous releases on the Anzic label from Anat Cohen, documenting the Isreali-born, New York-resident clarinetist's long-standing love affair with Brazil and its music. (The other, Outra Coisa, is an effervescent duo with guitarist Marcello Goncalves, examining the music of Brazilian composer Moacir Santos.)

For this four-way collaboration, Cohen spent an intensive week with the much-admired Trio Brasileiro exploring choro, Brazil's informal "corner bar" tradition which mixes European dance forms with South American rhythms.

The leader’s clear-toned, liquid playing, forged in the crucibles of jazz and klezmer, finds a perfect foil in the joyous grooves and intricate harmonies of the trio’s guitar, mandolin and percussion.

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Cormac Larkin

Cormac Larkin

Cormac Larkin, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a musician, writer and director