Anat Cohen Quartetinho

Anat Cohen, renowned for her expressive virtuosity and infectious charisma, has been an international jazz star for two decades, with a long string of releases ranging from hard-swingers to lilting balladry, exploring a world of music along the way.

The perennial winner of “Clarinetist of the Year” titles from DownBeat, Jazz Times, and the Jazz Journalists Association, Fresh Air’s Terry Gross credits Cohen with “bringing the clarinet to the world” and The New York Times hails her a “Master.”

The clarinetist’s newest release is Bloom, the second album by her foursome Quartetinho (pronounced “quartet-CHIN-yo”).The band name is Portuguese for “little quartet,” although the players make a big, color-rich sound, each an ace on multiple instruments: Anat on various clarinets,Tal Mashiach on bass and guitar, Vitor Gonçalves on piano and accordion, and James Shippon on vibraphone and percussion.

The members of Quartetinho have an extensive collaborative history together, as each musician is also part of the GRAMMY-nominated Anat Cohen Tentet. “There’s just four of us, but the band’s sound feels bigger, richer than that,” Anat says. “We can jump from a tango to a Brazilian song to swinging on a Monk tune to playing a Cuban 6/8. We can go to a lot of places with the repertoire, which is really satisfying—and fun.”