ANAT COHEN & KENDRICK SCOTT SHOW THEIR MELLOW SIDE AT THE PARADISE JAZZ SERIES

Clarinetist Anat Cohen

I’m not sure if the Israeli native and jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen is considered a household name in jazz circles. If my opinion is worth anything, I dare to assert Cohen deserves to be one. Pressed for proof why she’s deserving, I’d point to her body of recordings, and most recently her debut set at Detroit’s Paradise Jazz Series Friday evening at Orchestra Hall. Cohen shared a double bill with drummer Kendrick Scott. During her hour-plus set, Cohen redefined what’s understood and often belittled by jazz purist as smooth jazz. I’ve heard Cohen on two other occasions. Some years ago, at the Detroit Groove Society’s house concert series, and shortly after that as a headliner at the Detroit Jazz Festival. Cohen is a swinger by nature, and her chops are on par with the greats of the clarinet Pee Wee Russell and Barney Birgard. Friday evening Cohen didn’t swing as much as she’s capable of swinging. Her set was on the mellow side and in spots even melancholic. Cohen had a terrific group pianist Gadi Lehavi, bassist Tal Mashiach, and drummer Ferenc Nemeth. What Cohen offered was a generous helping of prime choice virtuosity, opening her set with “Happy Song,” which has become her anthem, then segueing nicely into “Song Without Words.” She displayed some of her swing ability on “Waltz for Alice” and the set's closer “Jitterbug Waltz.” The concert wasn’t the best context I’ve seen Cohen. Honestly, I readied myself before the concert for some unadulterated swing, but I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Cohen’s mellow side.

Drummer Kendrick Scott

The jazz drummer Kendrick Scott followed Cohen, and the concert was also his first set as a bandleader at the Paradise Jazz Series. The great jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard has called Scott the heir apparent to the great drummers of the past Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, and Art Blakey. Hearing that comparison, I wondered if Blanchard was bias given Scott is a former student of his, and Scott is a fixture in Blanchard’s award-winning band. Anyway, Scott is a damn fine jazz drummer, and his set was similarly mellow and smooth as Cohen’s set. Scott also had a wonderful group named Oracle guitarist Mike Moreno, pianist Taylor Eigsti, bassist Harish Raghavan, and saxophonist Walter Smith III. The band has been together a long time. And like longstanding jazz bands, the members were able to delve into each other's musical psyches at will. Scott gave the audience a taste of his new project “A Wall Becomes a Bridge,” due out in early April.  Scott opened with the title cut, and guided the band through amazing tunes such as “Apollo” and “Voices.” The pianist Taylor Eigsti shouldered most of the workload and put together a string of bold solos. Surprisingly Scott only soloed once. Although I was hard pressed to hear the Jones, Williams, and Blakey connection, I awoke the next morning with Scott’s licks ringing inside my head, and I found myself humming some of his tunes throughout the day. Honestly, Cohen’s and Scott’s sets weren’t the most exciting I’ve heard at the Paradise Jazz Series, but it was a lot of damn good mellow jazz presented by two bandleaders deserving of household status.