Show # 150 3-29-11 Holly Hofmann

Is the flute a jazz instrument? Can a female flutist play jazz with the boys? When Holly Hofmann began her career most people – especially male jazz musicians – said an emphatic “no” to both questions. And they backed up their opinion with cruelty and rejection. But the talented Holly had been playing flute since she was six years old, she spent every night after dinner learning jazz licks from her jazz guitarist father. And Holly’s family motto is we aren’t quitters, so Holly persevered, and along the way garnered support from some wonderful people including legendary bass player Ray Brown, with whom she toured and recorded. Listen to her inspiring story and some wonderful music from her CD “Live at Birdland.”

3-15-11 Anat Cohen

Like her two brothers Anat Cohen is a jazz musician – she plays clarinet and saxophone. Music was always a part of her family life and her parents, who spent years chauffeuring their three children back and forth to lessons and concerts, never suggested that they find another way to spend their lives. For Anat music is not simply her work, it “is never not a part of my life.” When you watch and listen to Anat play you can feel her joy, see that the music inhabits her body – she is one with it. And not only the music she is playing but the music others are playing around her. Although she admits that making a life with music can be challenging – “the source of her pleasure and her misery,” – it is worth whatever sacrifice she makes for it – and we, as her audience, are grateful that she does. Listen to cuts from Anat’s CD “Notes From The Village.”