I know Ms Cohen’s playing, on CD and live, extremely well. My best guess for explaining what you describe having heard…is the “arrangements” were cobbled together by Ms. Cohen and ger brother either on the bandstand… or moments before getting there. Her brother is not part of her band…so perhaps he was there to please some promoter/fan (who knows?).

I have seen Ms. Cohen play with her quartet at least a dozen times (Newport, North Sea, Montreal, the Village Vanguard, elsewhere) …and have always found her arrangements exquisitely musically “coherent”. In fact, directly oposite to your experience, over the years, I have read several critics (in the major jazz media) asserting she “sticks too much to the melody” and should “stretch further” (which she is unfailingly presumed able to do) when she solos [this was a common slight against her "Poetica" CD ...which, to me, is the most beautiful CDs of it's "kind" (whatever that is) since Jim Hall's "Concierto"].

Hmmm…a thought – was “Washington Square Park” one of the pieces you heard her perform? It’s a very long piece with several distinct “sections” or “movements” (meant to be an impressionistic take on the experience of walking through a small park where different groups of musicans have gathered and are playing). This would explain some of what I read into your comments.

But …it seems you’re suggesting every tune lacked the “kind” (amount? degree? sort ? balance?) of thematic/harmonic “continuity” you enjoy. I don’t know your “taste”… so I have no “frame of reference” or “context” within which to place your comments. [P.S. this is why, unlike you, I would not be be willing to make negative comments... even accompanied by several positive ones...about an artist, in a public forum (like the Web). I would be very concerned someone might foolishly imagine my comments to be at all "objective" (because of the presence of comparisons and same such) or "definitive"... which they most assuredly are not ....and I would have then needlessly (as if there ever was a need) harmed that artist. I'll leave that to the vast majority of "jazz critics" to waste their days on].

Anyway…I don’t know if you have ever listened to any of Ms. Cohen’s CDs…especially her most recent one (“Notes From The Village”) …but I suspect (I don’t know why…exactly) you would like them more than what you heard. Perhaps you might also check out her work with the Choro Ensemble, Gilfema+2, Waverly Seven, or Diva. These are all much more “structured” environments and her playing fully reflects as much.

For me, Anat Cohen is one of the most extraordinarily skilled AND soulful jazz (and beyond) musicians around… and hearing/watching her perform live is always a joy.

Opinions are like hearts…most everybody has one. A very good thing.

Thanks for your post.