ParkinSong presents Anat Fort Trio at Ratner Museum

The Anat Fort Trio will offer a unique slant on contemporary jazz at the ParkinSong 4 Evening of Music on Monday at Ratner Museum in Bethesda. The band that divides its time between this country and Israel caught the attention of Washington lawyer Rob Litowitz when it was a guest of Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” program on National Public Radio.

Litowitz and his sisters founded ParkinSong in honor of their mother, Selma Litowitz, a victim of Parkinson’s disease. As their parents’ 50th anniversary approached, they conceived the idea of a musical performance with proceeds going toward Parkinson’s disease research.

A beloved English teacher at Lawrence High School in Lawrence Township, N.J., Selma Litowitz taught a popular course in mysteries and adventure stories. One of her favorite students was a neighbor known today as “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart. While hosting a previous ParkinSong concert, he called her “the only teacher who liked me and made me laugh.”

In addition to raising awareness and funds for research through the concerts, Rob Litowitz founded ParkinSong Records, an independent, nonprofit label. Its two highly praised releases are “38 Songs of Hope” featuring Bonnie Raitt, Crosby & Nash and Dave Alvin among other top artists, and Ana Egge’s “Out Past The Lights …,” a compilation CD to benefit the MusiCares Foundation.

“While thinking about the next benefit, I happened to turn on NPR’s ‘Piano Jazz’ and heard the Anat Fort Trio,” he says. “I was so impressed that I wondered if we could correlate a performance by them with experimentation being done in Israel to treat the disease.”

He and his wife set out for Israel and soon learned of professor Hagai Bergman’s research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to control Parkinson’s disease symptoms without using drugs. That firmed his decision to utilize the Israel connection and devote ParkinSong 4 to aiding Bergman’s work.

Fort was delighted to add the occasion to the trio’s 10th anniversary tour. Now a resident of New York, she studied classical piano in her native Israel but was drawn to improvisation from an early age. After completing her military obligations, she came to the United States to study jazz seriously. Today she divides her time between the two countries as a major player on the jazz scene.

“The connection between composing and performing cannot be described in words,” she says. “I have a strong desire to share with a live audience and I often improvise, which actually is composing at the moment. I’m affected by the room and they are affected, as well.

“For lack of a better classification, my music is jazz, but I have many other influences. It’s exciting not to have a specific kind of audience. Those who prefer classical music come up afterwards and say they liked it even though it wasn’t what they expected. Jazz fans are equally excited.”

After releasing her debut album, Fort received two artist-in-residence grants and numerous commissions to write for chamber, chorus and orchestra ensembles. In 2006, one was premiered at the Tel Aviv Opera House. The respected ECM Records produced her next CD, “A Long Story,” featuring clarinetist Perry Robinson, bassist Ed Schuller and drummer Paul Motian, artists she had long admired. ECM will next release the trio’s recording of Fort’s original compositions due out in early 2010.

From the outset, the trio personnel was a given. Although Fort and drummer Roland Schneider attended different schools, they had mutual friends, and she especially admired his European, more open style of playing. He suggested bassist Gary Wang to round out the trio. The first time the three got together, everything clicked.

“The ParkinSong benefit is an unusual opportunity to contribute to a worthy cause,” she says. “I hope the audience will enjoy our style and listen with open ears so we can connect well.”