Triple Helix

The Israeli-born saxophonist and clarinet virtuoso has become a prominent figure on the New York scene since arriving from Tel Aviv in 1999. With Triple Helix, her ninth as a leader, Cohen explores some heady new territory, including a three-movement concerto written for her tentet by longtime collaborator and former high school pal Oded Lev-Ari. Patterned after George Gershwin's ''Rhapsody in Blue,'' this jazz-meets-the-classics work ranges from solo clarinet to abstraction impressionism, rock bombast and free jazz with forays into Middle Eastern music and lush romanticism. And through it all, Cohen's commanding clarinet bursts forth with incredible dexterity and bristles with energy and invention. Elsewhere on Triple Helix, Cohen's tentet turns in a faithful take on Astor Piazzolla s stirring tango ''Milonga Del Angel'' and the leader rekindles her love of Brazilian music on her alluring ''Choro Pra Miri'' and her spirited samba, ''Footsteps & Smiles.'' She reserves her most dramatic playing for the Mexican folk song ''La Llorona,'' which Lev-Ari surrounds with lush, Gil Evans-inspired horn voicings. The ace arranger also makes an intriguing, oddball choice in tackling Gene Roland s eerily dissonant ''Lonesome Train,'' a staple of the Stan Kenton Orchestra of the early 1950s, which has Cohen's clarinet substituting for singer Kay Brown and trombonist Nick Finzer contributing a rather subversive solo.