New York Jazz Weekend By Tony H.
The weekend jazz sessions at New York City’s Brasserie Julien, which take place every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from about 7:30 on into the evening, are hosted by resident tenor saxophonist Sedric Choukroun, a 43-year-old transplanted Parisian who grew up in Paris’ 19th arrondissement neighborhood of Buttes Chaumont, not far from Pere Lachaise cemetery.
Famous Saxophone And Guitar Players
Choukroun, who also plays soprano saxophone, flute, and clarinet, has an extensive repertoire, and regularly works accompanied by one of about 8 or 9 excellent guitarists, most of whom have recorded and toured internationally. The saxophonist, stylistically a hard-bop tenor player, plays with a somewhat rounded sound that recalls the famous tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, who in the 1950s and 1960s worked with both Art Blakey and Miles Davis.
Jazz composers like Duke Ellington
Like all expert bandleaders, Choukroun knows how to structure a set. He plays older popular standards like “Night and Day” by Cole Porter, “There Will Never Be Another You” and “The More I See You” by Harry Warren, “Stardust” and “Skylark” by Hoagy Carmichael, “Like Someone in Love” and “Here’s That Rainy Day” by Jimmy Van Heusen, “Stella By Starlight” by Victor Young, “If I Should Lose You” by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, “I’ll Remember April” by Gene DePaul, and other tunes by the famous composers of the Great American Songbook, along with classics by such jazz composers as Clifford Brown (“Shandu”), Tadd Dameron (“Lady Bird”), Don Redman (“Gee Baby Ain’t I Good to You”), Benny Golson (“Stablemates”), Sonny Rollins (“Doxy”), and Duke Ellington (“It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing” and “I’m Just a Lucky So-and-So”).
Braziliian, Latin and Funk Music
Choukroun also has roots in Brazilian music and more recent American funk. He favors several of Stevie Wonder’s hits including “My Cherie Amour,” “Superstition,” and “Sir Duke,” the Bill Withers hit “Just the Two of Us,” and “Mister Magic’ by Grover Washington, Jr. His Latin choices include such longstanding favorites of fans of Brazilian music as “Triste,” “Brasil,” “Girl From Ipanema,” and “Quiet Night and Quiet Stars.”
He has composed a number of original tunes himself which he sometimes plays.
Best saxophonists in New York City
Other saxophonists who occasionally substitute for Choukroun at Brasserie Julien include the veteran Charles Davis, who has worked around New York City on tenor and baritone saxophones since the 1950s; tenor saxophonist Bob Mover, a one-time member of trumpeter Chet Baker’s group; transplanted British tenorman Johnny Lippiett, Belgian tenorman John Snauwaert, and younger players Tim Armacost, Jed Levy, and Stan Killian, the latter a recent arrival to New York City. Visiting musicians are a familiar sight sitting in with Choukroun — bassists Santi di Briano and John Lang and guitarists Gene Bertoncini, Lee Metcalf, Ian McDonald, and Lou Volpe.
Gospel-Blues singer and French Singer
Choukroun’s choice of guitarists for his Brasserie Julien group is excellent: Roni Ben-Hur, Freddie Bryant, Jason Ennis, Ron Jackson, Ethan Mann, Adam Rafferty, Avi Rothbard, Brazilian native Bina Coquet, and occasionally Pete Smith, all imaginative, swinging accompanists and soloists with extensive repertoires who can follow Choukroun on whatever he starts to play. More recently Choukroun has brought in several lively singers including the dynamic soul-gospel singer Ayana Lowe, Janine Alondres, French chanteuse Floanne, and gospel-blues singer Renee Manning. An even more recent innovation is to include a harmonicist, usually William Gallison or Yvonnick Prene. With the large and entertaining repertoire and inventive soloists, the friendly atmosphere established by Choukroun himself, and the possibility of visitors dropping by to sit in, weekends at Brasserie Julien are always fun.
Page Created By Tony Outhwaite
