Saxophonist/composer, hails from Paris where he graduated from the
famous Lili and Nadia Boulanger Conservatory of Music. He began his professional career playing salsa, gypsy jazz and chamber music and went on to lead an 18-piece big band. After moving to New York in 2000, Choukroun became saxophonist-in-residence at Marjorie Eliot’s
Sunday Parlor Entertainment concerts in Harlem’s historic Sugar Hill district. While Sedric can blow fire at a session, his original music is introspective and subtle.
INFLUENCES: My grandma Hilda playing dramatic tangos on the piano and singing Spanish and Arabic/Jewish traditionals. Bach, Debussy and Ravel. French “musette” from the ‘30s-40s. African, Brazilian, Caribbean musics. Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, Al Jarreau. Ellington, Basie, Ben Webster, Dizzy, Monk, Mingus, Charlie Parker, Coltrane, Rollins, Roland Kirk.
TEACHERS: A big thanks to Parisian saxophonists Bernard Duplaix, Sylvain Beuf and Francois Theberge.
My teachers are the musicians I play with. They teachme music and life, just like late trumpet player Charles McGee who put me in his big band, showed me how tobuild up a solo and play into a microphone,
but also where to find affordable suits and fresh vegetables. I KNEW I WANTED TO BE A MUSICIAN WHEN...
Still in the womb, I heard James Brown live. My mom said I was moving so much she got scared and left the
concert. I begged my parents to buy a real piano when I was 8. I switched to tenor saxophone when at age 17
I heard Coltrane’s recording of A Love Supreme.
DREAM BAND: My life in New York as a musician is an ongoing dream. I’ve been fortunate to play with the
same wonderful musicians for 5 years and develop amazing human and musical relationships...growing
together! Nevertheless, one of my dreams would be to play with Mr. Sonny Rollins, both on tenor, just the two of us.
