Walk down the street by Brittany’s Lounge on any given Wednesday or Friday night and you’ll likely hear strains of jazz music floating by. The source of those lively solos is Edmonton artist PJ Perry, a bebop saxophonist who has played with a famous cast of musicians, from the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra to famed pianist and former senator Tommy Banks.
Perry recently returned to Edmonton after touring the U.S. and Japan with the Broadway musical, Come Fly Away. “It was very exciting,” says Perry, who has won Juno awards for both his solo work and his collaborations with other artists.
However, once he finished the tour, Perry decided he wanted to stay at home with his family in Edmonton. The only problem was, he lacked a place to play saxophone on a regular basis. “My music is very specialized. I’m a hardcore bebop saxophone player. It’s not easy to find places to do what I want to do,” says Perry, who now performs with a bass player and a drummer.
He found a solution at Brittany’s Lounge, even though it isn’t branded as a jazz club. Perry approached Brittany Halford, owner of Brittany’s, one night after he finished a performance with the ESO at the Winspear Centre, which is located near the lounge.
“What’s important to me about Brittany’s is that I have a place where I’m able to play the kind of music that I’ve always wanted to play,” says Perry. “I don’t have to play quietly. I don’t have to play commercially-based jazz. I have a tendency to always want to please the audience that I’m playing for. In Brittany’s, I’m given the opportunity to stretch out. It’s turned out to be the find of a lifetime.”