Julie Sax

  Julie Sussman Perez, a.k.a. "Julie Sax," started her musical journey on the flute at the age of 9, playing classical and orchestral music through elementary, junior high, and high school. And yes, she *did* play the flute in band camp... (This one time...) In her early years playing sax she could be found frequenting downtown NYC clubs such as Dan Lynch, Nightingales, Arturo's and 55 Grand, sitting in at every opportunity to hone her blues and jazz chops. Her first professional music stint was as a multi-wind player on cruise ships in 1988, on the Carnival and Norwegian lines. She spent one year in the Caribbean playing big band music, jazz, and accompanying various entertainers on the ships, while simultaneously working on a fabulous tan. Then, deciding to further develop her music education, she attended Berklee College of Music in Boston on a partial scholarship. While at Berklee she studied jazz performance and continued to play all types of professional music jobs, including jazz, blues, rock, and pop music. During her first year at Berklee, Julie was called to perform with a group that played merengue, (Dominican dance music). She was drawn to this music as if by magnetic force, and fell in love with not only the music but the Dominican culture and its people. She continued to play in merengue groups as well as other types of music groups throughout the rest of her time in Boston, but knew she needed to get back to New York to play more merengue! In 1993 she moved to New York, and has been playing with the biggest names in the Dominican music scene ever since. (Johnny Ventura, Milly Quezada, Joseito Mateo, Ramon Orlando, Rubby Perez, and Alex Bueno are just some of the many artists she has played with). She has performed with merengue orchestras all over mainland U.S., Puerto Rico, and Dominican Republic. Additionally, Julie has been invited on several occasions to perform with singers of jazz and the Great American Songbook such as Dolores Petersen, Greg Marx, Dolores Scozzesi, Barbara Porteus, and Kurt Reichenbach, in Los Angeles and New York. She now speaks fluent Spanish (albeit with a distinct Dominican accent) and considers herself extremely well-rounded musically. Most recently she has added rock music to her repertoire, joining forces with several rockers in the tri-state area, including The Bada Bing Boys with Vinny Pastore, and Boccigalupe & The Badboys.