Biography

Jean-Claude Fohrenbach (January 5, 1925, Paris - March 30, 2009, Villiers-le-Duc) was a French jazz saxophonist. Fohrenbach learned clarinet, piano, tenor saxophone, and violin as a child, concentrating on tenor sax once he began playing full-time in the mid-1940s. Early in his career he played with Eddie Bernard and Django Reinhardt before landing a regular gig at the Club Saint-Germain in Paris as the leader of a seven-piece ensemble from 1949 to 1951. After this residency he worked with Claude Bolling, Jack Diéval, Jonah Jones, and Martial Solal in the early and mid-1950s. In the 1960s he performed with Georges Arvanitas, Eric Dolphy, and Sonny Stitt, but quit performing between 1966-1972. Beginning in the late 1970s he worked as an educator, teaching jazz improvisation.He was the keyboard and saxophonist of the singer Jean Ferrat during the composer's career.