Banana Zook – André Condouant, 1987

Alongside his (fantastic) jazz career, guitarist André Condouant has also retained a love of zouk. He can be found arranging on numerous albums, such as with Tanya St-Val, Luc Léandry, Klod Fostin and Eddy la Viny. And then he took the plunge and produced one of his own albums, under the strange name of Banana Zook. With two O’s. Right. It’s all classic zouk, very well done and with no major surprises. Nothing more to it than that. Are you sure? Well, not quite… Because the tracks on the album are peppered with these little marvels of jazz guitar choruses, appearing out of nowhere without warning, cut to the millimetre and Bensonian to perfection, just like ‘Monsieur’ Condouant used to do so well. And behind André, Frédéric Caracas, Willy Salzedo, Allen Hoist, Tony Lodin… So, zouk, tonight! Or preferentially, zook!