The very first international jazz festival celebrates its 70th birthday in the city that conceived it.
Jazz was born in New Orleans but its first festival was in Nice!
February 1948 and the Carnival draws to a close; the Opera House and Municipal Casino (then on Place Masséna) host Louis Armstrong, Stéphane Grappelli, Claude Luter and Django Reinhardt, plus Suzy Delair and Yves Montand for a memorable closing night at the Hôtel Negresco. Seventy years later, Nice presents an anniversary festival with the fabulous Gregory Porter as patron and a whole slew of artistes (36 bands) and institutions (Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Théâtre Lino Ventura, Opéra, etc.). For its simultaneous six performances a night on two stages, artistic director Sébastien Vidal has devised a programme that sketches "the contours of a century-old music that's totally of today". The "purists" are represented by Joshua Redman, Laurent de Wilde, Randy Weston and Henry Butler; the "followers" by Kyle Eastwood, Thomas Dutronc and Aloe Blacc; the "agitators" by Massive Attack, Young Fathers and young French rapper Orelsan, not to mention some "turbulent young upstarts". Musée Masséna completes the picture from 7 July to 15 October with Jazzin’Nice, an exhibition retracing the event's high points along with those of a style of music that 100 years on still intrigues as much as ever.
Du 16 au 21 juillet
Théâtre de Verdure et place Masséna.
Programme sur nicejazzfestival.frnicejazz festival.fr
Par Mireille Sartore
Côteweb 2021, création de site Internet sur Nice