August 23rd, 2011 | 
Author: 
Olivier Campana, Emmanuel Cottalorda of Dog and Bone; courtesy of Claire de Filippis
The music season is winding down on the Cote d’Azur just as the days shorten and sun-glazed tourists check traffic conditions for the long drive home. There’s plenty of music all year of course but you have to actually go inside to hear it. No more dancing or dreaming under the stars. Bummer.
When I talk about summer music on the Riviera, I don’t just mean the famous festivals, the Nice Jazz Festival and the Jazz a Juan at Juan-les-Pins. There’s also the Nuits du Sud at Vence for “world” music and the first-rate classical concert series at the Cloister of the Franciscan monastery in Cimiez. A little further afield, there are the classical concerts at the Festival de Musique in Menton and, up a few price tiers, pop-rock concerts at the Monte Carlo Sporting Summer Festival. These are all paying concerts but here’s where you’ll hear your major stars: Wynton Marsalis at the Nice Jazz Festival; Santana at the Jazz a Juan; the Spanish Harlem Jazz Orchestra at the Nuits du Sud; Brigitte Engerer at the Cloister concerts; Leo Nucci in Menton, Tom Jones in Monte Carlo.
But you don’t need to come down to the coast to listen to music! Far from it. Each year regional and local authorities sponsor free concerts in dozens of villages in the hinterlands. Whether jazzy, lightly classical, French or vaguely exotic, the programming plays it safe. Still, it’s a good way to catch up with rising talents like the soprano Amy Blake singing in a fetching hilltop village like Clans. You can get the schedule at this site.
Other free concerts in the summer include the Fête de la Musique where musicians (mostly dreadful) bang away on every square or streetcorner, the weekly Prom’ Parties in Nice (so-so music) and the “off” concerts (fun) surrounding the jazz festivals of Nice and Juan-les-Pins.
Then there are more obscure concerts that are not so well advertised. The town of Sospel hosted a Baroquiales series which featured a group (Doulce Memoire) that combined Renaissance dance music with Spanish flamenco dancers. OK, it was odd, but definitely listenable and watchable.
My most fun free concert was this past Saturday at Breil-sur-Roya. For a rollicking hour and a half, Dog and Bone shook the trout loose from the lake with covers of greatest hits from the Stones to the Beatles to Motown. I almost didn’t go because I often find that French bands don’t quite “get” rock; the phrasing isn’t right, the rhythms aren’t precise, the words are learned phonetically. This band got it all right, helped no doubt by lead singer Olivier Campana‘s years with London bands. They played with such verve and musicality, I found myself wondering, “who are these guys”? and “why don’t they play longer”? (ever notice how you can’t get amateurs off the stage but the pros always leave you hungry?).
It turns out that they weren’t playing for free (the local Velo Club sponsored them) and they have quite a list of songwriting, recording and performance credits among them. Toulon-born Campana (performing as Olivier Chamber for some reason) has recorded with a number of bands over the years and now showcases his Springsteen-ish voice on his solo album, My Starlight (available on iTunes). Breil-born lead guitarist Emmanuel Cottalorda has written hit tunes for the Quebec singer, Marilou, and has worked with singer/songwriter Pascal Obispo. Joined by drummer Laurent Pomares and bassist Ronald Houweling, this newly-formed group shows real promise. Wonder what original material they may come up with. Anyway, I’m glad that my musical summer ended on such a high note.
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Grasse is of course known for its perfume factories that create the scents for some of France’s finest labels. But you don’t have to shell out for a bottle of perfume anymore! The town has launched “scent siestas” that allow you to stretch out on a lounge chair while a mist machine creates a cloud of scent around you. Nice! Over 6000 people have enjoyed the municipal aromatherapy since the program started at the beginning of the summer. And where can you enjoy these perfume clouds? Why, at the foot of the Perfume Museum, of course, as well as the Place 24 août behind the Cathedral and the rue Ossola (no lounge chairs however, as it’s a busy commercial street). The mists will be in place until the end of August but will be brought out again for local festivals.
Scrunched up against neighbouring Cannes, Le Cannet seems swallowed up by its glamorous sister. Now there’s a good reason for visitors to tear themselves away from La Croisette and head uphill to Le Cannet.
The very first museum devoted to the painter, Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947) has now opened its doors in Le Cannet with a smashing new exhibition, titled Bonnard et Le Cannet: Dans La Lumière de La Meéditerranée.
Gathered from such heavyweight museums as the Musee d’Orsay in Paris and the Metropolitan in New York, the exhibition includes such masterpieces as L’Atelier au Mimosa, Baignoir and L’Amandier.
Why Le Cannet? Bonnard fell in love with the colors in the south of France and lived in Le Cannet lived here between 1922 and 1947. High on the hills overlooking Cannes and the sea, he painted some of his most enchanting work.
Naturally, this exhibit concentrates on the works produced during this period as Bonnard captured the glory of the French Riviera in its kaleidoscope of color.
The exhibit will be on display until September 27.
Nice Port was lively, to say the least, on this Saturday night in August. The row of restaurants along the Quai des Deux Emmanuel had lined up their tables outside and made sure that a wall of sound surrounded their customers. At a certain point we realized that we were listening to three separate musical tracks coming from different restaurants even though our restaurant mercifully spared us background music. Thank you Paloma Cantine.
The attempt at some calm was not the only welcome touch at Paloma Cantine. I love traditional Niçois dishes like pissaladière, grilled sardines, bagna cauda but sometimes they get a little ho-hum. The modern decor here hinted at the fresh, contemporary touch the chef lent to these local staples. The sardines over polenta appetizer was amplified with delicate mixed greens and really first-rate cherry tomatoes in a savory olive oil based dressing. Nice. My second appetizer was a lovely pissaladière topped with rougets. The portions were not super-copious though, so don’t think you’ll get away with ordering an appetizer and calling it a meal.
See more on Nice restaurants.
The Spanish Harlem Jazz Orchestra
The Nuits du Sud yearly festival in Vence is one of my favorite summer music festivals. Emphasizing World Music, this relaxed festival is the place to come if you like ‘dancing in the streets’ as the tempos are nearly always pulsing. Last weekend, I was impressed with the Spanish Harlem Jazz Orchestra, a Latin jazz band that rocked the town. It was unfortunately preceded by Australian group, Blue King Brown, that took an inordinately long time to get into the groove. No matter. The wait for the headlining act was well worthwhile. The New York-based group reminded me of, well, Spanish Harlem, on a hot summer night.
Unlike the other festivals in the region, the Nice Jazz Festival and the Jazz a Juan at Juan-les-Pins, the Nuits du Sud takes place on the town square. Although roped off (sorry gate-crashers), the Place du Grand Jardin is ringed by an assortment of cafes, restaurants, bars and snack bars that gave a real choice of munchies during the concerts. Be aware that to enjoy a meal bordering the concerts, you must reserve in advance and count on spending about €30. But it’s perfectly possible to get a snack and a glass of wine and enjoy it in your seat. Oh, but get there early if you want one of the (non-reserved) seats as they tend to fill up.
The price of an evening is a reasonable €20 which makes it the cheapest of the French Riviera music festivals as well. And you can easily get tickets at the gate if you haven’t bought online.