Archive for the ‘Nice Jazz Festival’ Category
July 13th, 2011 | 
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Wynton Marsalis & Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
It’s been a swinging five days at the Nice Jazz Festival concluding last night with a ravishing set by Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Despite Marsalis’ somewhat catty comment on Facebook that he played “the jazz night” and ” it’s good to see some actual jazz musicians at a jazz festival” (meaning preceding artists Ahmad Jamal and Roy Hargrove), there were other bona fide jazz musicians on other nights. Monday night’s program featured Avishai Cohen and “Trombone”" Shorty; Sunday night boasted Martial Solal, Stefano Bollani and Michel Portal; Saturday had bluesman Joe-Louis Walker. I suspect that Marsalis does not accept the jazz fusion style of Mike Stern and Didier Lockwood or John McLaughlin on the opening night. I don’t much care for it either but I think it does deserve the jazz label.
If it’s any consolation to Marsalis and other jazz purists, “jazz night” was absolutely jam-packed. It was, by far, the best attended night of the festival. Clearly having funkster Maceo Parker on the bill helped boost attendance but I suspect that it was Marsalis, Ahmad Jamal and Roy Hargrove who really put the buns in the seats–and on the ground and squeezed into every available corner of the Theatre de Verdure. In fact the milling crowds with the kids, cellphones, beer runs and chatter made it difficult to concentrate on the music.
Maceo Parker "battled" Wynton Marsalis
Marsalis’ other complaint that ” loud non- jazz blaring from the main stage . . . is now bleeding into every song we play.” refers to a serious problem with the festival’s two stage format. The Theatre de Verdure presents musicians who, by and large, eschew heavy amplification while the main stage, Theatre Masséna, lets bands like Seal and Maceo Parker crank up the amps. Actually, the problem was less severe with Marsalis’ big band sound. He should have been there for Avishai Cohen’s trio which was totally squashed by Seal.
To the problem of overcrowding, I say raise the ticket price. In festivals past, nights with big names simply cost more. It’s a wonderful gift to have Ahmad Jamal, Roy Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis and Maceo Parker for only €35 but last year you would have paid €50 and had some physical and mental space to appreciate the music.
Resolving the Battle of the Bands is trickier. You could turn down the amplification on the main stage but that would diminish the pleasure of people who come for a throbbing beat. And, the bands were not over-amped to begin with. A better solution might lie in the programming. Try not to pit a trio in the Theatre de Verdure against dueling electric guitars in the Theatre Masséna.
Come to think of it, if the Nice Jazz Festival only programmed the classic jazz that Marsalis prefers both problems would be solved! The crowds would be thinner as the number of true jazz afficionados is fewer and jazz lovers in both venues could more fully enter into the music without “music bleed”. Maybe the legendary jazzman has a point.
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Michel Portal: Wikipedia Commons
After years of complaints by residents of the Cimiez neighbourhood, the Nice Jazz Festival packed its stages and moved to the much more centrally located Jardins Albert 1er. There’s no question that the site is easier to access, especially by visitors. Naturally, parking is a nightmare but cyclists and walkers will have no problem getting to the venue from anywhere in downtown Nice. For those coming from further afield, there’s always the Noctambus to return you to your digs when the festival ends around midnight.
After several years of toying around with pop, R & B, soul and rock, the festival’s new shortened schedule puts the emphasis squarely on jazz in all its permutations from electro to blues to classic jazz. Last night, Michel Portal delivered a soaring performance of cuts from his new CD, Bailador, in the festival’s Teatre Verdure venue. Of the two venues, this is the one with seating– essential in order to relax and fully enter the music. Unfortunately, the mood was occasionally interrupted by the sounds drifting over from the other venue, the Scene Matisse.
The “festival seating” in the Scene Matisse was the only disappointment in this revamped Jazz Festival. The open field of Cimiez dotted by olive trees provided a certain romantic ambience. You could stand in a crowd in front of the stage or spread out a blanket in the field and gaze at the stars while listening to the music. Here, the only choice was to remain standing, mostly on concrete, for the duration of the concert. That’s fine for a pulsing rock concert that impels dancing, but it’s unnecessarily tiring for a jazz concert.
The solution is simple: install chairs!
For the first time the Nice Jazz Festival will be held in the center of Nice at the Jardin Albert 1er. Following is the program:
Friday July 8
Scène Masséna
Hommage to Miles Davis
19h30 KIND OF BLUE REVISITED : Avec Alex Tassel, Rick Margitza, Pierrick Pédron, Franck Avitabile, Diego Imbert, Julien Charlet
20h15 MIKE STERN & DIDIER LOCKWOOD
22h JOHN MC LAUGHLIN & the 4th Dimension
Scène Théâtre de Verdure
Greatest Jazz Vocal Standards
19h30 NICE JAZZ ORCHESTRA
20h ROBERTA GAMBARINI
21h15 MICHEL LEGRAND
Saturday July 9
Scène Masséna
Soirée world
19h30 ANTHONY JOSEPH AND THE SPASM BAND
20h30 ASA
22h CARLINHOS BROWN
Scène Théâtre de Verdure
Blues Night
19h30 Homemade Jamz Blues Band
20h15 JEAN-JACQUES MILTEAU
21h45 JOE-LOUIS WALKER
Sunday July 10
Scène Masséna
Nu Jazz & Electro
19h30 NO JAZZ
20h15 NILS PETTER MOLVAER
21h45 MORCHEEBA
Scène Théâtre de Verdure
Jazz made in France
19h30 DOMINIQUE FILLON
20h30 MARTIAL SOLAL & STEFANO BOLLANI
21h45 MICHEL PORTAL BAILADOR
Monday July 11
Scène Masséna
Sweet Soul Music
19h30 CHARLES BRADLEY 20h30 MACY GRAY (to be confirmed)
22h SEAL
Scène Théâtre de Verdure
New Generation
19h30 Vainqueur du tremplin NJF
20h15 TROMBONE SHORTY
21h30 AVISHAI COHEN
Tuesday July 12
Scène Masséna
Soul & Funk
19h30 ALOE BLACC
20h30 KEZIAH JONES
22h MACEO PARKER
Scène Théâtre de Verdure
Masters of Jazz
19h30 ROY HARGROVE Quintet
20h30 AHMAD JAMAL
22h00 WYNTON MARSALIS & Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
For ticketing see the Nice Jazz Festival website.
The schedule for the year’s Nice Jazz Festival has been announced and it’s the best I can remember, at least for true lovers of jazz. Check this out:
Saturday 17 July :
DIEGO EL CIGALA, ORNETTE COLEMAN, SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS, EARTH, WIND & FIRE, TINEKE POSTMA QUARTET
Sunday 18 July :
NIKKI YANOFSKY, RICHARD BONA BAND, DAVE HOLLAND & PEPE HABICHUELA FLAMENCO PROJECT, DR JOHN, GORAN BREGOVIC ET L’ORCHESTRE DES MARIAGES ET DES ENTERREMENTS, FLY “MARK TURNER / JEFF BALLARD / LARRY GRENADIER”
Monday 19 July :
GURRUMUL, ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE JAZZ “AROUND ROBERT WYATT” avec ERIK TRUFFAZ, DWEEZIL ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA, AL JARREAU, JULIAN LAGE
Tuesday 20 July :
IMELDA MAY, JIMMIE VAUGHAN, ROBERT CRAY, BUDDY GUY, JAMES HUNTER
Wednesday 21 July :
BELA FLECK AND EDGAR MEYER WITH ZAKIR HUSSAIN, BOJAN Z TETRABAND, THE STANLEY CLARKE BAND WITH HIROMI, HERBIE HANCOCK, ERIC LEGNINI TRIO
Thursday 22 July :
TIGRAN HAMASYAN – ARATTA REBIRTH QUINTET “RED HAIL”, CHICK COREA, KENNY GARRETT, CHRISTIAN McBRIDE & ROY HAYNES : THE FREEDOM BAND, FICTION PLANE, LAURENT GARNIER + GUESTS, FACING EAST : THE MUSIC OF JOHN COLTRANE BY JOSE JAMES
Friday 23 July :
ASAF AVIDAN & THE MOJOS, DJANGO 100, HINDI ZAHRA, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, RODRIGO Y GABRIELA, CHRIS POTTER UNDERGROUND
Saturday 24 July:
CLIFTON ANDERSON, ANDRE CECCARELLI – LE COQ ET LA PENDULE – HOMMAGE A CLAUDE NOUGARO, MAURANNE CHANTE NOUGARO, PATH METHENY GROUP – THE SONGBOOK TOUR AVEC LYLE MAYS, STEVE ROBDY & ANTONIO SANCHEZ- , PINK MARTINI, JEAN MARC JAFET QUINTET
Tags: They’re not making it easy to visit the Nice Jazz Festival this year. Gerard Druot Productions is the organizer of the festival, possibly for the last time. Official figures are not yet in but the festival does not appear to be a resounding success. One reason for the sparse crowds we witnessed last night might be due to GDP’s cavalier and inexplicable failure to explain the most basic question: how do you get there? The Nice Jazz Festival website blithely notes two out of several public buses to the site without bothering to mention that they stop running hours before the festival’s closing notes sound around midnight. The existence of the usual free shuttle from Place Massena to the festival is apparently a closely guarded secret. The chosen few that somehow found out about it were undoubtedly pleased to avoid the daunting prospect of finding a parking space around the festival.
In fact it was a lot easier than we thought to find parking since attendance was obviously far below previous years. Part of the problem is undoubtedly the weak economy but that can’t be the entire explanation. After all, U2 sold out last week even with a bottom ticket price of €87.50. Compared to that, €29 is a bargain especially since it included five acts–Lisa Ekdahl, McCoy Tyner, Jake Shimabukuro, Carla Bley and James Taylor–that are fairly well-known.
Jazz is less of a draw than rock; there’s no news there. Also the Arenes de Cimiez was closed for renovation. Making music within an open-air theatre of ancient Roman stones seemed to have inspired the long list of jazz greats that played in the Arenes. The improvised Matisse theatre just didn’t cut it as an alternative, especially since the sets were so short. McCoy Tyner and his trio with Bill Frisell were just getting warmed up when it was time to wrap up after an hour.
All the artists gave it their best, especially a vibrant James Taylor at the end, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the rumors come true and the festival heads to the Jardins Albert 1 in central Nice next year.