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.