Jazz à Juan is an annual jazz festival in

Juan-les-Pins Juan-les-Pins (; ) is a town in the commune of Antibes in the Alpes-Maritimes department in Southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera, it is situated between Nice and Cannes, to the southwest of Nice Côte d'Azur Airport. Juan-les-Pins ...

Antibes Antibes (, , ; ) is a seaside city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in Southeastern France. It is located on the French Riviera between Cannes and Nice; its cape, the Cap d'Antibes, along with Cap Ferrat in Saint-Jean-Ca ...

, France. Beginning in 1960, it is one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe.

History

Jazz à Juan began in 1960 as the "Festival Européen de Jazz". The first festival included musicians from Austria, Belgium,

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. The festival also included a tournament to find the best jazz musicians in Europe who would form a band. Performances from the first festival were recorded by the RTF (now

France Inter France Inter () is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is the successor to Paris Inter, later known as France I, and created as a merger of the France I and France II networks, first as RTF Inter in October 1963, then ren ...

), and live broadcasts were scheduled each evening. Later festivals were broadcast on radio and television. During the 1960s, each year the festival would include headline acts from the USA, such as Charlie Mingus in 1960, Ray Charles and Count Basie in 1961, Fats Domino and Dizzy Gillespie in 1962, and Sarah Vaughan and Miles Davis in 1963. In 1966 Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington performed together on stage. The festival relocated to

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Nice was chosen because they had previously hosted a jazz festival in 1947, and the festival remained in Nice for two years, before it returned to Antibes again. In 1974, the Nice Jazz Festival officially began and both festivals have continued separately since. The festival later changed its name to Jazz à Juan, though it was more commonly referred to as The Antibes Festival or The Antibes Jazz Festival in press. Hand impression juan les pins

Along the Boulevard Edouard Baudoin, which runs behind the seaside stage that hosts the annual jazz festival, ceramic tiles containing handprints of more than 50 musicians who have played at the festival dot the sidewalk. Among those enshrined on the boulevard are

Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and ...

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Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American Swing music, swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948� ...

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

Dee Dee Bridgewater Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National ...

, Eddy Louiss,

Elvin Jones Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such albums as ''My Fa ...

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Gary Peacock Gary George Peacock (May 12, 1935September 4, 2020) was an American jazz double bassist. He recorded a dozen albums under his own name, and also performed and recorded with major jazz figures such as avant garde saxophonist Albert Ayler, piani ...

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the ...

Hank Jones Henry Jones Jr. (July 31, 1918 – May 16, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians have described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts h ...

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Joshua Redman Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman (1931–2006). Life and career Joshua Redman was born in Berkeley, California, to jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman a ...

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Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

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Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

, Ravi Coltrane,

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

Richard Galliano Richard Galliano (born 12 December 1950, Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes) is a French accordionist of Italian heritage. Allmusic biography/ref> Biography He was drawn to music at an early age, starting with the accordion at 4, influenced by his father ...

Roy Haynes Roy Owen Haynes (March 13, 1925 – November 12, 2024) was an American jazz drummer. In the 1950s, he was given the nickname "Snap Crackle" for his distinctive snare drum sound and musical vocabulary. He is among the most recorded drummers in ja ...

Shirley Horn Shirley Valerie Horn (May 1, 1934 – October 20, 2005) was an American jazz singer and pianist. She collaborated with many jazz musicians including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and oth ...

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...

Stéphane Grappelli Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. ...

, Steve Grossman, and

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young ...

. As part of the 61st Jazz à Juan Festival in 2022,

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Louisiana, became a sister city to Antibes. Some notable performers have included Ray Charles, Count Basie,

Kenny Ball Kenneth Daniel Ball (22 May 1930Larkin C., ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music''. (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), p. 29; ) – 7 March 2013) was an English jazz musician, best known as the bandleader, lead trumpet player and vocalist in Kenny Ball and ...

Les McCann Leslie Coleman McCann (September 23, 1935 – December 29, 2023) was an American jazz pianist and vocalist. He is known for his innovations in soul jazz and his Swiss Movement, 1969 recording of the protest song "Compared to What". His music ha ...

, Fats Domino, Tubby Hayes, Dizzy Gillespie, Claude Luter, Jacques Denjean, Jimmy Smith, Pharoah Sanders, and Nina Simone.

Discography

Several albums have been released from recordings made at the festival. *

Archie Shepp Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz. Biography Early life Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...

, '' Archie Shepp and the Full Moon Ensemble'' (1971) *

Bobby Hutcherson Robert Hutcherson (January 27, 1941 – August 15, 2016) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note Records, Blue Note album ''Components (album), Components'', is one of his best-known composi ...

, ''Blow Up'' (1990) * Charles Lloyd, '' The Flowering'' (1971) *

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of ...

, '' Mingus at Antibes'' (1974) *

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

, ''Dizzy on the French Riviera'' (1962) * Duke Ellington, '' Soul Call'' (1967) * Ella Fitzgerald, '' Ella at Juan-Les-Pins'' (1964) * Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington, ''

Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur ''Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur'' is a 1967 live album by Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by the big band of Duke Ellington. It was recorded live at the Jazz à Juan festival at Juan-les-Pins, on the French Riviera, between June 26 and July 29 ...

'' (1967) * John Coltrane, '' Live in Antibes'' (1988), ''Live in Paris'' (1974) * Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio, ''

Up for It ''Up for It'' is a live album by Keith Jarrett, Keith Jarrett's "Standards Trio," featuring Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette. It was recorded at the Jazz à Juan festival in Juan-les-Pins, France, on July 16, 2002 and released by ECM Records in Ma ...

'' (2003) *

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

, ''

Miles Davis in Europe ''Miles Davis in Europe'' is a live album by Miles Davis, released in 1964. It was the first full album by the first incarnation of the "Miles Davis Quintet#Second Great Quintet .281964.E2.80.9368.29, Second Quintet" featuring George Coleman, He ...

'' ''(1964)'', '' 1969 Miles: Festiva de Juan Pins'' (1993), '' Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2'' (2013)

References

External links

* – official site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jazz a Juan Jazz festivals in France Antibes