Jazz and Nice: a story of feeling…

Lionel Hampton

Dizzy Gillespie

The 1948 Nice Jazz Festival

During and after the Second World War, exchanges between Europe and the United States become more frequent. Between February 22nd and 28th 1948, events become milestones in the history of the spread of Jazz in France: the first Jazz Festival in the world is held in Nice and the French discover bop  music.

On February 28th, the Pleyel auditorium hosts the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra for a concert that reveals bop  music to Parisians and the French. The concert, held by Charles Delaunay unleashes either a new passion or repulsion of audiences. During this period, probably the most fertile for jazz music, two style currents oppose the "old guard", defending old style jazz, to "modern" partisans of an evolutive jazz. It is in this context that, after the Nice Carnival and under the artistic direction of Hugues Panassié, president Hot club de France, is held the first international jazz festival. The absence of representatives of the new bop  trend in the program reveals the Hot Club’s preference for the “old style” jazz and a gap that will keep on widening. 

The Nice jazz festival began in the very elegant Nice Opera, when it opened its doors to concerts partly broadcast on the radio. Meanwhile, in the grand hall, under the glass roof of the City Casino, in Belle Epoque architecture of Place Masséna, dances perpetuate the popular traditions of the origins of jazz. Louis Armstrong, at the apex of his artistic maturity, captures the love of audiences. “The Night of Nice" closing gala at the Négresco with Stéphane Grapelli and Django Reinhardt (Hot club de France quintet) in attendance, ends at dawn with a “torrid jam session ”.

With the festival, Nice becomes a pioneer of a type of diffusion and marketing of jazz that brings it beyond a restricted circle of connoisseurs. But the event is only repeated in Nice after a 23-year hiatus. In 1971, Nice takes over for Antibes (who suspended its festival for two years) at the Théâtre de Verdure and in the Gardens of the Albert 1er Square before really taking off in 1974. 

The program shows the spirit of open-mindedness and quality of the festival. In 1972, it brings bop  masters like Dizzy Gillespie (who will become a fixture of the Nice festival), Max Roach, the indefinable Charlie Mingus, young Herbie Hancock… and many other big names of jazz. Style conflicts have almost faded. 

B.B. King Orchestra on stage

B.B. King

The Great Jazz Parade in Cimiez

In 1974, thanks to an initiative by the Action culturelle of the City of Nice and of a former professional musician, Georges Wein, a great Jazz party is held. The festival then becomes the Great Jazz Parade:“The Parade is over thirty orchestras, two hundred and fifty musicians (at least a third are American music stars) playing on three outdoor stages, twenty-one daily hours of music for over a weak, a colossal million franc budget, parades and activities in the streets, an unusual jam format and constant tributes to the greatest jazz musicians. All in all, a huge popular party, a “living Afro-American music museum”, “Louisiana on the French Riviera” where jazz is enjoyed by families between the olive trees and the socca vendors.” (J. Duclos-Arkilovitch 1997).

In 1974, thanks to an initiative by the Action culturelle of the City of Nice and of a former professional musician, Georges Wein, a great Jazz party is held. The festival then becomes the Great Jazz Parade:“The Parade is over thirty orchestras, two hundred and fifty musicians (at least a third are American music stars) playing on three outdoor stages, twenty-one daily hours of music for over a weak, a colossal million franc budget, parades and activities in the streets, an unusual jam format and constant tributes to the greatest jazz musicians. All in all, a huge popular party, a “living Afro-American music museum”, “Louisiana on the French Riviera” where jazz is enjoyed by families between the olive trees and the socca vendors.” (J. Duclos-Arkilovitch 1997).

This program brings unusual success to the jazz festival. Crowds take the antique Cimiez auditorium for what G. Rouy has called, in Jazz Mag, a “euphoric celebration”. Part of the arches and tiered benches of the auditorium remains today. 

The Great Parade had started under the theme of tradition and was meant to celebrate old style and classic jazz “strictly defending and using 4/4 beat swing , the most precious jazz attribute” (George Wein). But it diversifies its program to include blues, rhythm and blues, neo bop, fusion, Latin jazz …

The eclectic tastes of organizers encourages the emergence of different generations of musicians and audiences can listen to as many “jazz veterans” and even old bluesmen as young emerging musicians. “Arshie Sheep takes the stage with Lionel Hampton or Sarah Vaughan, while Dizzy’ trumpet goes from one solo to the other before getting on stage.” (Duclos-Arkilovitch 1997).

With no interruption since 1974, music spreads from the original venue to reach even more widely through parades and concerts in the streets. The popular ambiance of the activities inspired by afro-American origins and by Nice jazz traditions, as well as the blend of old and new music styles, have always given the Nice jazz festival its unique character. 

Ray Charles

Muddy Waters

New paths

Today, jazz has become part of the Nice identity, thanks to the Great Parade. But far from becoming a cliché, it has become an integral and deep part of local culture. From the beginning of their common history, some Nice youth, seduced by the new beats, embraced jazz. Over the years, jazz deepens its roots in the artistic sensibility of the young people of Nice and leads to many of them becoming artists, including two deceased musicians very special to the region: saxophonist Barney Wilen and trumpet player Aimé Barelli. Both have had international careers and contributed to the spread of jazz in the region. Between 1977 and 1980, Barney Wilen and his "Burodujazz" are encouraged by the City of Nice and Nice Matin to multiply jazz concerts and cultural activities made original by their popular and unusual venues and formats. 

Contemporary Nice jazz musicians cannot be listed here: it would be too subjective and exhaustive. But let us bring up such names as the dynasty of the three generations of Ceccarelli, famous musicians who perfectly represent the part played by musical immersion in jazz music training. Such early contact with great jazzmen benefited Nice youth and continues to do so. It has triggered several self-learning talented musicians and retains its privileged role even though today, attending the jazz program of the Regional National Conservatory has become essential for young musicians.

After the last jazz clubs or cabarets closed down (from 73 in 1930 to 3 in 1980), the Storyville (Nice), the Pied Bleu (Cagnes sur mer) and the Oyster pub (Nice), where great local musicians have played, the Nice Jazz Festival would merely be a Summer fling without the CEDAC concerts in Cimiez. In 20 years, this quaint concert hall has earned its national and international reputation. Throughout the year, it is used by the City of Nice to showcase a bold and quality program (Art Blakey, Chet Baker, Michel Petrucciani, Ahmad Djamal …and many more jazz greats) for the greatest enjoyment of jazz lovers.

Maintaining the simultaneous concerts on many stages and the festive character of the Great Parade, what has become the Nice Jazz Festival in 1994 has announced its intention to “shake up tradition to better express its spirit” and opened itself to new and diverse musical trends. 

James Moody

Stéphane Grappelli