The line-up for Jazz A Juan’s the 65th edition since1960 was announced at a well attended press conference at Juan-les-Pins fronted by the Antibes Juan-les-Pins Mayor and the Deputy Mayor in charge of tourism, and by the three joint artistic directors.

Guest contributor Colin May was there and after the conference talked to one of the artistic directors Reno Di Matteo and to Maryline Bailly the organiser of Jammin’ Summer, the Festival’s showcase for young talent. Here is his report;

This year’s festival runs from the 9th to the 20th of July and as before two acts will play every night night on the historic Pinède Gould stage with a couple of exceptions.

On French National Day, 14th July, three acts perform ahead of a firework display over the sea and, as is the custom, the final concert will be a single gospel act leading a part entertainment part religious concert. Both these nights are the gift of the town Antibes Juan-les-Pins, and are free but you have to get a ticket in advance from the tourist office.

This year is a hundred years since the birth of Miles Davis and of John Coltrane and long- time ‘friend’’ of the festival Marcus Miller will make his 14th appearance at Jazz A Juan with his ’ We Want Miles ‘project. French electro -trumpeter Erik Truffaz and saxophonist and flamenco singer Antonio Lizana will also pay tribute to Miles with their contemporary re-imagining of ’ ‘Sketches of Spain’.

Also on the bill is singer of the moment, the Grammy award winning Samara Joy along with several of French jazz’s leading lights and an intriguing collaboration between the multi-genre oud maestro Dhafer Youssef and French jazz guitarist and composer of Vietnamese ancestry Nguyên Lê.

Like other jazz festivals, Juan is sustained in part by performances by international stars from other genres, and among this year’s headliners are Sir Tom Jones and Seal.

After the end of the formal part of the morning I had the opportunity to talk about the festival to Reno di Matteo who with Jean-Noel Ginibre and Pascal Pilorget is one of the three artistic directors .He very kindly agreed to be interviewed in English.

CM -  Juan Les Pins is a village with a small resident population, does that make it difficult to sustain a jazz culture here?

RdM -Well there is also the marching Bands’ Festival in July and in November Jammin’ Juan for young emerging groups. And we are not the only important European jazz festival based where there are few people, The Umbrian Jazz festival is in a similar situation for example and we get a lot of people coming from Britain and the United States.

CM- Has the Covid Pandemic and war in Ukraine and now the Middle East had an effect?

RdM- Both production costs and artist costs have risen, everything is getting more expensive. We cannot match the biggest festivals but we are unique and artists like to play here because of the history with, Ella and Miles and Coltrane and others.

CM - Do you feel this legacy such as John Coltrane’s whose 1965 live recording of ‘Love Supreme’ was made here, is a pressure on you and your fellow artistic directors?

RdM- For us it is a must. We love this music.

CM - It’s a hundred years since the birth of Miles Davis and John Coltrane and the programme includes Marcus Miller celebrating Miles Davis and also a performance celebrating Miles’ ‘Sketches of Spain’, but nothing in the programme celebrating John Coltrane which is puzzling given that the live recording of ‘Love Supreme’ was made here.

RdM- We’d have loved to have had Ravi Coltrane and Terence Blanchard’‘s celebration of John Coltrane and Miles. But their European Tour ends on 8th July so it just wasn’t possible.

CM-  Sometimes the headliner is a big name whom a might be regarded as not performing jazz. What is the idea of this?

RdM - Sometimes the headliner allows us to present an artist who is more in the DNA of jazz like Dhafer Youssef.

CM- When I first started coming to Juan the programme would include a night when the two acts performing would both be internationally recognised jazz trios or quartets but sometimes they were not the best attended.. I noticed last year and for this year the programme does not have this sort of jazz double header. Could you comment?

RdM - It’s very difficult for us. We can’t present an artist and have low attendance. So we try to be smarter and try to find the right combination of artists and that includes some double bills that help support developing artists

CM -  You and your colleagues have been artistic directors of the festival for five years now. How have you sought to develop this historic festival?

RdM- It’s constant evolution. In the next years when the building work around the Pinède Gould is finished, we will have a second stage that will help us present rising stars. So with the Jammin’ Summer Sessions stage continuing that will be three stages.

CM -  Finally what are you excited about in this year’s programme?

RdM -  I think the first night will be a great start with China Moses and José James celebrating the 50th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You”, and then Sir Tom Jones headlining. Then there’s the night of the double bill of Samara Joy followed by Marcus Miller.

I also had a few words with Maryline Bailly. She is the organiser and the force behind Juan’s events for young emerging bands, not only Jammin’ Summer which is part of Jazz A Juan but also the annual Autumn ’ Jammin’ Juan jazz market place.

CM - Can you explain a little about the Summer Jammin’ sessions?

MB - It will be a great time for us to welcome the young bands because they have a lot of talent and are not famous for the moment and I am excited too present them for people to discover them.

CM - And how have you chosen them?

MB - Most of them were discovered on Jammin’ Juan last Autumn and we selected some of them because we found them different and talented.

CM- How does Summer Jammin’ fit in with the Jazz A Juan?

MB- Normally in France, I think in Europe, all the festivals have what we call in France OFF festival. It’s a free concert to permit everybody to discover music. For me Jammin’ Summer sessions is all part of the Jazz A Juan festival. In fact we mix the musicians. After the concert they meet musicians who have been on the main stage so it’s a reward for the Jammin’ Summer musicians.

CM - So they meet the big names?

MB - Yes they can meet them. Sometimes they play on the big stage . Maë Defays who will be on the big stage came to Jammin’ Summer three years ago, Antonio Lizana was at Jammin’ Juan two years ago. For me Jammin’ Summer is entirely part of the festival.

Thanks to Reno Di Matteo and to Maryline Bailly for talking to me.
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The day by day programme for Jazz A Juan (in English) can be found via this link;
https://jazzajuan.com/en/programme-jazz-a-juan-2026/

COLIN MAY

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