JVC JAZZ FESTIVAL, PARIS

The JVC Jazz Festival Paris was a great success again this year. The 2005 edition ran from October 14th through October 25th and included twelve nights at eight different venues and a whopping fifty-five concerts by forty-five different ensembles. Over seventeen thousand people attended. The concept of different venues spread out over the city proved useful once again.

The public could roam around the city at its leisure and catch a sold out show at "La Cigale" which held a fabulous Brazilian performance by newcomer and future star CéU, and veteran icon Tania Maria. Then, they could move on to one of the jazz clubs downtown, like the "Sunset" or the "Sunside" to see the hip bassist Reggie Washington or the ultra hip Minneapolis natives Happy Apple.

One of the great innovations this year was the introduction of the "JVC Nouveaux Talents 2005". This band, made from scratch from international players, offered the opportunity to see young lions from two continents unite and make music together. Sought after young musicians like Myron Walden from NY on alto sax or New Orleans based trumpeter Maurice Brown were the front men of the band. This event was held in a new club for the festival called "l’Archipel". The band’s performances were recorded every night and a CD will be released. This venue was considered the hot spot of the festival, a place where all the musicians would gather after their shows and play jam sessions until late at night.

The Bataclan hosted the JVC official party and the performance of the great saxophonist David Sanborn. The crowd eagerly received these fabulous musicians who hadn’t played in Paris in 8 years. Wonderful jazz singer Anne Ducros took the stage the next night with a full crowd of fans desperately waiting to hear her perform. The atmosphere was electric.

The clubs’ endless nights featured some of the hottest European jazz with the Vintage Orchestra, David Linx, Jeanette Lindström, Olivier Louvel and son of famous comedian Thomas Dutronc.