Jazz à Juan, Juan-Les-Pins, France
12th - 22nd July
With New Orleans as a sister city, it is little wonder that Jazz a Juan is the mother of jazz festivals in Europe. Once a stage for the likes of Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, their handprints can still be seen in a tiled walkway similar to that in Hollywood. Held in the seaside town of Juan-Les-Pins, jazz lovers are able to take a break from the music at their leisure and wander down by the sea, for inspiration, or simply to reflect on the atmosphere of this celebration of music and culture.
Jazz à Juan is a seaside festival with all the biggest names in Jazz, taking place in July every year at the Gould Pine Grove in Juan-les-Pins. As the oldest jazz festival in Europe, Jazz in Juan remains an amazing melting pot where different trends all blend together. Many performers have trodden the boards of the stage in the mythical pine grove since its creation in 1960. The festival has established itself as one of the legendary places where jazz history was made and is eternally renewed through young prodigies like Marcus Miller, Wynton Marsalis, Salif Keita, Diana Krall, James Carter and Joshua Redman.
Along the street behind the seaside stage where the annual jazz festival "Jazz à Juan" is held, one will find ceramic tiles laid into the pavement with handprints of more than 50 jazz musicians who have played at this festival, among those Al Jarreau, B. B. King, Chick Corea, Clark Terry, Dave Brubeck, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Eddy Louiss, Elvin Jones, Fats Waller, Grant Green, George Benson, Hank Jones, Inge Brandenburg, Jack DeJohnette, Joshua Redman, Keith Jarrett, Little Richard, Milt Jackson, Oscar Peterson, Pat Metheny, Ravi Coltrane, Ray Charles, Richard Galliano, Roy Haynes, Shirley Horn, Sonny Rollins, Stéphane Grappelli, Stevie Wonder and Wynton Marsalis.
