Based in the north-east of Paris, one of the nerve centres of Paris 2024, the festival is adapting and taking over the Espace Périphérique, in the Parc de la Villette, for four outdoor evenings. Kick-off: 29 August, for eleven days.
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Jazz, soul, fusion and Caribbean music, with sources rooted in the African continent, but also Latin and electro sounds will punctuate the next edition of the Parisian festival Jazz à la Villette, from August 29 to September 8, 2024.
As for American jazz figures, two artists are at the top of the bill: pianist Brad Mehldau with two dates at the Cité de la musique (tickets on waiting list), in a trio on Saturday, September 7, then solo on the 8th, and saxophonist Kenny Garrett, at the Philharmonie on Friday, September 6.
American jazz again, this time with the rising generation, astounding, embodied here by Immanuel Wilkins, a 27-year-old saxophonist born in Philadelphia and based in New York, and whose quartet is composed of another nugget, the pianist Micah Thomas. This line-up will be reinforced by three female voices on Tuesday, September 3 at the Cité de la Musique.
Older, and already an established artist, Chicago drummer Makaya McCraven, 40, self-proclaimed “Beat Scientist”, will present his world of collective improvisations on Friday August 30 at the Cité de la musique.
On the French jazz side, a prominent veteran, saxophonist François Jeanneau, who was one of the first musicians to play free jazz in France, and who was also a former member of the progressive rock group Triangle, will perform on Sunday, September 1 at the Cité de la Musique. The 89-year-old jazzman will lead a quartet formed with loyal former students of the Conservatoire national supérieur de Paris (CNSMDP) such as double bassist Stéphane Kerecki.
The first part will be provided by a group of young talents from the CNSMDP, led by the trombonist from Lyon Jules Regard. Apart from the students from the Conservatoire based at La Villette, different emerging jazz collectives will be present at the festival via three “Constellations” evenings.
Also to watch, the Acoustic Large Ensemble of the excellent guitarist Paul Jarret (Saturday, September 7 at the Atelier du Plateau). Or, for fans of electro atmospheres leaning towards house, the Strasbourg trio Émile Londonien, a name chosen as a nod to the saxophonist Émile Parisien, one of their sources of inspiration (Saturday, September 7 at the Studio de l’Ermitage). The group, already on the bill for the 2023 edition (replay on france.tv), is offering this year a tribute to Thelonious Monk with guests.
Renowned ambassador of Africa, the group Tinariwen will play its Tuareg blues on Saturday, August 31 in the Espace Périphérique, located in the northeast of the vast Parc de la Villette, for one of the four outdoor concerts of the 2024 edition of the festival. Tinariwen will share the stage with another collective, the electrifying South Africans of BCUC.
21st century soul will be represented by different artists.
On the male voice side, the British Omar and the American Curtis Harding, the first to emerge on the international scene in 1990 with his hit There’s Nothing Like Thisthe second released his first album in 2014. They will share the stage at the Périphérique on Saturday, September 7.
On the female vocal side, two artists from across the Channel will open the festival on Thursday, August 29 at the Philharmonie de Paris, with Alice Russell, twenty years of career under her belt, and her younger sister Mahalia who has taken an R&B turn in recent years.
More soul, this time relocated to the New Morning with Sophye Soliveau, Parisian singer and harpist of Guadeloupean origin, and Joel Culpepper, London vocalist (Wednesday September 4).
On the Caribbean sounds side, we will be able to find the poetry of Anthony Joseph, a British native of Trinidad, the Cuban jazz of El Comité, a collective founded in Toulouse (Thursday, September 5 at the Cité de la Musique), or the Creole blues-rock of Delgres (Sunday, September 8 at the Périphérique). In a more folk universe with diverse influences, the singer Sarah Lenka will present her new album on the theme of exile, Isha, Thursday, September 5 at the Studio de l’Ermitage.
The 2024 edition of Jazz à la Villette (August 29 – September 8) will take place at the same time as the Paralympic Games (August 28 – September 8), the second part of Paris 2024. Co-produced by La Villette and the Philharmonie de Paris, the festival, organized mainly in the east of the capital, will replace its traditional evenings at the Grande Halle – which this year houses the Club France des Jeux – with four evenings scheduled outdoors, in the Espace Périphérique.
As an appetizer, on Monday, August 26 from 9 p.m., the Culturebox channel is broadcasting two concerts from the 2023 edition (already available on the france.tv platform): that of saxophonist Laurent Bardainne & Tigre d’eau douce, his solar group (joined by illustrious guests), then that of the Manchester trio GoGo Penguin. The france.tv page dedicated to the Parisian festival still offers concerts and excerpts from Jazz à la Villette 2023, while waiting for the 2024 edition.
Jazz at La Villette, from August 29 to September 8, 2024
In Paris, as well as in Pantin (Dynamo of the Blue Suburbs)
Program to explore on the festival website