a Franco-American big band for a tribute to Duke Ellington and to celebrate the 80th anniversary of D-Day

There are sixteen young American and French musicians, united within the Future of Jazz Big Band. They performed this weekend on the stage of the Jazz sous les pommiers festival for a double anniversary.

Music as a vector of peace and sharing. This is what the Normandy festival wanted to highlight in collaboration with the Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York and its director, the trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, with this unique project: the creation of a Franco-American group composed young jazz talents, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, but also the 125th anniversary of the birth of the great Duke Ellington.

To perform together in Coutances, French and American musicians had to listen to each other and adapt, as trumpeter Ysaura Merino explains: “We don’t play the same way. Now that I’m studying in the United States, I’m more aware of it, there’s a noise level that’s much louder. It’s part of the culture, there’s a more powerful energy.”

On the American side, a lot of emotion. This trip to France was an opportunity for these young musicians to visit places of memory. “We played on Friday at the Caen Memorial, and there were tears. It was very moving for our young people to come here, where our ancestors lost their lives defending freedom“, says Jason Olaine, vice president of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

“When you see this in museums in the United States, it doesn’t have the same impact as being here on the land where it happened. And to be able to be here celebrating Franco-American unity on the anniversary of D-Day, it’s really special“, adds trombonist Jacob Melsha.

Several other concerts are planned in Normandy in the coming weeks as part of the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Landings of June 6, 1944 and the Battle of Normandy. The full program is available on the official event website.