After the long period of restrictions of the pandemic, the Tourcoing Jazz Festival is enjoying its comeback in a normal configuration, with more than thirty concerts on the menu between Saturday 9 and Saturday 16 October 2021. To whet the appetite, the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis kicked off the 35th edition on Friday evening, at the head of his famous Jazz Lincoln Center Orchestra (before performing at the Philharmonie de Paris on Saturday evening).
If several concerts of the opening weekend of the great northern festival are sold out (the pianist Paul Lay, the duo Sandra Nkaké and Ji Drû, Ibrahim Maalouf, the group Deluxe …), there were still places on Saturday for sizes jazz like the double bassist Henri Texier, quintet, and the guitarists Biréli Lagrène and Sylvain Luc are on the bill for the evening on Saturday.
Other artists scheduled during the festival include major international artists such as Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca and Israeli trumpeter Avishai Cohen. Legend of Brazil, Gilberto Gil sings Friday, October 15 (it’s sold out) in Roubaix as part of a tour that also stops at the Nancy Jazz Pulsations festival, before the Philharmonie de Paris (a few weeks after his old friend Caetano Veloso) .
During the pandemic, the native of Salvador de Bahia had to postpone all his concerts and creations in France. In particular, he should have presented an opera as a world premiere in Paris.
On the French side, the program for the next few days includes artists with eclectic aesthetics, starting with recent winners at the Victoires du jazz. On the one hand, there is Michel Portal, rewarded for his album MP85 in which he celebrates his 85 springs. There is also Alain Jean-Marie, who received a Victoire d’honneur. The famous 75-year-old pianist performs with double bassist Diego Imbert, for their program Interplay, a beautiful tribute to Bill Evans who earned the duo the Prix du Disque Français in the 2020 list of the Académie du jazz. There is also the Swedish singer Isabel Sörling, vocal artist of the year at the Victoires du jazz, and who can be found in the quartet of the trumpeter Airelle Besson.
Among the other artists programmed at the festival, between jazz and world music, we can mention the fascinating flautist Naïssam Jalal, the magical duo of Ballaké Cissoko and Vincent Segal, the wonderful Algerian singer Souad Massi (the closing night), the vibrant pianist- singer Macha Gharibian, the excellent quintet of saxophonist Léon Phal, the trio Rouge to discover, the trio Charlier, Sourisse, Winsberg for a tribute to saxophonist Michael Brecker, again the bluesman Jean-Jacques Milteau in his very epic roots…
The festival also puts to music free lunch breaks and festive endings at the Magic Mirrors, this ephemeral tent that always promises beautiful moments of effervescence with the public.
> All the concerts of the Tourcoing Jazz Festival 2021