NICE JAZZ FESTIVAL

FIRST NIGHT

On July 8 and 12, I went to the opening and final day of the Nice Jazz Festival, a very famous event that in the glory days had most notably hosted the likes of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and many others of the same ilk. It was usually held, I think, on the outskirts of Nice at the Palais Nikaia, their local arena-size venue. However, this year they decided to set it up on two outdoor stages in the large stretch of park that divides the downtown and old town areas. There were two stages, one off the Place Masséna that was standing room only, which would house the more rock-type artists, and one, le Théâtre du Verdure, with makeshift stadium seating for a more formal setting. It was a nice venue but unfortunately it was egregiously hot and humid.

le Théâtre du Verdure

Vendors set up to sell not foie gras, not escargot, not tartes aux pommes, but . . . hot dogs and beer.

On the first night, my plan was to see a Miles Davis Kind of Blue tribute, but because the map they gave us for some reason was not designed with north pointing up like every other map in the world, I realized only half-way through I was at the wrong venue. I did see the Nice Jazz Orchestra though, which was good, but the music was not very interesting.

Nice Jazz Orchestra

And then a female jazz singer named Roberta Gambarini, who was late, came on and sang some atrociously horrible songs. One of them was in French and performed with such an awful accent everybody was moaning.

Roberta Gambarini

My plan was to stay and see Michel Legrand a very famous jazz and film score composer (i.e. Bande à part - de Jean-luc Godard) for at least 45 minutes and than run to see John McLaughlin, but everything was late so I only saw one song by him.

John McLaughlin was a famous psychedelic British jazz fusion guitarist who was discovered by Miles Davis in the late 60s. I guess you could consider him the opening-night headliner, but first you had to sit through the end of Mike Stone's set. I don't know who this guy is but it was cheesy Satriani-type rock with some electronic violin player (he was actually OK). I definitely knew I was on the "rock" side of the festival when I smelled something in the air . . .

Whoa, settle down! It's just a violin, son!

Thank god these bums were over quickly and we got to see John McLaughlin. His set was the best of the night, I just didn't recognize anything. I hadn't listened to anything by him since the 80s when he had a band briefly with Carlos Santana. He had a guy off to the side who played keyboards, drums, and I guess "laptop," the newest instrument. Here are some pictures from the show:

John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension

I took video but the sound was so bad its not worth it. Alright, so much for the first night. The second night was even better. I was able to see Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, probably the best traditional jazz ensemble in the world. Stay tuned . . .