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Music under the olive trees
The Nice Jazz Festival
Nice
26/07/2002 -
Festival director Viviane Sicnasi could hardly have come up with a more atmospheric setting for the Nice Jazz Festival 2002. With three main stages set up in an old Roman amphitheatre (Les Arènes de Cimiez), a richly scented olive grove and the beautiful Italianate architecture of the Matisse museum, music fans were able to sit back and enjoy the décor as well as soaking up some happening sounds. And with at least a dozen concerts scheduled on the three stages each night, it's an understatement to say there was something for everyone this year!
Groups of friends, families and assorted music lovers wandered back and forth between venues, sampling musical delights, local Southern French delicacies or just lying back and relaxing on the grass. Balmy temperatures and long light evenings made for perfect listening conditions and the audience appeared only too willing to put aside their troubles and throw themselves into the present moment body and soul.
In such a relaxed holiday atmosphere the audience could not fail to enjoy this year's eclectic line-up, based on some deliberate musical horizon-widening choices. Indeed, festival director Viviane Sicnasi chose to get things off to an unexpected start this year, inviting French hip hop crew Saïan Supa Crew to open the festival on Saturday 20 July. A deliberate act of provocation or a wise opening move? Ms. Sicnasi defended her choice, insisting that "Music is an absolute priority for young people in France today – and the bonus of attracting such a public is that they remain incredibly loyal over the years!"
Anyone seeking to attract younger music fans has to come up with a refreshingly youthful programme and that's just what Viviane Sicnasi did at Nice this year - much to the surprise of some hardened journalists who have been covering the festival for years. Indeed, the headlines of the local newspaper Nice matin ran a cover story on Sunday morning about a "rap! group jazzing the night away" in the gardens of the Matisse museum.
Going out on stage on Saturday night, Saïan Supa Crew may well have wondered just what reception they would get from the crowd at a "jazz" festival (and one which, moreover, has a reputation for being a bit elitist!) But the Saïan posse's rap verve and vibrant on-stage energy won the day, confirming Viviane Sicnasi's radical approach to musical programming. "The thing is," Viviane commented after Saïan's show, "that the word 'jazz' should be a unifying term not a reductive one. Calling the event 'The Nice Jazz Festival' is really out of keeping with the line-up we put together these days. But the name belongs to the town of Nice so it's not up to us to change it. Personally, I'd really like include the words 'international' and 'music' in the title somewhere… People have to realise that things are not fixed in stone these days; music is in a constant state of flux and change. Musicians today refuse to be pigeon-holed in any one category – they like to play right across the board!" 
In other words the Nice Jazz Festival has decided to move with the times! And the evident success of last year's programme proved that Viviane Sicnasi's new approach is working. Ms. Sicnasi, who served her musical apprenticeship at the prestigious Lionel Hampton jazz club in Paris, is intent on opening the Nice festival to a wider public. And as for criticism that she has taken the festival too far away from its jazz roots, she maintains that jazz itself is moving in a new direction. "Take the great jazz legends, for instance," she says, "They're honestly a bit out of touch with the real world these days. Big-name stars demand exorbitant fees to appear at music festivals – and what's more, they impose impossible conditions before they'll even consider appearing in concert. As for the young jazz generation, they don't really play what would strictly be defined as 'swing' any more. They want audiences to sit down and really listen religiously to their music. In my opinion, their work's much better suited to a club environment."
This fact was publicly confirmed when young up-and-coming talent Baptiste Trotignon took to the stage at Nice on Monday night. The 28-year-old piano virtuoso, who recently formed his own trio with double bass-player Clovis Nicolas and drummer Tony Rabeson, is equally at home playing his own compositions or covers of Dave Brubeck classics. Rumour has it Trotignon spent a long time hesitating between jazz and classical music before launching his career – and this is something you definitely hear in his improvisations on stage! Trotignon is someone you long to listen to in the intimate, smoke-filled surroundings of a basement jazz club. One thing's for sure, though, he and his musicians did not benefit from being programmed on a stage next to new Italian talent Tiziano Ferro. Ferro's powerful vocals – which were actually very enjoyable within the surrounds of his own stage – resonated across the balmy night air and ended up completely drowning out the Trotignon trio. One particularly disgruntled fan threatened to walk out at one point, complaining "This just isn't what you'd expect at a jazz festival!"
Fans nostalgic for the good old days of 'swing' will obviously have to migrate towards more traditional jazz territory such as the Marciac and Juan-les-Pins festivals next year. And if purists were disgruntled by the treatment meted out to the Trotignon trio, goodness only knows what they made of the hordes of tanned, body-pierced Côte d'Azur trendies who turned out to see electronic stars Saint Germain, Les Troublemakers and Llorca at Nice. No awed sit-down listening for this fashionable crowd – dancing was the name of the game as soon as Ludovic Navarre (aka Saint Germain) stepped up behind the turntables to blast out his jazz-electro bpm. 
Famously static-faced and unmoving behind his mixing decks, Saint Germain looked a little timid as if he were almost overcome at finding himself at Nice on Monday night. (Although he had every right to be there given that he has brought out two accomplished albums on legendary jazz label Blue Note!) But he needn't have worried! Mixing infectious Cuban and Brazilian rhythms from his turntables with a live brass section and a brilliant percussionist, Saint Germain sent the crowd wild. And when he walked off stage at 10pm, fans were still begging for more! Luckily for electro fans the night was not over yet because chart-topping electro duo Air took to the stage to pick up where St Germain had left off.
Needless to say the "Electro-techno-trendy-jazz" soirée proved an unmitigated success with younger sections of the audience who flocked to watch sets by Marc Minelli and Mamani Keïta (aka Electro-Bamako), Magic Malik, Cam, Ekova, The Troublemakers and Llorca. In fact, anyone wanting to catch a bit of each of the cutting-edge acts was obliged to organise their own mini-marathon, running between stages to sample different "elec-tech-trendy-jazz" delights. Les Troublemakers – a happening trio from Marseilles made up of DJ Oil, Fred Berthet and Arnaud Taillefer – proved to be one of the highlights of the evening, especially when charismatic Magic Malik joined the group on stage to guest on a few tracks. The Troublemakers, who recently signed to Chicago-based label, Guidance, put on a crowd-pleasing show at the "Matisse" museum, mixing their subtle, intelligent electro beats with arty videos projected on a giant screen behind the stage.
Over at Les Arènes de Cimiez a few hours later Llorca, the hot new talent from the F.Com label, transformed the old Roman amphitheatre into a giant open-air club, getting the 10,000-strong crowd grooving to his catchy mix of house, funk and soul. Dressed in a kitchen apron and a dashing straw hat, the happening mixmaster served up just the right ingredients to keep the crowd happy aided and abetted by contributions from his live group and dancefloor diva Ladybird. Judging by the club-happy crowd letting their hair down at Les Arènes, Viviane Sicnasi can pride herself on the fact that she has pushed back the borders of the Nice Jazz Festival and injected a new youthful touch to the annual music rendez-vous on the French Riviera.
Valérie Passelègue
