The Jazz Festival tradition in Nice dates back to 1974, when American Francophile , George Wein created the ‘Grande Parade de Jazz’. Over the years ,legendary artists such as Lionel Hampton, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis regularly appeared at the festival, making it mecca for enthusiasts. After 1994, it saw a change of emphasis, with more world music and pop. But the festival’s newest organizer, Vivian Sicnasi, has reinstated Wein’s original aim, an eclectic mix of traditional and modern sounds with a prestigious international line-up.

Set in the vast Jardins de Cimiez, the event features several separate stages where groups perform simultaneously each evening, for 12 days in July. The atmosphere is cross between a Gallic Woodstock and a musical fair: families arrive en masse to enjoy the festivals & a picnic under the century-old olives trees eating socca (delicious savoury pancake made from chickpea flour), and sandwiches. At the other end of the park is a dramatic 4000-seat arena – a Roman amphitheatre, built in the 3rd century BC, which once featured javelin-throwing gladiators.

For more information
Nice Jazz Festival 2010