Nice Jazz Festival - 2025 programme announced.
Saturday, March 29, 2025
The Nice Jazz Festival will take place in the centre of the city from 24 to 27 July. Performers include Sullivan Fortner, Christian McBride, Stochelo & Mozes Rosenburg. The Cookers, John Scofield
Guest contributor Colin May sets the scene;
The programme for this year’s Nice Jazz Festival has been announced.
This year the Nice Jazz Festival will take place in the centre of the city from 24 to 27 July. The Théâtre de Verdure open air stage which is where nearly all the pure jazz happens will see an increase in the number of acts from three to four a night while the bigger Place Masséna stage mainly will have three urban music and pop-oriented acts a night.
There’s a strong retro, or a looking back to look forwards, thread running through this year’s jazz selection. The hundredth anniversary of Oscar Peterson’s birth will be celebrated by a trio led by pianist Sullivan Fortner, Edouard Pennes will present ‘Bird Lives’, manouche jazz stars Stochelo & Mozes Rosenburg will explore the musical legacy of Charlie Chaplin, leading bassist Christian McBride will lead a trio that will remember the Ray Brown Trio, the veteran jazz masters The Cookers will channel the post-bop of the mid- sixties, and the festival will conclude with a Jazz Celebration of the most essential jazz compositions as voted by listeners to TSF Jazz.
The rest of the programme on the Théâtre de Verdure stage is a mix of established and rising stars. Jazz royalty is represented by guitarist John Schofield and by bassist Avishai Cohen and those on the rise include Haitian-American singer Tyreek McDole and French trumpeter DAOUD whom I enjoyedat the Jammin ‘Juan jazz market in 2023 (https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/jammin-juan-2023-palais-des-congress-juan-les-pins-france-8th-to-10th-november-2023.
British saxophonist Nubya Gacia makes a return to the festival having appeared in 2019.
Full details of the programme are available at:
https://www.nicejazzfest.fr/en/programmation/2025