For nearly two decades, Jazz à La Villette has opened Paris’s autumn season with a bold survey of the music’s past, present and future. This year’s edition, running August 28 to September 7, draws heavily on the spirit of what the Art Ensemble of Chicago once called the Great Black Music.
The festival brings together venerable institutions and restless innovators. The Sun Ra Arkestra, still carrying the flame of its cosmic founder three decades after his death, takes the stage under the lingering aura of its 101-year-old elder, Marshall Allen. Denardo Coleman, son of Ornette, leads an all-star sextet—including Ambrose Akinmusire and Craig Taborn—in a reimagining of The Shape of Jazz to Come, Ornette’s 1959 manifesto of free jazz. And the Headhunters revisit the electric grooves Herbie Hancock launched in the early 1970s, proving fusion’s vitality half a century on.
Still recently guided by one of its historic pillars, alto saxophonist and flutist Marshall Allen—now 101—the Sun Ra Arkestra continues to honor the cosmic vision of its enigmatic founder, who passed in 1993. The band’s performances keep alive a flame that is both spiritual and fiercely adventurous, celebrating one of jazz’s most revolutionary figures.
(Grande Halle – September 3. – en seconde partie du Sun Râ Akestra)
Denardo Coleman, now 69, carries forward his father Ornette’s radical legacy.
With a sextet of rising stars—including trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, saxophonist Isaiah Collier, pianist Craig Taborn, and bassist Bradley Jones—joined by the classical musicians of the Orchestre Ostinato under Ernst Theis, Coleman revisits The Shape of Jazz to Come.
First recorded in 1959 with Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, the album heralded the dawn of free jazz.
(Salle Pierre Boulez – Philharmonie – August 30)
Launched in 1973 under the direction of Herbie Hancock at the height of jazz fusion, The Headhunters have evolved with the times while staying true to their binary grooves and exploratory energy. The group’s sound remains a touchstone of funk-infused jazz.
(Grande Halle de la Villette – August 28)
Shabaka, Jeff Mills, Donny McCaslin and more…
A leading voice of London’s new jazz wave, Shabaka Hutchings has shifted from ensemble work to a deeply personal exploration of flutes in all their forms. Once viewed as a spiritual heir to Pharoah Sanders and the Coltrane lineage, he now uses his collection of flutes to navigate fresh sonic territories.
(Cité de la Musique – 2 sept.)
For more than three decades, American DJ Jeff Mills has stretched techno into new realms. His latest project, Tomorrow Comes the Harvest, continues his quest for hypnotic rhythmic fusion.
(Grande Halle –September 3. – Second pat of Sun Râ Akestra)
Best known to wider audiences for his contribution to David Bowie’s final album in 2014, tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin will deliver his last performance with the Parisian band Ishkero. Together, they merge modern progressive rock with raw, unbridled energy.
(Cité de la Musique – Sept 4.)
South African pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini, a former member of Shabaka and the Ancestors, brings forward ancestral traditions, spirituality, and local legends through his trio.on.
(Cité de la Musique – August 31)
« Vous les femmes… »
Amid these testosterone-driven lineups, two women stand out: French drummer Anne Paceo and Catalan trombonist-singer Rita Payès.
Paceo presents her new album Atlantis, a deeply personal voyage into the ocean’s depths, inspired by great travelers and their stories.
(Cité de la Musique – Sept 4)
Meanwhile, Payès, first discovered at the female-focused “Parfum de Jazz” festival, blends Iberian roots, Brazilian rhythms, and jazz into her uniquely warm sound.
(Cité de la Musique – Sept 6.)
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