For 30 years, or rather 40 years and thirty editions, guitarist Louis Martinez has been sharing his passion for jazz with us, inviting the jazz musicians he loves or discovers to one of the finest stages on the Mediterranean.
From Ray Charles to Brad Mehldau, from Didi Bridgewater to Melody Gardot, from Paco de Lucia to Sylvain Luc, from Michael Brecker to Léon Phal, from Richard Bonna to Marcus Miller, Louis Martinez is the author of a unique musical saga. Just as every musician has his or her own sound, the Jazz à Sète festival also has its own, a guarantee of continuity, quality and a loyal audience that enables it to play concerts to full houses, sometimes several months before the opening.
Of course, Jazz à Sète is also the Théâtre de la Mer Jean Villar, proudly nestled at the foot of Mont Saint-Clair, overlooking the Mediterranean. And while classical music aficionados dream of experiencing a concert at the Ravello festival, whose open-air stage plunges into the waters of the Amalfi coast, many jazz fans also come to Sète for its exceptional stage, which seems to surf the azure waters.
This year, Jazz à Sète welcomed in the IN, Marcus Miller, Richard Bonna Quintet, Christian Sands, Avishai Cohen Trio, China Moses, John Scofield, Madealein Peyroux, El comité, Louis Matute, Electro Deluxe. And “Hors les murs” Jî Drû, Reflet Quartet, DjagDja Trio, Wet enought !?, Highway, Full Tags and Collectif Orchestré.
The festival opened with a tribute evening to regular guitarist Sylvain Luc, who passed away on March 14. An emotional evening featuring Thomas Dutronc, China Moses, Biréli Lagrène, Olivier Ker Ourio, Stéphane Belmondo, André Ceccarelli, Thierry Elliez, Marylise Florid, Paul Lay, Lionel Suarez, Louis Winsberg, Gérard Luc and Rémi Vignolo.
The evening of July 18 welcomed for the first time Christian Sands, whom Louis Martinez discovered in New York last winter. Impressed by the virtuosity and musical quality of the 36-year-old pianist from Connecticut, he invited him this summer with Jonathon S. Muir Cotton on bass and Tyson Jackson on drums. A trio of thirty-somethings who, from the very first track Never Too Much, heat up the Théâtre de la Mer with their frenzied 4/4 funk. And if Christian Sands tells us that this is the first time they’ve played together, we find it hard to believe when we hear their immediate complicity. On the track MCC, written by Christian Sands in memory of his mother and her famous cookies, the long, free solos of the bass and drums flow over the chords of a minimalist piano, and the trio happily establishes itself in the tradition of the finest piano-bass-drums jazz trios. Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian must be proud to hear the echoes of the next generation. Christian Sands is happy to pay tribute to his masters. With the lovely Sanddune waltz written for Christian McBride. But also with the ballad Strange meadow Lark, composed in memory of Dave Brubeck and opening with the soundtrack of a flock of birds that seems to invade the Théâtre de la Mer sky. Five-time Grammy Award nominee Christian Sands closes the concert with a track from his latest album, Embracing Dawn, released by Mack Avenue Records. His performance is greeted by the traditional standing ovation of the Sète audience, who have fallen under his spell.
Night has covered the theater and the moon is struggling to pierce a thin layer of clouds on the garden side. The proscenium is packed with spectators who have come to welcome Avishai Cohen to Sète for the fifth time. Accompanied since the Festival Jazz in Marciac 2024 by Itay Simhovich on piano and Eviatar Slivnik on drums, the Israeli double bassist offers us a well-behaved concert, and the audience makes no mistake. They’re hoping for a surprise at the turn of a melody. It’s not until the fifth track, Four verses/Continuation, that the telephones defy the ban on filming and light up to capture a subtle, delicate, emotionally-charged solo that glides over his double bass. But it’s not until Face me, which closes the concert, that Avishai Cohen steps off the beaten track and offers us his rhythmic and melodic inventiveness. Sometimes the success of a concert lies in its encores, and that’s the case tonight. Returning to the stage to sing the melody Avre tu puerta cerrada, sung to him by his mother, the double bassist and his talented accompanists set the Théâtre de la Mer alight until the daring improvisational reprise of Summertime. Music is so beautiful at night.
The evening of the 19th was a promising one. Louis Martinez, who had already invited tenor saxophonist Leon Phal, was delighted to find him in the sextet of Swiss guitarist Louis Matute Large Ensemble “who play from the heart”. From the very first track, Renaissance, the audience was won over. A dynamic first piano solo by Andrew Audiger and a finely chiselled guitar solo with Latin accents set the 1600-strong audience in motion. Then it’s the turn of Zacharie Ksyk’s trumpet to make us soar with Narcissus in the reverberation of the Théâtre de la Mer. With the nonchalance of their age, these thirty-somethings risk everything on 2000 years. They all play with astonishing ease, and although they all met at Lausanne’s Haute École de Musique (HEMU), you can hear the maturity they have acquired with three albums to their credit. Santa Manta and Dolce Vita announce the release of the fourth album by these six young jazz talents next January. We’ll be listening. For the moment, they’re so happy to be in Sète for the first time that they’re taking advantage of their bandmates’ solos to walk around the stage filming with their phones. Leon Phal gives us a magnificent travelling shot around Nathan Vandenbulcke’s drum solo, and Zacharie Ksyk slides in alongside Virgile Rosselet on double bass to immortalize the sunset behind the scenes. They had fun. They entertained us. We loved it. Jazz à Sète is also about happiness and simplicity, which have become all too rare both on stage and in the audience. To be preserved.
Night enveloped the Théâtre de la Mer in its starry bower, welcoming Marcus Miller to Sète for the fifth time. The concert begins almost timidly. It’s the emotion. The emotion that the 66-year-old bassist-clarinetist has been sharing with us for years, to our great delight. Emotion acquired from his legendary elders, to whom he never fails to pay tribute. From Catémbe, composed for Miles Davis, he plunges us into the memories of the young double bassist who produced the masterpiece Tutu for the cult trumpeter in 1986. He also evokes the facetious emotion of composing Sublimity ‘Bunny’s Dream’ for his mother-in-law, in memory of the rabbits she saw running around as a child in the garden of her father, a missionary in South Africa. And it’s in a fluid, elegant dialogue between his bass and Donald Hayes’s alto saxophone that Marcus Miller evokes all the tenderness he had for his mother-in-law, who left us 6 years ago. Brotherly emotion when he plays the first notes of Mr. Pastorius, a song “for Jaco, played by Miles and composed by Marcus Miller”. Surrounded by Xavier Gordon on keyboards, Russell Gunn on trumpet and Anwar Marshall on drums, Donald Hayes‘ alto saxophone offers us a moment suspended from Marcus Miller‘s refined bass. Miles seems to emerge from the Mediterranean to listen to us. An emotion from another age when Marcus Miller recounts his voyage to Gorée, which gave rise to the sublime eponymous track. A song that pays homage “to all those who endured hunger, despair and sadness centuries ago on their hopeless voyage, and to those who still cross the seas today…”. The sound of Marcus Miller‘s bass clarinet brings us into communion. Finally, the emotion of the apotheosis of a thirty-year career brings the Sète audience to its feet to applaud a medley of hits including Tutu and So What. Magnificent!
Louis Martinez, who always strives for quality and excellence in his programming, has once again achieved his goal. Our thanks to him for bringing all the colors and generations of jazz to life. Let’s hope that one day he’ll have the means to offer us, as he did at Ravello, a jazz concert at dawn. And even at 4 a.m. we’ll be there 😉
© photos Christian Cascio et Tifenn Cloarec
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