Jazz at Junas Festival, July 22–25, 2026 – A meeting with Poland

Throughout its history, Polish jazz has often served as a means of resisting all forms of oppression, a “window onto freedom” open to a multitude of influences. The programme of this 33rd edition of Jazz à Junas, largely devoted to contemporary Polish jazz formations, bears witness to this remarkable tradition

Wednesday July 22, 2025

Les festivités se sont poursuivies dans le cadre enchanteur des carrières du bon temps avec le Marcin Trio qui s’est fait connaître, il y a maintenant une bonne trentaine d’années, auprès du trompettiste Tomasz Stańko avant de devenir une formation phare du jazz polonais.

The festivities continued in the enchanting setting of the Carrières du Bon Temps, with the Marcin Wasilewski Trio, which first made its mark more than three decades ago alongside trumpeter Tomasz Stańko before becoming one of the leading ensembles of Polish jazz.

The trio’s repertoire combines original compositions with standards, performed with a finely honed sense of nuance and melody inherited from the tradition embodied by the Bill Evans Trio. The result is a largely improvised music, carried with rigour and elegance by the close rapport between the three musicians. A true piece of musical craftsmanship.

The evening concluded with a beautiful tribute by Marion Rampal to Abbey Lincoln, one of the great figures of jazz and a Civil Rights activist, forever associated with her participation in the landmark recording We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite (1961), alongside saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and her husband, drummer Max Roach.

It was an opportunity for the singer to perform, with sensitivity and authenticity, several significant pieces from the repertoire of her idol. Her accompanists, who had also taken part in the recording of the album Song for Abbey, were outstanding.

A beautiful concert.

Place de l’avenir :

Prima Kanta – “In a Purple Time” (France)
Laurent Rochelle: bass clarinet, soprano saxophone
Rébecca Féron: electro-acoustic harp, voice
Frédéric Schadoroff: keyboards, voice
Arnaud Bonnet: violin, voice

Carrières du bon temps

Marcin Wasilewski Trio (Poland)

Marcin Wasilewski : piano,

Sławomir Kurkiewicz : double bass,

Michal Miśkiewicz : drums.

Marion Rampal “Song for Abbey” (France)

Marion Rampal : vocals,

Matthis Pascaud : guitar,

Thibault Gomez : piano & keyboard

Simon Tailleu : double bass,

Raphaël Chassin : drums

Thursday July 23

06:00 pm Duo Brady – place de l’avenir

Benefiting from a solid classical and jazz background, cellists Michèle Pierre and Paul Colomb, of the Duo Brady, have pursued careers marked by eclecticism. Following their album Plaines (2020), they ventured into the realm of science fiction, imagining episodes of human existence beyond the confines of Earth. This led them to explore, through the prism of a sentimental waltz or the mechanisms of techno, the questions raised by an uncertain future.

Following Marcin Wasilewski, another major figure in Polish jazz, Adam Bałdych took to the stage at the Carrières to present music from his forthcoming album on the ACT label.

He explored every resource of his violin, alternating energetic bow strokes with pizzicato effects, improvising with ease and developing an intimate personal universe shaped by jazz and the traditional music of Central Europe.

The rapport between the musicians allowed the quartet to achieve a remarkably full sound. Among Bałdych’s partners were Swedish pianist Jacob Karlzon, who consistently finds the right harmonic choices; double bassist Michel Bénita, whose playing provides rock-solid rhythmic security without a note to spare; and Italian bandoneonist Daniele Di Bonaventura, whose role here was essentially that of accompanist, his musical language fitting seamlessly into Bałdych’s playing.

Anne Paceo brought the evening to a close with several compositions from her album Atlantis, inspired by the ocean and by her experience as a novice diver.

That inspiration is reflected in the music through the deep voice of Cynthia Abraham, the contributions of Christophe Panzani and Lilian Millie, and the rhythmic pulse generated by Anne Paceo’s drumming, all enveloped by the sonic layers emerging from Maya Cross’s synthesizers and the piano of Gautier Toux, a masterful architect of sound.

Place de l’avenir

Duo Brady place de l’avenir

Michèle Pierre and Paul Colomb : cello

Carrières du bon temps

Adam Baldych Quartet

Adam Baldych: violon, Poland

Danielle Di Bonaventura: bandoneon, Italy

Jacob Karlzon: piano, Sweden

Michel Bénita: double bass, France

Anne Paceo “Atlantis” France

Anne Paceo: drums, vocals, compositions,

Cynthia Abraham: vocals, percussions,

Christophe Panzani: tenor saxophone, effects,

Lilian Milli: trumpet,

Maya Cross: keyboards,

Gautier Toux: piano

Friday July, 24

Place de l’avenir

The musical world of the Gigigi Trio is built around a highly liberated fusion of alternative rock and electronic music, expressed through engaging melodies and the solid groove generated by drummer Matteo Stefani. A promising project from a young generation of musicians.

Carrières du bon temps

Motion Trio – 09:00 pm

Founded in 1996 by Janusz Wojtarowicz, Motion Trio extends the accordion tradition by enriching it with original influences. Drawing largely on compositions by its leader, here joined by his fellow musicians Paweł Baranek and Marcin Gałażyn, the trio moves effortlessly between classical music, jazz, rock and Balkan traditions, with flair, virtuosity and authenticity, never resorting to easy solutions.

Tastefully arranged, their fiery music had the audience thoroughly enthralled.

– Leon Phal quintet 10:30 pm

The Léon Phal Quintet brings together the techniques of electronic music within a carefully structured whole, including the cycles and loops created by the imaginative Gautier Toux on keyboards. The result is a danceable groove driven by the acoustic double bass of Rémi Bouyssière and the drums of Arthur Alard, clearly appreciated by the dancers who soon made their way to the front of the stage.

The group’s horn players contributed greatly to the success of the performance: trumpeter Zacharie Ksyk, whose sound is both rich and distinctive, and tenor saxophonist Léon Phal, capable of playing a ballad with a keen sense of the right note.

We now eagerly await the group’s fourth album, several tracks from which were presented as a preview to the Junas audience.

Place de l’avenir

Gigigi France & Italy

Anna Bouchet: bass clarinet & vocals France

Teresa Bertoni: guitar & vocals Italie

Matteo Stefani: drums & vocals Italie

Carrières du bon temps

Motion trio Poland

Janusz Wojtarowicz: key chromatic accordion

Paweł Baranek: button-key chromatic accordion

Marcin Gałażyn: button-key chromatic accordion

Léon Phal Quintet, France

Léon Phal: tenor saxophone

Zacharie Ksyk: trumpet

Gauthier Toux: keyboards

Arthur Alard: drums

Rémi Bouyssière: doublebass

Saturday July 25

Bringing the festival to a magnificent close, Swiss drummer and painter Daniel Humair presented his biography* at the Temple de Junas on Saturday, July 25, together with its authors, Julien Le Gros and Frédérick E. Grasset.

This convivial gathering was followed at the same venue by a concert bringing Humair together with his longtime collaborator, saxophonist Vincent Lê Quang, all illuminated by the light filtering through the stained-glass windows created by the drummer in 2013.

It was an opportunity for the two musicians to present a repertoire that included an original version of Les Oignons, the great Sidney Bechet hit, propelled by the energetic rhythmic pulse of the now octogenarian Daniel Humair.

*”Daniel Humair” from Julien Le Gros et Frédérick E. Grasset, éditions Frémeaux & Associés.

The evening continued at the Carrières with the Avishai Cohen Trio, performing music from his new album Eternal Child, named after the Chick Corea composition that helped bring him to wider attention.

The album features ten compositions by the double bassist, written with a sure hand and inspired either by those close to him, such as Simchover, dedicated to Itay Simhovich, or by particular atmospheres, as in Tonight, which evokes the world of the Jazz Messengers in their Lee Morgan incarnation.

All ten pieces were performed with infectious enthusiasm by a formidable trio led masterfully by Avishai Cohen, joined here by two musicians from the younger generation: drummer Jeff Ballard and pianist Itay Simhovich, whom Cohen discovered in 2024 at the Jazz in Marciac festival.

In a completely different musical context, the Polish group Pink Freud brought the 33rd edition of Jazz à Junas to a spectacular close, with the powerful sounds of a sometimes surprising music drawing on rock, electronic music, punk and the colourful musical mayhem of the Art Ensemble of Chicago