It's a musical movement that remains as fascinating as ever, more than 100 years after its creation in the American South, mainly in New Orleans. With its many sub-genres (acid jazz, afrobeat, free jazz, hard bop, gypsy jazz, Latin jazz, nu jazz, soul jazz and swing), jazz music is characterized by its frequent use of improvisation, polyrhythm, syncopation and shuffle. This musical movement is also frequently associated with five emblematic instruments: saxophone, trumpet, trombone, clarinet and piano.
Since its beginnings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, jazz has seen the emergence of such great names as pianists Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock and Count Basie, and trumpeters Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, clarinetist Sidney Bechet, not forgetting iconic singers Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald, or more recently Diana Krall, Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux, Melody Gardot and Youn sun Nah.
While there are countless jazz festivals in France today, and particularly in the Île-de-France region(Paris Jazz Festival, La Défense Jazz Festival, Jazz à La Villette, Festival Django Reinhardt...), there are also plenty of concerts featuring jazz in the capital. Here are the next jazz concerts not to be missed in Paris.
Jamie Cullum in concert at the Olympia in Paris in March 2025
Jamie Cullum, the famous jazz-pop singer and musician, announces his return to Paris with a one-off concert at the legendary Olympia on Thursday March 13, 2025. [Read more]
