Juan-les-Pins and Jazz à Juan – sixty summers of jazz under the pines

Juan-les-Pins is the seaside half of Antibes, on the western slope of the Cap d'Antibes, between Nice and Cannes and 13 kilometres from Nice airport. It was once simply a grove of stone pines where the people of Antibes came to walk, picnic and gather cones for their stoves. Today it is a resort of beaches, a casino and late nights, and every July it becomes one of the most famous jazz stages in Europe.

A resort named after its pines

The name Juan-les-Pins was given on 12 March 1882; the spelling Juan rather than Jean comes from the local Occitan. Other names considered included Héliopolis, Antibes-les-Pins and Albany-les-Pins, after Queen Victoria's son the Duke of Albany. A station followed in 1883 on the PLM line.

The resort took off between the wars. In 1927 the Hôtel Provençal was completed for the American businessman Frank Jay Gould and became one of its best-known luxury hotels, welcoming Charlie Chaplin, Jack L. Warner and Man Ray. The pinewood by the beach still bears Gould's name. In 1947 Juan-les-Pins claimed the world's first discothèque, the Whisky à GoGo, opened by Paul Pacini in the Rue Jacques-Leonetti; the building has since been demolished.

1960: the first festival

The festival was founded on 7 July 1960 by Jacques Souplet with Jacques Hebey, after those of Nice and Cannes. The first edition, then called the Festival Européen de Jazz, ran over nine evenings, with the United States as guest of honour: the Wilbur De Paris orchestra with Charles Mingus on bass, Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. A competition for European bands was won by the Dutch trio of Pim Jacobs, Wim Overgaauw and Rita Reys.

Concerts were held both at the Fort Carré stadium in Antibes and in the Pinède Gould, but after a tribute to Sidney Bechet under the pines on 10 July 1960, everyone preferred the pinewood. It has been the festival's home ever since.

The golden years

The 1960s brought a parade of American headliners: Ray Charles and Count Basie in 1961, Fats Domino and Dizzy Gillespie in 1962, Sarah Vaughan and Miles Davis in 1963. In 1966 Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington shared the stage, an evening preserved on the album Ella and Duke at the Côte d'Azur. John Coltrane's Live in Antibes and Mingus at Antibes are among the festival's other classic recordings.

The festival moved to Nice for 1971 and 1972, then returned to Juan-les-Pins in 1973 under the producer Norbert Gamsohn, who widened its range of styles and brought the concerts to television. Since 2010 it has been organised by a subsidiary of Monaco's Société des Bains de Mer. In 2022, during the 61st edition, New Orleans became a sister city of Antibes.

The walk of handprints

Along the Boulevard Édouard-Baudoin, behind the seaside stage, ceramic tiles hold the handprints of more than 50 musicians who have played the festival: Ray Charles, Sonny Rollins, Oscar Peterson, Keith Jarrett, B.B. King, Dave Brubeck, Pat Metheny, Wynton Marsalis and Stéphane Grappelli among them. The idea came from Victor Lévy-Perrault, then head of the tourist office and artistic director, who also started the stars' handprints at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes.

Neighbourhood and property data for Antibes and neighbouring Vallauris is on VERA PI, and more Riviera festivals are on metromode.co.

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