Roberto Fonseca, Renaud Garcia-Fons, Daniel Humair, Michel Portal & Vincent Peirani perform at Souillac Jazz Festival this July

Source: Erica Meltzer
June 12, 2013
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The new jazz generation converges with its Afro-American roots this year at the Souillac Jazz Festival in southwest France, to be held from 15 to 21 July.

SIX EVENING CONCERTS

16 July

The Trio d'en bas will stage an entertaining and unusual spectacle in the Grottes de Lacave.

18 July

The drummer

Daniel Humair

drums
b.1938

" data-original-title="" title="">Daniel Humair will lead his ��Sweet & Sour�� Quartet (double-bassist J��r?me Regard, saxophonist

Emile Parisien

saxophone, soprano
b.1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Emile Parisien [winner of the Jazz Academy��s 2012 Django Reinhardt prize] and accordionist

Vincent Peirani

accordion
b.1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Vincent Peirani in an evening of collective improvisations.

19 July

The poet

Renaud Garcia-Fons

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Renaud Garcia-Fons and his five- stringed double bass will cast a spell on the Souillac abbey with his Mediterranean-inspired melodies.

Michel Portal

clarinet, bass
b.1935

" data-original-title="" title="">Michel Portal, clarinettist, and Vincent Peirani, accordionist, will offer up a dazzling confrontation of aesthetics, folly and passion.

20 July

Cuban pianist

Roberto Fonseca

piano
b.1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Roberto Fonseca (whose CD Yo was ranked No. 1 in the Jazz News 2012 Top Ten) and his sextet will blend Latino-Caribbean tempos with the dance-like frenzy of African music.

21 July

American saxophonist Abdu Salim will pepper black American jazz with the fiery exuberance of five young Toulouse musicians, in front of the Pinsac church.

DAYTIME JAZZ

Two exhibits: ��Jazz, art, rhythm�� performances and plastic arts, and ��Sim Copans and French jazz��, based on the work of Sim Copans, an American radio jazzman in France and co-founder of the festival.

Music in the streets, on the squares and on caf�� terraces: with local bands, brass bands and New Orleans groups, from Monday 15 to Saturday 20 July.

JAZZ AND OLD STONES

The Department of the Lot abounds in warm old stones. The festival��s opening concert will take place in the iconic Grottes de Lacave. The illuminated Roman abbey of Souillac will add magic to the four concerts on the place Pierre Betz. Pinsac��s church square, and Souillac��s medieval streets, covered market, belfry and outdoor market will resonate with jazz as the entire town is transformed into a stage.

JAZZ IN ITS LOCAL CONTEXT

The Souillac jazz festival association works closely with several local groups to contribute to the region��s cultural development: the Amis des Sentiers souillagais, for a jazz walk; the local producers�� market, for a jazz dinner; the Amis de l��orgue de l��abbaye Sainte- Marie, for a jazz organ performance; and the local movie theatre, for a screening of a film about jazz (Olivier Ta?eb��s Jazzmix in New York).

The Souillac jazz festival, now in its 38th year, is funded by more than 150 local merchants, small businesses and tradespeople; patrons; and the Town of Souillac, the Department of the Lot, the Midi-Pyr��n��es region and the French Government, in recognition of its key role in local development.

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