NÎMES For more than 50 years, jazz has made Nîmes shine – Objectif Gard

Believe it or not, the history of jazz was also written in Nîmes! With “Jazz never stops”, theassociation Jazz 70, created on September 1, 1970, celebrates 50 years at Carré d’art with a beautiful exhibition retracing this story from October 6 to November 15.

Jazz, for its history in Nîmes, began in 1946 in the cellar of Jacques Taillefer. Boris Vian came there in person … Not far from there, Sidney Bechet or Louis Armstrong strolled in the streets of the city and in the corridors of the Imperator. This is the beginning of the exhibition proposed by Jazz 70 at Carré d’art.

Guy Labory then takes over the Hot Club to make it the Jazz Club because for him, unlike others, jazz is not dead and continues to evolve. Good idea because it is from there that the city will continue to attract the big names of contemporary jazz. We are in 1956. From 1965 and in the logic of creation of an association which will be Jazz 70, things accelerated to lead in 1976 to the first jazz festival of Nîmes in the arenas.

Both singular and plural

” Jazz is not only in Paris and here a jazz and pop music review has been created, notes Stéphane Kochoyan, member of the association which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. The first three issues will be available on a tablet for the exhibition. Jazz in Nîmes was then carried by the Jazz Club in complementarity with Jazz 70 because we played all jazz! “He says it very well himself, but jazz is both singular and plural.

” Guy Labory’s brother gave us all his archives which we in turn deposited at Carré d’art. This memory is worked on, processed, inventoried because Carré d’art plays its role of conservation and library to perfection. This exhibition is the culmination of all the material but the story continues with our partnership with the platform QwestTV “, recalls the president of Jazz 70 since 2006, Laurent Duport.

Fifty quotes will decorate the posters, photos, souvenirs and other musical moments from these fifty years of jazz in Nîmes on the Foster wall of Carré d’Art. ” It must be said that at the time of the jazz festival, in the arenas, there was only Carmen, the corrida and Holiday on ice! Miles Davis and so many others came to play! “, recalls Stéphane Kochoyan.

The Nîmes concerts then filled the amphitheater that some jazzmen even wanted to buy … ” Our festival was recognized thanks to its avant-garde programming which never excluded the great tradition. It was the period of the golden age of jazz and its history also played out here. All the generations were in Nîmes but at the time, no one was aware of the weight that this festival would have in the history of jazz. I think that the awareness of Nîmes land of jazz has not yet been revealed “, adds Laurent Duport.

Time for testing

In 1988, the festival stopped. The previous year, concerts had been canceled because of the rain and the association’s treasury had taken a hit in the gums. The festival never took place in the arenas, or at the Jardins de la Fontaine, or at Caveirac.

After this cursed 13th edition (the fate was broken this year with the Nîmes metropolis jazz festival which is in its 14th edition), Guy Labory paid the debts of Jazz Club which had filed for bankruptcy. There was a great concert of support. Jean-Paul Fournier had also supported the festival and the association but Jean Bousquet, then mayor of the city, felt less involved. Yet he himself had said all the good that jazz did to the city of Antonins when a headliner played there …

From 1989 and the arrival of Bernard Souroque, various things were put to the test. A festival linked to Heineken, another called Jazz à Daudet then the Printemps du jazz which lasted a few years. Under the first mandate of Jean-Paul Fournier, Nîmes jazz finds refuge in Caveirac then, Joël Vincent, Jean-Max Bayou and Jean-Paul Fournier create the commission which initiates the Nîmes Métropole l’Agglo festival to the rhythm of jazz. The call for tenders was launched to organize it and Jazz 70 was chosen. Since then a beautiful collaboration has started again which still holds and which links Nîmes metropolis to jazz.

” Jazz was considered important. It is used for the dissemination of culture in the villages of the agglomeration and few things that we have proposed have not been retained by Nîmes metropolis since, affirm Stéphane Kochoyan and Laurent Duport. The Nîmes metropolis jazz festival makes sense, especially with its Off part. We have been recognized as a general interest association since 2015. This proves that we are legitimate and that Jazz 70 is a healthy association! The new mandate must understand that there is a real history and a real audience because jazz represents beautiful values ​​such as freedom, peace, tolerance, innovation. Nîmes shines widely thanks to this culture. “

Indeed, without political will, especially at the present time, it is very difficult to organize a festival. This exhibition, whose photos by Christian Ducasse and Jean-Marc Birraux highlight strong moments in the life of the city, only retraces a story that continues, a story that has meaning, a story that we must know how to maintain. smallest plot. This exhibition is facing the pandemic and also offers a good dose of resilience. It is a militant act that will tell visitors to keep moving forward.

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