The annual jazz festival (Jazz à Juan) takes place at Juan Les Pins in July. It is held in the Pinede (pine grove). It was in 1960 that the Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival was officially launched. Stéphane Grapelli played at the first festival. The town is now twinned with the French quarter of New Orleans, USA. The Pinede is between the Mediterranean and Le Provençal that was once a famous hotel till the 1960's and stood empty for more than 40 years and is currently being converted into luxury apartments.
The view from this open air theatre is superb, as in the photo above of Ahmad Jamal playing in 2006 with the Mediterranean backdrop and the coast running past Golfe Juan towards Cannes.
The 48th Festival - July 10th to 20th 2008 featured: Ruthie Foster, James Blunt (10th July), Didier Lockwood, Thomas Dutronc (11th July), James Morrison & Joe Chindamo Quartet, Al Jarreau (12th July), Yaron Herman, John McLaughlin & The 4th Dimension (13th July), Sashird Lao, Nicole Henry (14th July), Solomon Burke, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings (15th July), Roy Hargrove, Marcus Miller (16th July), Nathalie Soles, Diana Panton, Stephu Haik, Virginie Teychene (17th July), Keith Jarrett with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette (18th July), Women of Chicago Blues, Bill Wyman & The Rhythm Kings (19th July) and on the final night - 20th July Nicole Slack Jones & The Soul Sisters.
I attended the 2008 festival for the Keith Jarrett Trio ( Keith Jarrett - Gary Peacock - Jack Dejohnette) who were making a regular visit to the Festival. The music was superb and the sound quality in the auditorium down to the final piano note. A most enjoyable evening.
There are some licenced photos of the event here
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