Be Bop or Be Dead

ℹ️ Festival discontinued under the name Be Bop or Be Dead. After six editions (2016-2022), the Be Bop or Be Dead festival held its last edition under this name on May 20 and 21, 2022. The organizing association Bonus Track, still active in Belfort, has evolved its jazz activities under the identity Jazz à Belfort (year-round concert season and the summer event « Les Mercredis du Château » at the Citadel). There is no edition of the Be Bop or Be Dead festival scheduled for 2026.

Be Bop or Be Dead: Jazz asserted in Belfort

From 2016 to 2022, the Be Bop or Be Dead festival proudly showcased jazz in Belfort. Born from the will of the Bonus Track association, active in producing jazz concerts in the city since 2012, the festival immediately displayed its ambition with this name, a nod to the bebop manifesto: jazz is a living, current, indispensable music.

Its founding message was simple: to show that jazz, far from being a genre stuck in the past, is more than ever a current music, capable of surprising, moving, and bringing people together. To do this, the festival always combined artistic excellence with accessibility, inviting both regulars and novices to discover the breadth of the jazz universe.

A festival in Belfort's iconic venues

Be Bop or Be Dead took up residence in Belfort's main concert halls. Le Granit, the national stage of the Territoire de Belfort, and La Poudrière hosted major ensembles and invited soloists, offering festival-goers a first-rate acoustic and architectural setting. The École d'art Gérard-Jacot also hosted concerts during the last edition.

The concerts offered a wide stylistic palette, from bebop to contemporary avant-gardes, including modal jazz, free jazz, jazz-rock, and improvised music. This assumed eclecticism remained the festival's hallmark throughout its editions.

Leading artists

Among the artists invited over the editions of Be Bop or Be Dead, were major figures of contemporary jazz: Roberto Fonseca, a Cuban pianist with cross-cultural influences, notably enchanted the Belfort audience during the 2019 edition. Guillaume Perret, a Franco-Swiss saxophonist with communicative energy, also graced the Belfort stage. Each edition was distinguished by the encounter between high-caliber jazz and a local audience eager for discoveries.

From Be Bop or Be Dead to Jazz à Belfort

The festival was held under this name until May 2022, its sixth edition marking the end of this format. The Bonus Track association, which was then celebrating its tenth anniversary, chose to turn the page while continuing its mission: it evolved its activities under the name Jazz à Belfort, consolidating the identity of a complete jazz season, and has been organizing « Les Mercredis du Château », summer concerts at the Citadel, since 2019. The spirit of Be Bop or Be Dead — this conviction that jazz is vital, urgent, necessary — thus continues to animate Belfort's jazz life, even if the festival is no longer held under this name.