Jazz for Ville

Jazz for Ville: thirty years of live jazz in Alfortville

Launched in 1996 by the town of Alfortville (94140), the Jazz for Ville festival has built a solid reputation over the years in the Parisian jazz festival scene. Held every spring at the Pôle Culturel d'Alfortville — located at Parvis des Arts, 94140 Alfortville — it brings together top-tier musicians each year in an intimate setting that fosters closeness between artists and the public.

A Claimed Eclecticism

Since its inception, Jazz for Ville has distinguished itself through a deliberately eclectic and curious program, refusing to be confined to a single style of jazz. Each edition weaves a dialogue between the great traditions of American jazz, the innovations of the European scene, and fusions with other world music.

Among the artists who have marked the festival's history are American double bassist Dave Holland, the exuberant blues guitarist Popa Chubby, Franco-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, double bassist Avishai Cohen, guitarist Thomas Dutronc, and oud master Rabih Abou-Khalil, who often closed the festival with his Mediterranean quintet blending accordion, tuba, saxophone, and oriental percussion.

Memorable Evenings

The festival spans about a week, with concerts every evening at 8:30 PM. Past editions have featured various formats: solo, intimate duo, quartet, big band, and electronic ensemble. The 2013 edition, for example, brought together the Electro Deluxe Big Band — a band with soul and funk influences — Pierre Wekstein's Klezmer Nova — which reinvents Yiddish music through jazz — and the great quartet of pianist Yaron Herman with saxophonist Émile Parisien. The 2010 edition hosted Cuban pianist Ernesto Tito Puentes and his Big Bang, at the crossroads of jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms.

A Festival Rooted in Local Life

Jazz for Ville is much more than just a festival: it has become an unmissable event in Alfortville's cultural calendar. Each year, it helps build connections between residents and artists by offering affordable prices and promoting direct interaction in a human-scale venue. The Pôle Culturel hall, with its refined acoustics, provides ideal listening conditions to appreciate the subtlety of jazz in all its expressions.

The festival also maintains ties with local associations and music education institutions, allowing young local musicians to rub shoulders with the great names of international jazz. This educational and community-focused dimension remains at the heart of Jazz for Ville's identity.