Porrentruy-Delle Jazz Festival

The jazz event of the Territoire de Belfort, on the Swiss border

The Porrentruy-Delle Jazz Festival, more simply presented today under the name of Soirée Jazz à Delle (Jazz Evening in Delle), is the major annual jazz event of the Delle Animation association. It is held every year in June at the Halle des 5 Fontaines, a multi-purpose hall in the commune of Delle (90100), in the south of the Territoire de Belfort, just a few kilometers from the Franco-Swiss border and the Jura town of Porrentruy.

A Franco-Swiss cross-border history

The festival was born from a cultural partnership between Delle Animation and jazz partners from Porrentruy, in the Swiss canton of Jura. For several years, the event alternated between France and Switzerland — one year in Delle, the following year in Porrentruy — which earned it its official compound name. Today, the format has narrowed to an annual jazz evening in Delle, but the cross-border spirit remains present in the festival's identity and programming, which regularly welcomes Swiss, Alsatian, and international artists.

Delle Animation, over thirty years serving culture

The festival is organized by the Delle Animation association, founded in 1991 under the 1901 law. An essential cultural actor in the south of the Territoire de Belfort, Delle Animation organizes more than forty events — concerts, conferences, exhibitions, cinema weeks — and notably about ten jazz concerts per year at the Caveau des Remparts, an intimate and historic venue in the town. The annual jazz evening at the Halle des 5 Fontaines is their big summer event.

An evening in three parts, with free admission

The evening's format is now well-established: three concerts follow one another during the evening at the Halle des 5 Fontaines, from 7:30 PM until late into the night, with on-site catering offered by the association between sets. Admission is free, making it a particularly popular and family-friendly event. The program mixes aesthetics — gypsy jazz, swing, New Orleans blues, contemporary jazz, boogie woogie — to offer a panorama of the French and international jazz scene in a convivial atmosphere.

Headliners from Europe and beyond

Over the editions, the Halle des 5 Fontaines has hosted established artists and European revelations: Mike Sanchez (United Kingdom), Wax & Boogie (Spain), Ladyva (Switzerland), Rascal Syndicate, MYA Trio, Mama Shakers or the Eric Theiller New Orleans Band. The programming draws from partner festivals of the European jazz scene — Jazz in Marciac, Fest Jazz, Basel Blues Festival, Arènes de Lunel — to offer an evening of quality that one might not necessarily expect to find for free in a commune of less than 6,000 inhabitants.