| Paris Jazz Festival | |
|---|---|
 Joshua Redman performing at the Paris Jazz Festival in 2014 | |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Dates | June–July |
| Location(s) | Parc floral de Paris, Paris, France |
| Coordinates | 48°50′17″N 2°26′38″E / 48.838°N 2.444°E |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Founded by | Franck Marchal and Olivier Bastardie |
| Attendance | 100,000 |
| Website | festivalsduparcfloral |
Paris Jazz Festival is a jazz festival in Paris, France, established in 1994.
The Paris Jazz Festival was founded in the spring of 1994 by Franck Marchal and Olivier Bastardie. It was meant from the start to become a major event in the heart of Paris.[1]
Initially known under the name À fleur de Jazz (a reference to its botanical garden setting,[2] the festival rapidly met with a large popular success, obtaining the support of jazz aficionados and nature lovers. It featured the elite of international jazz, with performances by Didier Lockwood, Trilok Gurtu, Brad Mehldau, Lionel and Stéphane Belmondo, Richard Bona among others. Adopting the name Paris Jazz Festival in 1998, it gathered momentum on the occasion of the 1999 edition with the inauguration of the Delta, a covered outdoor stage with a seating capacity of 1,500 people, and standing capacity of 5,000.
It has been placed into the hands of different promoters since 2003:
The editorial policy of the Paris Jazz Festival has evolved over the years. Although it featured at first jazz artists traveling Europe on summer tours, it has been centering its program on the promotion and influence of the French jazz scene since 2009.[3] The Victoires du Jazz (the equivalent in France of the Grammy Awards) chose the Paris Jazz Festival in 2012 and 2014 as the official site for their annual ceremony. In 2013, the Festival made the news when it tested for the first time at a major event the Wave Field Synthesis system, a spatial audio rendering technique, characterized by the creation of virtual acoustic environments.
The Paris Jazz Festival is the flagship of the Musical Summer at Parc Floral, a global event including young audience festival Pestacles and classical music festival Classique au Vert. The Paris Jazz Festival opens its doors every Saturday and Sunday afternoon in June and July. Concerts, workshops, attractions and exhibitions are accessible free of charge, although a small entrance fee is required from park visitors.[4]
Since 2011, night concerts have been taking place on specific weekends, in addition to the afternoon concerts. A second stage known as the Jazz Barge, set up on the park lake, has been offering additional concerts since 2012. The festival also includes in its program specific creations commissioned by the artistic management of the PJF. On the closing night of the 2013 edition, an original score, composed by Patrice Caratini and played by the 17-piece Caratini Jazz Ensemble, accompanied the screening of Body and Soul (1925), the silent masterpiece of African-American director Oscar Micheaux.
