the festivals

where i'm going this week:

Monday, July 10th - Julien Lallier's quartet (www.julienlallier.com) is playing the 7 Lezards, 21h

Friday, Bastille Day (July 14th): Bassist Patrick Ruffino, originally from Benin, (& one of the main energies in the group Fa) is playing the Baiser Sale. 22h

Saturday, July 15th: if the weather is good, I'm heading to the Parc Florale to hear sax player Charles Lloyd

Sunday, July 16th at 4pm: Montmartre native Joelle Leandre is doing a free solo concert with bass, concentrating on free jazz with a few contemporary music pieces thrown in (John Cage, mostly). Couldn’t be a more poetic location: the garden of the Museum of Montmartre, 12 rue Cortot in the 18th.)

Monday, July 17th: i have a nifty invite to RTL Jazz Festival to hear pianist Ahmad Jamal, who i've never heard live, so should be interesting. (the RTL fest also features Stochelo Rosenberg on July 12th and Aldo Romano on July 18th)

FESTIVALS... there are so many in the summer, it's impossible to keep up, but here are a few that you simply can't miss:

Paris Jazz Festival until July 30th (free concerts but you have to pay 4 euros to get into the Parc Floral in the Parc de Vincennes www.parisjazzfestival2006.com

Les Arenes de Jazz : second year for this mini-festival in my arrondissement! July 26th-July 31st, at the Arenes de Montmartre (rue Chappe, near Sacre Coeur in the 18th) Programme includes Elisabeth Kontomanou, Guillaume de Chassy, Paolo Fresu. For a full schedule, visit http://www.quartierdete.com/ (the Arenes is part of the city's QUARTIER D'ETE summer festival schedule).

Jazz A Luz, July 8 - 11th www.luz.org (almost over, but if you're in the area, check it out)

Jazz A Juan, if you're down south, this is the one with the biggest names: July 12 - 22nd features Diana Krall, Tracy Chapman, plus several big bands. There's also the 'off-festival' or alternative jazz festival in Juan les Pins throughout July, with some great players in local venues; check out http://www.antibesjuanlespins.com/ for details

plus I found this unbeautiful but useful list of all kinds of festivals across France, so plan your travel route accordingly: http://www.jigal.com/france/frconc-fest.html