Nice Jazz Festival 2015 Third Night

Lisa-Kaindé & Naomi Diaz ©Ville de Nice

Nice Jazz Festival 2015 third night was rich in musical emotions, a huge success based on Jazz from elsewhere and Urban Groove with Lauryn Hill headlining.

Grégory Privat & Sonny Troupé at Théâtre de Verdure

To begin this evening, Caribbean Jazz was under the limelight with the duo Grégory Privat & Sonny Troupé. The two musicians from the Caribbean immediately seduced the crowd massed at the Théâtre de Verdure, despite a sweltering heat. Their Jazz, performed at four hands on a piano and a djombé, suffused a melodious and colorful music that sparked in the public a wave of swaying of 45 minutes.

Grégory Privat & Sonny-Troupé ©Ville de Nice

Ibeyi on the Massena Stage

Another pretty exotic trip in the Caribbean, back on Scène Massena, this time with Ibeyi, another duo composed of the twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz. Quietly sitting in the stands, the audience let themselves be taken away to another trip with accents tinged with melancholy and exoticism. Between rock and Cuban folk music, the two daughters of the late Anga Diaz, the Buena Vista Social Club’s percussionist, surely inherited from their father’s talent.

Ibeyi ©Ville de Nice

Brad Mehldau Trio at Théâtre de Verdure

By mid-evening at the Théâtre de Verdure, Brad Mehldau Trio‘s performance offered the public a tonic and sharp Jazz. Brad Mehldau, internationally renowned pianist, devilishly charismatic with his slightly melancholic and falsely disillusioned allure, was accompanied by his comrades Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard. The trio gave us Jazz standards and Rock songs covers with such intensity that the audience caught up in this musical game and softly sang the chorus of the most famous numbers.

Hiatus Kaiyote on the Stage Massena

At 21h, return on Massena Stage where the Australian group Hiatus Kaiyote was performing. Their punk look, their music influenced by hip hop, jazz and opera, the unclassifiable voice of singer Nai Palm, interpreting the repertoire of their last album, recalled the best Groove voice and has delighted the Soul lovers.

Hiatus Kaiyote ©Ville de Nice

Master of jazz, Kurt Elling at Théâtre de Verdure

Despite of the night growing old, the heat was still overwhelming in the Théâtre de Verdure stands. But it is with excitement that the public expected one of the greatest Jazz singer in the world: Kurt Elling. He took the stage wearing a light suit, relaxed and smiling. The singer was accompanied by John Mclean, his guitarist and Clark Sommers, his bass, and Bryan Carter on drums. Gary Versace on piano and organ was replacing the talented Laurence Hobgood, who shared during many years Kurt Elling’s music. The amazing artist on stage delivered a concert of great beauty. Starting with the title Come Fly With Me, a song recorded in 2012, part of the album 1619 Broadway – The Brill Building Project, he continued with titles like The Waking from the album Nightmoves. The quintet also performed two of his great hits and in the final, with the standing ovation of the audience moved to tears: La Vie en Rose.

Lauryn Hill, Massena Stage

End of this third Jazz evening rich in musical emotions on the Massena stage with the golden voice of the exceptional artist Laury Hill who chose the Nice Jazz Festival for her unique concert in France. To date, Lauryn Hill remains the essential voice for generations that made hip hop sing and resound in the 90s with the legendary group The Fugees featuring the hit “The Score,” released in 1996, the best-selling rap album in history in the US. With only one single studio album released in 1998 – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – 12 times named at Grammy Awards, that sold over 20 million copies worldwide, the singer is now discreet and rare on stage.

The queen of jazz, wearing a straw hat, a short dress with colorful patterns and black boots, appeared around 23:30, enthroned in the middle of the stage on a red chair borrowed from the opera, a guitar in hand. The singer, accompanied by a brass section, choir and his band, chained the hits in his repertoire that all were expecting. Later, standing in the Riviera night, she danced and made Nice public move at her own pace. When she began the first notes of Killing Me Softly, all join in a chorus with her for a very emotional moment. To finish off this beautiful musical performance, she devoted the last moments of her concert to covers of two Bob Marley songs, Jammin, Is this love? and a hit by Stevie Wonder.