The Nice Jazz Festival is back next month with a great and varied line-up of top quality artists, and so much more!
What would July in Nice be without the beloved musical highlight of summer, the annual jazz festival? From its inception back in 1948, the festival has grown over the decades and now ranks among the top festivals globally. The 2025 festival runs from Thursday 24th to Sunday 27th July.
The programme for the upcoming edition certainly includes a diverse selection of acts, suiting nearly all musical tastes.
The festival kicks off on 24th July with the fabulous Raye, Earthgang and Polo & Pan performing in Place Masséna, while Théâtre de Verdure hosts the John Scofield ‘Long Days Quartet’, China Moses, Daoud and the Sullivan Fortner Trio.
Other acts to look out for include Mustard, Jalen Ngonda, Goldlink, Jorja Smith, Santa, Feu! Chatterton and Ekep Nkwelle. On the Friday, there is an Oscar Peterson Celebration featuring Sullivan Fortner, John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton while on the Sunday, there is a festival-closing Jazz Celebration featuring China Moses, Hugh Coltman, Pablo Campos, Robin McKelle, Jowee Omicil and many more.
The 2025 festival also features the regular Fest’Off, which runs from the 2nd to 27th July in a variety of locations. There is an amazing programme on offer with close-on 100 artists taking over the streets of Nice, bringing a vibrant mix of New Orleans jazz, soul, funk, rock, ska, hip-hop… and many other unexpected surprises!
The Nice Jazz Festival village “La Merenda” will be open from 5:30pm each day. With JoeyStarr at the helm and accompanied by top chefs, the village will offer festival-goers a very unique experience. This includes a bar and food court, a pétanque court and small stage where music will resonate from the moment the doors open and during all set changes on the Théâtre de Verdure stage. Once the concerts end, the after-parties take over. Starting at midnight, the village will transform into an acoustic jam session under the stars, where you can rock until the early hours.
The 2025 edition of the Nice Jazz Festival runs from Thursday 24th to Sunday 27th July in Place Masséna and Théâtre de Verdure. Individual or multi-day passes may be purchased online.
Lead image by Dolo Iglesias on Unsplash (cropped); all other images courtesy Ville de Nice / Nice Jazz Festival; playlist courtesy Spotify
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