From July 16 to August 20, 2026, the Jazz Art Lympia festival returns to the terrace of the Lympia departmental cultural space in Nice. Six free concerts will showcase artists from the regional jazz scene, featuring standards, original creations and influences from around the world.
The Jazz Art Lympia festival will return to the port of Nice for an eighth edition organized every Thursday evening from Thursday, July 16 through August 20. The programming will take the audience on a journey through several musical styles, from swing to bossa nova, including soul, revisited pop and Italian melodies.
The first evening, this Thursday July 16, will be hosted by C. Heiting / L. Coeurdeuil Quartet. Singer Cathy Heiting and guitarist Lois Coeurdeuil will share a repertoire blending soul and jazz standards with their own compositions. The duo, recognized for their on-stage chemistry, will be accompanied by Franck Lamiot on Hammond organ and Samuel Bobin on drums. The concert will also feature several tracks from their latest EP, consisting of six original titles, including two in French.
On July 23, Glam’Jazz will offer a journey through jazz history. The quartet, composed of Sandrine Destefanis on vocals, Thierry Faure on piano, Fabrice Bistoni on bass and Didier Guazzo on drums, will revisit the great standards that marked different eras of the genre. The program will move from the Charleston of the 1920s to the swing of the 1930s, not forgetting French classics that have become international references and the rhythms of bossa nova.
On July 30, Luz Do Samba will invite the audience to discover the sounds of Brazilian music. The result of several years of work around samba, bossa nova and Brazilian popular music, the group is inspired notably by the repertoire of Djavan, Ivan Lins and João Donato. The musicians reinterpret these works with an approach enriched by jazz influences.
From jazz to international influences
The programming will continue on August 6 with Jazz on the Top’s, accompanied by trumpeter Nicolas Folmer. The group revisits jazz standards as well as pieces from pop music, leaving plenty of room for improvisation and exchanges between musicians. Guest of the evening, Nicolas Folmer has established himself as one of France’s leading trumpeters. Co-founder of the Paris Jazz Big Band, festival director and author of numerous projects, the musician has been pursuing a career marked by the exploration of new sounds for several years.
On August 13, Babel Swing Quartet will take over. Created in 2025, this ensemble was born from the meeting of musicians wishing to bring together several musical cultures through jazz and swing. On violin, Liviu Muzsikus brings his experience of Gypsy music and jazz swing. Laurent Poquet provides the bass, while Enzo Jamois, trained at the Nice Conservatory, plays guitar. On vocals, Marine Caron performs a repertoire ranging from French variety to vintage swing, in several languages.
The final evening, August 20, will be devoted to Italian Spirit Trio. The trio brings together trumpet, piano and percussion to revisit several contemporary Italian songs in arrangements with jazz colors. Formed in 2021 for the presentation of the album Italian Spirit, this ensemble enriches the dialogue between instruments to offer an instrumental reading of this repertoire, between Mediterranean influences, jazz and world music.
Access to the concerts will be free, subject to availability. Doors will open at 7 p.m. for all concerts. On each evening, the Lympia departmental cultural space will remain accessible until 9 p.m. to allow the public to discover the exhibition « Lilette and Gilbert Valentin, when the earth becomes light. »
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