For this 4th day of the world’s oldest jazz festival, we present to you today’s program:
On the Masséna stage:
LOUS AND THE YAKUZA – 8 PM
Lous and the Yakuza is a young artist, singer-songwriter who spent her childhood between Congo, Belgium, and Rwanda. Her passion drives her to independently produce 7 EPs. Lous became known after the release of her first single Dilemme in 2019, a track from her album Gore produced by El Guincho. Her impactful, sensitive, and committed lyrics confirm that the phenomenon Lous & The Yakuza is a true revelation. She adopted her stage name from the anagram Soul, the source of her musical inspiration, and Yakuza, the name she uses to describe her team of collaborators. Her style is a combination of trap, R&B, and pop, carried by highly effective instrumentals.
CELESTE – 9:15 PM
Some people are born to sing. Celeste, 27, is definitely one of them. Reviving the spirit of great soul singers, her album “Not Your Muse,” moving and sincere, addresses poignant themes of growth, departure, unrequited love, and finding one’s place in the universe. All this with a luminous voice that is rare. It is with the album “Not Your Muse” that Celeste achieved recognition. On this first album, she further showcases her extraordinary vocal power, directly competing with singers like Adele. But it would be dishonest to compare Celeste as she is unique on the music scene.
HER – 11 PM
Three letters that need no explanation. In five years with 21 Grammy Award nominations and 4 wins to date, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist H.E.R. has had an incredible career, marked by inspiring projects and awards that have quickly catapulted her to superstar status. Over the years, H.E.R. has captivated audiences through countless outstanding performances, including Super Bowl LV, the CMT Music Awards with Chris Stapleton, the 72nd Emmy Awards, the Grammy Awards (2x), Saturday Night Live, the Billboard Music Awards, the ABC show Soul of a Nation, the Elton John tribute on iHeart Radio, Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince.
At the Theater of Verdure:
YESSAÏ KARAPETIAN – 7:30 PM
After remarkable live performances with Guillaume Perret (A Certain Trip, 12 levers de Soleil) or as part of the trio ONEFOOT, a pioneer of French “next gen” jazz, Franco-Armenian pianist and composer Yessaï Karapetian is now spreading his own wings, determined to make sparks. On bass, we find Marc Karapetian, the leader’s brother, Théo Moutou is on drums, while we enjoy the notes of guitarist Gabriel Gosse (a genius found with Christian Scott, Eddy de Pretto, or Katerine). Saxophonist Mounir Sefsouf completes the cosmopolitan and iconoclastic formation imagined by Karapetian. Five young French musicians with a conquering spirit, originating from Armenia, Guadeloupe, Réunion, and Algeria, for whom music and humanity are one.
GERALD CLAYTON TRIO – 8:45 PM
Gerald Clayton is the very definition of class. The American pianist and composer has been nominated for the Grammy Awards six times. The logical continuation of his already well-attuned promising career: he became a Blue Note Artist in 2020 with the release of “Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard.” He returns with “Bells On Sand,” his second album for Blue Note Records. The album explores the impact and abstraction of time through eleven tracks in harmony with his mentor Charles Lloyd on saxophone, father John Clayton on bass, longtime friend Justin Brown on drums, and new collaborator MARO on vocals. His elegance and finesse have earned him the opportunity to play and record with Diana Krall, Ben Wendel, Dianne Reeves, and Terence Blanchard. This former student of Billy Childs was also the pianist for Roy Hargrove…
MELODY GARDOT “ENTRE EUX DEUX” – 10:30 PM
With “Worrisome Heart,” her brilliant debut album in 2008, young American singer, songwriter, and composer Melody Gardot made a resounding impact, much like a certain Norah Jones did in 2001. A jazz singer, the young woman with a fitting first name comes back from far away. During her long recovery from a serious accident, she laid the foundation for her music. This year, with her latest album “Entre Eux Deux,” a true hymn to love for her adopted city Paris and French culture, she delivers perhaps her most jazz and certainly her most intimate album of her career.
