Jazz music has infused Paris since the Great War. Building on the genre’s rich, politically influential, and often serendipitous history, an evocative jazz scene still resonates in the French capital today, thriving in fantastically atmospheric venues such as ancient stone cellars.
Clubs across the city stage exhilarating concerts and free-wheeling jam sessions that run deep into the night, while jazz is celebrated at festivals year-round and often in some magical open-air settings.
WWI Beginnings: A New Sound for Paris
Jazz sounded its first notes in Paris during WWI, when African-American soldiers, then stationed in France with the US army, came together to play ragtime and jazz in the city’s music halls. Following the war, during les années folles (the ‘crazy years’ of the 1920s), jazz took hold as exuberant Parisians embraced the music, culture, and philosophy that accompanied it. The capital of a country whose national motto remains liberté, égalité, fraternité (liberty, equality, brotherhood) was a magnet for US performers including Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong, who were facing racial segregation in their homeland.
Interwar Birth of French Jazz
Economic pressures from the Great Depression forced many US performers to return to America. In their absence, local musicians began experimenting with the style. Trailblazing guitarist Django Reinhardt, a Belgian-born French national of Manouche Romani descent, was at the forefront of the movement. Despite a 1928 caravan fire leaving two fingers on his left fretting hand permanently paralyzed at the age of 18, Reinhardt and Parisian violinist Stéphane Grappelli jammed in sessions promoted by the association Hot Club de France. They formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France, the first ‘all-French’ jazz band, recording together and opening for American jazz star Coleman Hawkins, thereby cementing the arrival of Jazz Manouche, also known as Gypsy Jazz.
WWII and Its Legacy
During WWII, as Paris fell under Nazi Occupation, audiences were drawn to the freedom that jazz evoked. To avoid its suppression, the term ‘jazz’ became a catch-all for various styles that encompassed swing, which the Nazis equated with defiance and punished with incarceration.
Moreover, rebellious locals successfully convinced the Nazis that jazz was a long-standing French tradition, and radio stations broadcast it alongside Nazi propaganda. Consequently, many songs were retitled during this time (for instance, I Got Rhythm became Agate Rhythm) and artists used pseudonyms (Louis Armstrong performed under the name Jean Sablon). Jazz went underground, with clandestine clubs operating in soundproof cellars. Django Reinhardt’s Nuages became an anthem for the French Resistance, which used the clubs as a means to transmit messages; Resistance members included Hot Club’s co-founder Jacques Bureau and entertainer Josephine Baker.
After the war, American musicians returned to perform in Paris. Jazz legends at the inaugural Festival International de Jazz in Paris in 1948 included Dizzy Gillespie; in 1949, the lineup featured fellow bebop progenitor Charlie Parker, along with icons such as Sidney Bechet, Thelonius Monk, Mary Lou Williams, and Miles Davis. Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, Paris was a focal point of the global jazz scene; clarinettist Claude Luter, who accompanied Sidney Bechet, enjoyed huge success with his Dixieland band during this era. Another wave of jazz clubs sprang up in the 1980s, with more continuing to open their doors ever since.
Parisian Jazz Clubs Today
It’s possible to catch a live jazz performance on every night of the week in Paris. Fabled Left Bank venues include Caveau de la Huchette, situated in a Latin Quarter caveau (cellar). Dating from the 16th century and used as a courtroom and torture chamber during the French Revolution, it has hosted a roll-call of jazz greats since opening in 1949.
Café Universel serves as a vibrant spot for free concerts featuring young local artists experimenting with bebop, vocals, and Latin sounds. Near the chestnut-shaded park Jardin du Luxembourg, patrons can enjoy Dixieland, big band, and swing at Le Petit Journal St-Michel. Chez Papa, located in St-Germain, complements superb traditional French menus with piano duets, blues, sax solos, and singers.
On the Right Bank, Les Halles has a trio of lauded jazz clubs footsteps apart on the same street: sophisticated Duc des Lombards, featuring up-close seating; earthy Le Baiser Salé (the ‘Salty Kiss’), known for diverse acts and electrifying jam sessions; and Sunset/Sunside, a double venue showcasing eclectic sets at basement Sunset and ground-floor Sunside. Deep below ground in Le Marais, an exposed-stone cellar houses Cave du 38 Riv’, which offers a wide range of styles, from bossa nova to funk, and hosts spirited late-night jams.
Near Canal St-Martin, the cherished 500-capacity venue New Morning has hosted Chet Baker and Dizzy Gillespie among others. Up in hilly Montmartre, Bab-Ilo provides an especially intimate experience, accommodating just 40 people. Inside the 1972 hotel Le Méridien Étoile, Jazz Club Étoile is renowned for quality jazz, having featured performers such as BB King and Lionel Hampton.
Jazz Festivals
Top billing on Paris’ jazz calendar goes to the Paris Jazz Festival, which features weekend concerts in the second half of June and throughout July, in the Parc Floral de Paris, set within the rambunctious eastern forest, the Bois de Vincennes, against a picturesque lake backdrop. During the first half of September, Jazz à la Villette festival presents sessions in the futuristic Parc de la Villette and its surrounding venues including the Philharmonie de Paris and Cabaret Sauvage.
In mid to late October, Jazz Sur Seine showcases around 400 musicians at low-priced concerts held at jazz clubs in Paris and the surrounding Île-de-France region. Headlining jazz, blues, and R&B acts perform during the Banlieues Bleues (Suburban Blues) festival, taking place from mid-March to mid-April in venues across Paris’ northern suburbs.
Additionally, jazz musicians perform on street corners and stages outside bars during the free Fête de la Musique on the summer solstice. Throughout the year, enthusiastic buskers delight audiences with free jazz on Paris’s streets, squares, and the metro—a coveted gig for which they must audition.
Need to Know
Concerts and festivals are listed on the Paris Jazz Club website.
For unticketed jazz club performances, even ‘free’ admission generally incurs a surcharge of a few euros and requires you to purchase a drink (often necessitating you to order and pay at the door, then exchange your receipt at the bar). It’s advisable to bring cash to tip the musicians when the hat is passed around.
Local radio station TFS Jazz regularly broadcasts live from Parisian jazz clubs and festivals. In Paris, listeners can tune in at frequency 89.9, or stream it online worldwide.
