this summer, the 30th Jazz à Sète festival wants to bring down the house!

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From July 15 to 21, the unmissable Jazz festival in Sète will find its precious jewel case theater of the sea for a 30th “premium” edition with some great headliners: Biréli Lagrene, Avishai Cohen, Richard Bona, Marcus Miller, Electro Deluxe, John Scofield… et Melody Gardot ! Who says better?

2024 half-hearted, full on 2025!

A choice of heart and reason for composer guitarist Louis Martinezindestructible director and founder of Jazz à Sète, for whom this 2025 edition has several challenges. “First of all, we must erase the semi-failure of 2024 », he explains, referring to one of the worst attendances in the history of the thirty-year-old event. “ The overall context explains this, since there were the elections, the Olympic Games, inflation but also competition unusual that other festivals have made for us which have chosen to postpone their dates to avoid, precisely, the collision with the Olympics.

A very nice program

They did not avoid the one with Jazz à Sète, but the artistic director also mentions “a program perhaps a little too bold » which apparently dissuaded part of the public: “To illustrate this failure, let us recall just one evening of the six scheduled was full. The financial results of the 2024 festival are not great, but we will get through it.” Especially with the predictable success of this 30th festival (fingers crossed) which is coming colorful !

“This 30th festival, which is of course a little special, is made up of projects that we loved and which will delight music lovers”

Jazz à Sète has arranged evenings with big names in jazz for a program which confirms the international status of the Hérault festival and should allow it to reconnect with its audience. “This failure served as a lesson to us. And as we wanted to hit hard for the 30th anniversary of Jazz in Sète, we put in the means,” confirms Louis Martinez: “We offer six very high-level evenings for the general public,” assures the famous guitarist, proud of a final line-up ( the evening of July 17 is not yet set) which already has nothing to envy of the last 100 meters final of the Paris Olympics.

Wednesday July 15: exceptional tribute to Sylvain Luc
The late guitarist Sylvain Luc (1965-2024), long-time friend of Louis Martinez and Jazz à Sète, will have his evening. To celebrate music and one of its great historical figures, the festival called together friends: “Sylvain, my friend, my brother, an absolute genius of music,” recalls the festival director, admitting not to to recover from this sudden disappearance. There will therefore be a lot of emotions on the stage of the Théâtre de la Mer with the guitarists Biréli Lagrène and Louis Winsberg, the pianist Paul Lay, the accordionists Lionel Suarez and Gérard Luc, the drummer André Ceccarelli, the harmonica player Olivier Ker Ourio , trumpeter Stéphane Belmondo… “And we will also have a surprise guest, a star whose name we are keeping secret,” slips Louis Martinez.

July 16: El Comité + Harold López-Nussa (piano) and Laura Prince
A “fusional” evening in perspective with the fabulous collective of Cuban musicians El Comité, to which will be added another big name, that of the pianist Harold López-Nussa. And as Jazz à Sète remains the place for experiments and mixtures, soul-jazz singer Laura Prince will be at the microphone. The performance of the Cuban combo will be followed by another great moment, that of Richard Bona. The bassist of Cameroonian origin with a silky voice will be at the Théâtre de la Mer to share with his musicians his new soulful project live and in quintet.

July 17: surprise (but we still know that it will be a women's field)
Louis Martinez confirms that this evening is not yet definitive, a matter of weeks… “We won't say more, but we can make a little confidence: we have chosen to put together a female vocal set… it will be a very nice evening.”

July 18: Christian Sand + Avishai Cohen
Another virtuoso show at the Théâtre de la Mer with the association of two generational talents, the African-American pianist Christian Sands and the Israeli double bassist Avishai Cohen, undoubtedly one of the most important current figures in modern jazz.

July 19: Louis Mature + Marcus Miller
The evenings and the great musicians come one after the other in Sète with the New York bassist Marcus Mille, associated, for this show in the sea spray, with the Swiss Louis Matute, considered a guitar prodigy. The evening promises to be particularly electric!

July 20: Naima quartet + Melody Gardot
It's the return of Naïma 4tet, winner of the Jazz à Sète springboard, who will distill their original music with the scent of fresh jazz mixed with pop and Latin flavors. The group will then give way to the diva of jazz singers, the great (drumroll…) Melody Gardot!

July 21: Electro Deluxe + John Scofield
For its last evening of 2025, Jazz à Sète wanted to end with a sort of fireworks display. This will be the case with an exceptional evening which will see the brass formation Electro Deluxe and its delicious cocktail of jazz, funk and disco. The second part will raise the bar even higher with the highly anticipated performance on the Hérault coast by legendary jazz guitarist John Scofield. A unique moment, especially since the great musician will present his new project with funky accents in a quartet.

Places to give away for Christmas!

For the first in its history, Jazz à Sète wanted to announce its programming not in the spring, but from December 12. “Habits evolve, we adapt,” concedes Louis Martinez, explaining that the choice of mid-December allows spectators to offer Jazz à Sète tickets for Christmas. This 2025 program should make it possible to attract a very large audience thanks to shows that are “more accessible than last year”, insists Louis Martinez. The director of Jazz à Sète concludes, with a warm smile: “This 30th festival, which is of course a little special, is made up of projects that we loved and which will delight music lovers.”

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