Who is the mother of the jazz festival that makes this Breton resort shine every summer?

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The concerts of jazzin the warmth of summer evenings at the Amirauté park in Pléneuf-Val-André.

For around thirty years, it’s made for great memories by the fire when winter begins.

The jazz bible at Val-André

We owe these memories to him. Jazz at the Admiralty is her.

Yvette Bois, a 90-year-old woman who carefully keeps track of the very first evenings of jazz at Val-André in a Bible, the cover of which she caresses with her fingertips.

“Ronald Baker, the Jazz dandy: plays the trumpet with relish, knows how to step back when the other musicians take over. »

Memories of the beginnings

A little further: “Marc Laferrière: met at Cave of Huchettewe hit it off straight away. Marc, always very relaxed, very warm, very cheerful. »

In the following pages: “The first time I saw the Gigolos, I was seduced. Musicians bursting with energy, it’s a spectacle! »

This big book, Yvette pasted photos and flyers, telling the story in elegant and clear writing. the first hours of the festival which she created in the late 90s.

“I didn’t start writing these memories right away. I wrote them when I left jazz, so as not to forget. »

Summer 96, the first

In the winter of 1995, the town’s animation commission worked on an idea to animate the summer season.

I was coming back from Antibes, to visit my son, where I had attended jazz concerts which I found wonderful. This is how I proposed a Jazz festival in Val-André.

And Yvette is not content with proposing the idea: on hand, a friend of her daughter, Dina Rokotomangais a musician in Rennes and opens the middle door for him.

He teaches him the codes to get in touch with artists, provides him with a sound engineer.

He will accompany her for first programming of the festival in the summer of 96.

Free and friendly

“From the start, we wanted these concerts to be free for the public, to make them accessible to all. » A tradition that continues.

Another trademark of wood-style jazz concerts: the friendliness. The meal shared with the musicians and volunteers of the association is sacred.

“We ordered meals, but often one or the other brought an extra treat. » Her daughters, Isabelle and Véronique remember:

What was even more unmissable was the after-concert… The evening continued until late at night with the artists. We had a drink, we finished the leftovers… It was really very warm!

Here again, Pleneuvian hospitality has spanned the decades. Today, artists still recognize the warmth of welcome from Jazz to the Admiralty.

Philippe Duchemin, the accomplice

Another founding element that the festival owes to Yvette Bois: its godfatherPhilippe Duchemin.

It was the young woman who, at the time, captivated by the artist’s talent, offered to sponsor the event.

We got along, he often came to eat at the house. He’s a delicious person.

Philippe Duchemin is still a devotee of the Pleneuvian festival today.

A unifying soul

Although Yvette Bois played the piano at a very young age, nothing predestined her to found a jazz festival of this scale.

“She still initiated Les Méridionaux in Saint-Brieuc, an association whose aim was to promote the gastronomy of the South West where she comes from,” recalls Véronique. She realized at that moment her ability to be a leaderto unite around it. »

A wonderful team of volunteers

It did not take him very long, in fact, at the beginning of 96, to gather volunteers necessary for the organization of the jazz festival which was to be launched the following summer. “I was part of a hiking association and they all followed me, very happy with the initiative. »

Because at that time, as today, we need people to set up the chairs, prepare the meal, pick up after the concert…

Unexpected passion

Throughout the seasons, Yvette, passionate about classical music and operaperfected his skills in jazz.

I went to Paris several times to spot artists, notably at the Caveau de la Huchette, a Parisian jazz club renowned at the time.

This nurse, mother of a familyinvested himself fully in this new adventure and for more than 10 years devoted himself to it body and soul.

“We really lived from bons moments ! My team of volunteers was amazing! she smiled. Meeting the artists, discovering them, that too was wonderful. »

Memories…

In the 2010s, her husband’s health weakened. Yvette retire to take care of him.

Afterwards, she was the one who had difficulty walking. She listens to the concerts ofsince her home : rue Clémenceau, it is only a few dozen meters from the stage.

“She asked us to take her again two or three years ago,” remembers Véronique. We went with her to two or three concerts. » Yvette smiled.

I never would have thought, when launching this idea, that the festival would have such longevity!

…And a medal

There are a few blank pages left at the end of his Bible. Enough to still write the emotions felt when finally, at 90 years old, she received the medal youth, sports and community involvement, rewarding her for her dedication.

Thank you Yvette, for these warm summer evenings, to the rhythm of jazz and breeze in the Admiralty pines.

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