1958 Jazz Festival de Cannes Compilation (Part I)

The love affair between jazz and the French Riviera is now more than seven decades in the making. It began after World War Two, when Sidney Bechet and Duke Ellington fell in love with the region. From then on, there was a sense that jazz floated in the air each summer, with African-American icons arriving to play intimate shows to crowds that often gave them more reverence and respect than they received back home. In fact, jazz festivals are said to have been invented in the region, with lineups gathering the world’s most exciting acts from near and far.