Wilbur de Paris in Juan-les-Pins

Juan-les-Pins, the city on the French Riviera twinned with New Orleans, was a hub of European jazz intrigue during the post-war years. Following the example of Dizzy Gillespie, Sidney Bechet and Duke Ellignton, African-American jazz icons would travel to the coast every summer to bask in the sun, class and relative respect they felt compared to the social and racial conditions of American venues. 

Here, we see a recording of the very first edition of the famous Juan-les-Pins/ Antibes Jazz Festival, with legendary swing and dixieland trombonist, Wilbur de Paris, taking to the stage. He was part of a festival line-up that included the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Roy Eldridge and Duke Ellington, all artists who rode the swing wave just like Wilbur, although his music always contained a touch of the previous era, when jazz was still a New Orleans beast. 

Joined by a fantastic set of accompanists, he plays a series of classics including "Beale Street Blues" and "The Charleston" in a twirling, romantic and slightly chaotic tour de force.