This is a foretaste of the official opening, announced in September (or rather in October?) at the Château Descas: on Thursday, September 5, the neo-Baroque style building located at the start of the Quai de Paludate will host the quartet of trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, one of the figures of American jazz today, having learned the ropes with big names like Steve Coleman and Esperanza Spalding, and signed for a time with the prestigious Blue Note label.
Ambrose Akinmusire had already come to Gironde in 2017, to the Château Beychevelle, in the Médoc, as part of the Jazz & Wine festival, and it is once again the artistic director of Jazz & Wine, Jean-Jacques Quesada, who is programming it in this former nightclub that has just been transformed into a performance hall: 700 seats upstairs, two bars on the ground floor. Under the title Jazz à Descas, nine concerts are planned between September and next May. The first five have already been announced. And the sign announcing the one on Thursday, September 5 is clearly visible on the Quai de Paludate.
One concert per month
The idea is to have one concert per month, focused primarily on the younger generation. Let’s say: musicians under 50, when the legends of the genre are now more like 70 or 80. The contacts of Jean-Jacques Quesada, who has been programming since 2006, help with this, and the artistic line that emerges makes Jazz à Descas appear as a complementary offering to what the Rocher de Palmer in Cenon and the Opéra are offering.
“This room is ideally located, a stone’s throw from the train station, served by the tramway, with a direct link to the airport”
But the project that is taking shape is also part of the transformation of this district, now renamed “Paludate – Corto-Maltese”. At the end of 2025, part of the Descas park, currently being developed between the conservatory and the Saint-Jean bridge, should be accessible to the general public, as an extension of the sports quay. And by 2027, the pedestrian street of the Canopia project should open: “a small piece of the city of 67,000 m², of which 45,000 m² are dedicated to shops, services and leisure and 9,000 m² to hotels, explains EPA Euratlantique. And with a 700-space car park at the foot of the Descas castle”.
First assessment at Christmas
“This venue is ideally located,” adds Jean-Jacques Quesada: “a stone’s throw from the train station, served by the tramway, with a direct link to the airport and the possibility of dining nearby. The venue is already well-known to many people from Bordeaux; we are now betting on the fact that it will naturally fit into the neighborhood that is being built. And that Jazz à Descas will become a brand like Jazz & Wine: for the concerts that we organize in the wine estates, people come based on the name alone, without even knowing who the artist is scheduled.”
Part of this audience should all the more find themselves at Château Descas since Jazz & Wine did not take place during the summer of 2024, in a context where the wine crisis has forced the properties to cut back on their expenses. The quality of the room – good acoustics and good visibility wherever you are located – should do the rest. At least that is what Jean-Jacques Quesada hopes. “We will make an initial assessment at Christmas, to see what we can improve in terms of reception, technology or communication.”
The 700-seat hall in which nine concerts are scheduled until May 2025.
Thierry David/SO
The prices are set at 45 and 55 euros depending on the location. Higher than in other venues in the Bordeaux area. “We don’t receive any subsidies. But we offer a pass for 110 euros for the first three concerts.”
The first five dates
September 5: Ambrose Akinmusire quartet. The American trumpeter reunites with the musicians with whom he recorded for Blue Note between 2011 and 2020. To be situated between the jazz of the 1960s and the influence of rap.
October 7: Immanuel Wilkins quartet. An alto saxophonist from Philadelphia, widely acclaimed by critics since 2020 for the synthesis he operates between hard bop and today’s urban music.
November 18: James Brandon Lewis quintet. The tenor saxophonist that the legendary Sonny Rollins presented as his “spiritual son”. In a quintet without piano, but with cello, he will pay tribute to Mahalia Jackson, a gospel figure.
December 16: Riccardo Del Fra trio. Tribute to the trumpeter-singer Chet Baker by the double bass player who accompanied him in the 1980s. This concert is a bit of a sidestep in the Jazz à Descas programming.
January 24: Kris Davis Trio. The Canadian pianist who has become the darling of New York in recent years. To be placed in the legacy of Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett.
