If I asked you to name something that makes your life more enjoyable, in this part of the world you would likely mention culture. It’s something the French do incredibly well. Of course, it’s not everywhere, but we happen to have landed in a particularly brilliant part of France for culture of all sorts!!
Our litte town of 7,000 inhabitants has the most amazing programme of events throughout the year. The so-called ‘closed’ season has a big variety of performances…. https://www.espacedalbret.fr/ Apart from the humour, which is hard to understand if you’ve not been raised in the same culture, there are some fascinating and intriguing gigs to go to!
But this weekend, when everyone has gone back to school and work after their summer holidays, this town is playing host to the 3rd Jazz-in-Nérac programme. And what a programme! Last night was fabulous with Fred Wesley – the legendary trombonist and composer who has played with so many top bands in jazz funk over the years. He’s been with Ray Charles, Tina Turner, James Brown, George Clinton and others and he’s now hit 80. But is that slowing him down?? Not a bit of it! He’s still got the style, the flair, the fun, the sheer joy of playing and performing and he has a great team around him, all excellent musicians in their own right!! Here’s a sample of what they sound like: https://open.spotify.com/artist/363q9Bb7a5LcF9sCjgNDVq
And this was in the open air theatre in the parc Garenne, right by the river Baïse (don’t forget that important umlaut! – google to find out what it means without those double dots!!!) after a fab performance by Sly Johnson, a multi-tracking master (think Ed Sheeran performing totallly solo and you’ll get the idea). And even after this double bill, there was a jazz jamming session starting at 11.30pm in the Marché de Saveur (another stage behind the main stage, surrounded by vendors of excellent food and drink!) – goodness knows what time they packed up!!
Nérac certainly knows how to party, and needs very little excuse to get out and enjoy culture….
This afternoon looks to be an absolute treat too!! Why aren’t you here??!!