Le Châtelet fait son jazz

“Le Châtelet fait son jazz” is a singular event, celebrating music that has always spoken in the plural — born from the meeting of worlds that, under ordinary circumstances, would never have crossed paths. From the United States to Europe, from the poorest to the most privileged, from the blues to Afro-Caribbean rhythms, jazz has been blending audiences, musicians and sounds for over a century.

A singular event also because, right in the heart of Paris and just a stone’s throw from the city’s most iconic jazz clubs, Le Châtelet fait son jazz throws open the doors of the Grande Salle – as well as the Foyer Nijinsky, which offers one of the finest panoramas of Paris – for a programme that mirrors the spirit of the Théâtre itself: eclectic, popular and exacting. Its sole ambition is to celebrate the vitality of jazz today, to reveal both its breaks and its continuities, and to bring together artists of all generations — in a joyous celebration of diversity and innovation!

A singular event, too, because Le Châtelet fait son jazz offers — in one venue and every evening — three sets, three atmospheres and three discoveries. For while the artists sharing the bill are all accomplished and renowned, each one has fresh musical news to share — sometimes even in an exclusive preview — with the Châtelet audience.

Because it is rooted in a ritual of photographing, questioning and analysing the musical present while never forgetting to savour and delight in it, Le Châtelet fait son jazz has now become a festival in its own right.

For this 2026 edition, the programme highlights diversity and positivity. Born of the legacy of colonial societies and slavery alike, jazz is today undergoing a new revolution within an unprecedented cultural context — one marked by artists’ conscious and vigilant reappropriation of a turbulent history.

Three words have shaped and guided this year’s programme: astonishing, evolving, and moving.