Air, icon of the French Touch, opens Jazz à Juan and promises "a super Moon Safari"

We begin this 64th edition of Jazz à Juan (JAJ), which will run until July 20, with a breath of fresh air. Together, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel have never leaned too much toward the blues, even if a few passages from Moon Safari , their emblematic 1998 album, give off a few jazzy scents.

This inaugural evening will therefore be placed under the sign of openness, with a dive into the atmospheric and classy register of the two friends from Versailles, who have conceived their live performance as an intergalactic journey, or a ride in a time machine, you choose. Like the other group invited this Thursday, the exciting Strasbourg trio Emile Londonien, who passed through Nice in 2023, inspired by English jazz, its R'n'B and even house sides, Air will be appearing for the first time on the JAJ bill.

“Today, we have more fun on stage.”

Until now, the two fifty-somethings had been more accustomed to Cannes and its Film Festival, where they had notably appeared in 1999 for the release of The Virgin Suicides . On Sofia Coppola's first film, they placed two pieces (including Playground Love , with the voice of Thomas Mars, singer of Phoenix, old acquaintance and husband of the director) and supervised the soundtrack.

To talk about their visit to the French Riviera, we caught them on the fly at the end of June, via video, in Madrid, before a date of their tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of Moon Safari . Given that their cult album, their first "baby", is 27 years old, we can say that this live performance is a success.

Perfectionists, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel, who reunited after several solo projects, needed time to really enjoy the stage performance and the rendering of Moon Safari , which they now play in its entirety, and in the order of the disc.

"We have more fun and have more perspective today. Before, during tours, we always had our minds on the next album. Now, we take responsibility for the arrangements without asking ourselves how it could have sounded differently. It's really nice," notes Nicolas Godin.

"It's like a super Moon Safari "

It remains to be seen how the Air "shuttle" will land at the Pinède Gould. This doesn't overly worry the discreet Jean-Benoît Dunckel. "I don't know if there's a jazz side to Air. But there's a certain sophistication, a fairly distinctive production, which will go quite well with the festival, in my opinion."

The machine had to be launched quickly, as "S exy Boy" , the album's biggest hit, comes in second place. And then, in Juan as elsewhere (even if the duo has shone even more abroad), the group's loyal fans will be there, perhaps joined by those who discovered them in the company of Phœnix, during the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics last year.

"This album has a bit of a cult feel for our fans, and they love to dive back into it from start to finish. This also reflects the concept of our live performance. Thanks to technology, we're able to put on a concert that's as well-produced as the album, but in a much larger version. It's like a super Moon Safari ," continues J.-B. Dunckel.

"Herbie Hancock in concert was awesome."

Tracing the careers of the two men, we were told that Nicolas Godin's appetite for jazz was more pronounced than that of his sidekick. In 2015, on his first album, Contrepoint , he combined this genre with variations on Bach's classical repertoire. Good choice.

"Last year I saw Herbie Hancock in concert, it was pretty awesome. I heard he's coming back to Juan this year. If you've never seen him, go see him, he's amazing... For us, Herbie Hancock was also a pioneer in electronic music. I looked at his record covers from the 1970s a lot to figure out what gear to buy, the names of the instruments were noted in the credits. In his funk period, with the Headhunters, on the track Chameleon , he had the most incredible bass line played with a synth."

Learn more

Air in concert. This Thursday evening (10 p.m.) at the Pinède Gould in Juan-les-Pins. Opening act (8:30 p.m.): Emile Londonien. From 20 to 100 euros. Info: jazzajuan.com