This saxophone was played by Sidney Bechet himself. So when Olivier Franc makes it sing in the Löwensaal, the music comes with a very specific story. With Olivier Franc's Paris Swing Connection and the Potato Head Jazz Band from Granada, Dixieland International brings together two European approaches to early jazz. The evening is designed as a concert for listening.

For Franc, the connection to Bechet runs in the family. His father René Franc played clarinet in orchestras that accompanied the jazz pioneer. Bechet lived in France from 1950 and died in Paris in 1959; his music found a new home there. Olivier Franc continues this line with his Paris Swing Connection. The recipient of the Prix Sidney Bechet of the Académie du Jazz was a guest at the 50th festival in 2022 with his quintet. Now we welcome him back with the Paris Swing Connection.

The other musical perspective comes from Granada. The Potato Head Jazz Band was founded in 2003 with the aim of playing the music of New Orleans. Clarence Williams, Bix Beiderbecke, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver and the early bands of Louis Armstrong are among their touchstones. Hot jazz, swing and Dixieland thus have their place alongside the Bechet tradition. Paris and Andalusia are far apart; their shared musical starting point connects both bands.

Ulf Drechsel, the festival’s chief presenter, hosts the concert. His knowledge of bands and music provides a common framework for the two contributions. The different role models do not have to merge into a single line of tradition: it is precisely the two approaches that give this evening its coherence.

Löwensaal also brings a historical reference with it. The Bankhaus am Dr.-Külz-Ring was opened in 1905, in the same years when jazz was emerging in New Orleans. It survived the Second World War largely intact and, after extensive renovation, has served as a venue together with the Löwensaal since 2020. For this concert, an instrument with a history, two contemporary bands and a hall in a building from the early jazz years come together here.