Jazz at Vienne - a Second Visit

‘Jazz à Vienne’ is a world-renowned jazz festival that we had been talking about attending ever since we first stayed in Lyon in 2010.  It took our landlords, Nathalie and Stéphane, to finally get us off the mark and actually in Vienne for a show last year.  

This Year' Festival Program

This year Stéphane said he might be able to get free tickets, as he is a performer at one of the other venues in Vienne, but in any case he wanted us to go with him.  We put it on our calendar for July 2, when the show was to be headlined by Bobby McFerrin, the singer of the infectious 1980’s hit, ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’, with its Caribbean beat.  Mr McFerrin has since made a career out of putting together and performing voice-ensemble live performances, in which human voices are presented as musical instruments, mostly without words, but sometimes as a sort of scat-singing style.

So, we met Stéphane at the Part-Dieu train station at about 5PM and embarked for Vienne, about 30 minutes south of Lyon.

The Jazz Lovers Ready for the Show

We arrived quite early for the 8:30 show, but that meant we could leisurely stroll to the old Roman amphitheater and claim some of the very best seats available.  We had brought the seat cushions that Anna had assembled from cheap throw-pillows and towels last year, because the downside of a 2000 year-old Roman amphitheater is that it is a 2000 year-old amphitheater with 2000 year-old stone seats.   Hard on the backside after 3-4 hours!

The opening act was another American group, José James and his group, who played a number of songs by Bill Withers [Lean on Me, Ain’t No Sunshine…], along with other soul and blues tunes.  They were very talented, especially the guitarist who reproduced some of Jimmy Hendrix’s more interesting riffs.  They inspired a number of audience members to dance in the aisles. 

José James and his Group

Bobby McFerrin then came on with a 4-member group plus a 25-30 member choral group arranged by voices in chairs in an arc behind the other performers.   The individuals making up the four people behind Mr McFerrin each gave performances that were at times very interesting and entertaining.  The rest of performance consisted mostly of wordless singing, including call-and-response and a type of scat, involving the chorus and one or more of either Bobby McFerrin or the four individuals.  

Bobby McFerrin, Singers, and Chorus on Stage and Big Screen

From our point of view, the performances seemed to be without a theme or melody and after a while became repetitious.  After an hour and a half some audience members began to leave.  Whether this was because they did not like the performance or because they simply had to depart, we could not say.  However, this is a phenomenon we have not previously observed at a live performance in France.

A Full House in Vienne

That being said, music and its appreciation is a matter of personal taste and there is no denying the high level of musical talent and ability of Mr McFerrin and his performers.   They were doing things musically that were very original, and required a large amount of practice to be as polished as they were.  The evening was extremely entertaining and interesting, and we definitely appreciate Stéphane making the effort to include us.