Festival Jazz Musette des Puces - jazz festival in Paris

This is a lovely jazz festival in Paris.  Violinist Didier Lockwood is one of the grand old gents of French jazz, founder of mythic French fusion bandMagma, he also worked with Stephan Grappelli and Dave Brubeck. He's gone on to record with jazz greats and French pop/chanson stars and now wears France's highest award: the Legion d'Honneur. His current venture is transmitting his own knowledge to another generation with Centre Musique de Didier Lockwood, a school of improvisation for strings.Today's concert is not a jazz club in Paris you can go to every night, instead it was in the fabulous setting of Les Puces de Clignancourt: the largest flea market in the world (where you can pick up everything from an Ancienne Regime fireplace, ripped out of a Parisian mansion, to an outrageous set of stretch flare pants from 1965. Instead of a Paris jazz club, a huge temporary stage was set up for Didier, along with a series of his friends and pupils, so jazz on all manner of string instruments was the focus for the day.Honestly, I can't say I'm a massive fan of Lockwood's sound -not to say that he's not a brilliant player, but there's just a little too much 'smoothness' happening for me - it's a fusion sound that perhaps is mellowing a bit too much. However, the sound fit well with the hot summer afternoon, and it echoed wonderfully across the market stands and cafe terraces of Les Puces. I hope they make it an annual event, 'cause I'd go back: and if it's summertime and you're visiting the city and you want to see some great music then I'd recommend it.