Gathering around Laurent Coulondre at the organ and Arnaud Dolmen on the drums, the septet The Getdown is rolling out the red carpet for groove and lithe melodies.

Once upon a time, two musicians spent fifteen years heading in their own directions on the jazz scene without ever crossing paths on stage – until one day a ceremony invited Laurent Coulondre and Arnaud Dolmen to perform together on a piece. This first spark spread to a fiery collab which birthed an incandescent record, followed by more stages where The Getdown reinvented itself as a pliable collective, its size ebbing and flowing around a heart of Caribbean music, from the French Antilles to Cuba. Overflowing with energy, The Getdown will take the stage at Jazz à la Villette in the form of a septet, composed of Rolando Luna, one of the most brilliant Cuban pianists of his generation, and Mario Canonge, a star of Caribbean piano, as well as the talents of saxophonist Ferdi and trumpeter Yasek Manzano alongside promising flautist and singer Mélodie Spartacus, all joining the faithful organ, keyboards, and drums. With pleasure as their guiding star, none of them are content to simply sit in place: the keyboards provide most of the melodic verve while keeping a remarkable sense of rhythm – influenced by Michel Petrucciani – while the drums stretch the tempo to its max to trace the melody in all its flows.

Opening act: aja monet

As a new charismatic voice of an increasingly activist America, poet aja monet is presenting her fantastic second album.

With several books under her belt, aja monet is using music to extend her writing and political activism on behalf of the African American community, both of which trace back to the mid-2000s in New York – where she collaborated with Saul Williams – and continue in Los Angeles, where she lives today. Published in 2023, when the poems do what they do embraces rhythm and poetry tucked into texts delivered with soft yet solid energy. Enveloping melodies and arrangements – drums, percussion, flute, piano, harp, double bass, and trumpet – come together for a spiritual jazz imbued with soul and blues. Released in May after being led by two strikingly different singles (“hollyweird”, a resolutely Afropunk bomb, and “elsewhere”, smooth groove written as a tribute to Sly Stone), her second album, the color of rain, continues to expand the scope of possibilities.