“As far as I’m concerned, everything has been completed for months.” Kate Espasandin can count on a “on-the-job, hyper-competent” promotion and production team. Programmer of the “off” at the Cully Jazz Festival, she approaches her tenth edition with serenity – she was an intern before dabbling in the arts. Dee Dee Bridgewater, Monty Alexander, Kyle Eastwood, Avishai Cohen, Dhafer Youssef, Elina Duni and Rob Luft, Laure Betris… Friday begins the 41st edition of the Cully Jazz Festival, with its three stages and fifteen “off” cellars: scattered in the Vaudois village, these freely accessible springboards offer an overview of the Swiss emergence, a proliferation of new or ephemeral projects.
Beneath the serenity there is no stubborn dissatisfaction. “I only see the negative aspects, what needs to be changed and improved.” A successful formula, for the curator, comes down to a pinch of ingredients that escape her: musicians in a state of grace, an attentive audience, the sauce that takes.