Jazz took root in France before the Second World War, and has had its ups and downs since then. However, we can safely assume that without the GIs who landed in France in 1944, and the local pioneers who adopted the new sounds and spread them to a wide audience, jazz would not be as solidly established here as it is today. France has been undergoing a boom in musical practice and interest over the past few years, and jazz has benefited greatly from it. Dozens of jazz courses, master classes and festivals spring up every summer across the country, producing young lions and lionesses as determined as they are talented. There are many jazz schools, some aimed exclusively at turning out professionals (such as CIM, IACP and ARPEJ), and others catering to all levels, from the career-minded to the enthusiastic amateur.

It is no doubt a vain exercise to try to define a specifically French style. In a tradition stretching back decades, France has frequently been chosen as a home away from home, for years, sometimes decades, by self-exiled North American musicians, often blacks happy to escape racial discrimination at home. These expatriates helped spread the jazz language, which, once implanted, may now have developed an accent of its own. In a country which boasts the Academie Francaise, an institution meant to defend the purity of the French language, it is no surprise to find the Orchestre National de Jazz, a government-funded big band whose director is chosen term by term by the Minister of Culture to bring a musical project to life, safe from the hard realities of the marketplace.

But France is nothing if not centralized. Although jazz flourishes in many regions, such as Lyon, Nimes, Tours, the Southwest, Upper Normandy and so on, Paris is definitely la Grande Pomme, for jazz as it is for much of cultural life. There are many jazz clubs with exciting programming, but they scuffle to survive, especially those dedicated to "real jazz" and unwilling to compromise with the beguiling temptations of commercialism.

One important aspect of jazz in France is the great number of festivals, which have been steadily multiplying over the past few years. In 1980 France had 25 jazz festivals, and this year there will be over 250! Held mostly in the summer, they attract a regular public of fans as well as vacationers and the casually curious. Whether they are large events with international stars (such as those in Vienne, Marciac, Nice, Nancy, the La Villette festival in Paris), smaller and more intimate ones (Luz, Junas, Mulhouse), for paying customers only, partially free (such as Vienne and La Villette) or totally free (such as the A Fleur de Jazz festival in Paris or the Toulon festival), they reflect the wide variety that is jazz, an open-minded mixture of Dixieland, mainstream, avant-garde, neobop, contemporary jazz and gospel groups.

The interest is such that there are three major jazz magazines (Jazzman, Jazz Magazine and Jazz Hot), a satellite TV station (Muzzik) which devotes a third of its programming to jazz, all-jazz radio stations in Paris and Lyon, and an annual ceremony broadcast on TV for two years now.

The record industry is dominated by the major labels, as it is everywhere. But there is enough room for many small, independent labels which survive by sheer will power and are an indispensable way for many excellent musicians to get their work released.

The continuing popularity of jazz in France is a safe bet. There is even a perfume named "Jazz." The many young people crowding the conservatories and private musical schools for a chance to play will be the country's ambassadors to the kingdom of improvisation.

Stop out and visit Alain's Web site, LeJazz for more information about the French Jazz scene.