Attend the Nice Jazz Festival

The Nice Jazz Festival, held annually since 1948 in Nice, on the French Riviera, is "the first jazz festival of international significance. " At the inaugural festival, Louis Armstrong and his All Stars were the headliners. Frommer's calls it "the biggest, flashiest, and most prestigious jazz festival in Europe. " Over the years, many artists, such as Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Helen Humes, Herbie Hancock, and Miles Davis, regularly appeared at the festival.