Every May, usually around the Feast of the Ascension, something quietly extraordinary happens in Coutances — something we genuinely look forward to all year. 🌱
For one full week, this small cathedral town in the Manche — better known for markets, stone streets, and a skyline dominated by Notre-Dame — becomes the centre of gravity for one of Europe’s most respected jazz festivals.
Jazz sous les Pommiers is an annual, week-long jazz festival in Coutances, held during Ascension week in May.
The name means “Jazz under the apple trees”, which feels entirely appropriate once you’ve experienced it. 🍎🎶
This isn’t a side-stage festival. It isn’t background music for spring. And it definitely isn’t niche.
Jazz sous les Pommiers attracts world-recognised musicians, deeply knowledgeable audiences, and a level of musical attention that feels almost radical in an age of constant distraction.
And yet, it takes place in a town where most evenings are normally quiet, where life still runs at a human pace, and where the festival somehow manages to feel both immense and well-mannered. 😌
The Origins of Jazz sous les Pommiers: A Local Idea That Grew — Carefully
Jazz sous les Pommiers didn’t begin as a grand cultural strategy.
It began the way many good things in Normandy do: with a conversation, a shared curiosity, and no real sense that it would turn into something quite this big.
In the early 1980s, two local enthusiasts — Thierry Giard, a teacher, and Gérard Houssin, a cultural organiser — wondered whether Coutances could host a jazz festival that took the music seriously, without taking itself too seriously.
The first edition took place in 1982.
There were no international headlines, no glossy branding, and no expectation that people would still be talking about it four decades later. Just a belief that if you programme well, audiences will come — and if you respect them, they’ll return.
They did.
From the beginning, the festival resisted narrow definitions. New Orleans jazz sat comfortably alongside contemporary projects, experimental collaborations, and later even electronic influences that raised a few eyebrows before quietly winning people over.
Held each year during Ascension week in May, Jazz sous les Pommiers settled into Coutances’ calendar not as an interruption, but as a transformation.
Knowing how deliberately the festival grew helps explain why it still feels so coherent when we walk through it today. 👣
A Festival of Serious Scale — Without Losing Its Shape
Let’s be honest.
Jazz sous les Pommiers is big.
Not “surprisingly good for a small town” big. Properly, internationally, queue-forming big.
By the mid-2000s, its scale was already striking. In 2006 alone, the festival hosted over a thousand concerts and attracted around half a million spectators across the week.
By 2010, individual headline events were welcoming crowds of up to 37,000 people — firmly placing Jazz sous les Pommiers among Europe’s major jazz festivals.
And yes, for certain artists, we queue — willingly. 🙂
People wait calmly and patiently, because this is a listening audience and listening matters here. Phones stay mostly in pockets. Applause happens when it should. Silence is treated as part of the music.
Despite its size, the festival never feels like it’s straining under its own weight.
That’s because it spreads out rather than piles up. Alongside headline concerts are street performances everywhere, turning everyday movement through the town into part of the experience.
You don’t rush from venue to venue. You drift. You pause. You stumble into things you hadn’t planned.
Which, frankly, is often how the best music is found. 🎷
When Coutances Hands Over Its Streets to Music
During Jazz sous les Pommiers, central Coutances becomes entirely pedestrian.
This isn’t a polite suggestion. Cars genuinely disappear. 🚶♀️🚶♂️
The town opens up, and suddenly feels larger — not because it has expanded, but because nothing is rushing through it.
A large temporary venue rises in the Place du Parvis, directly in front of the cathedral. It’s an extraordinary setting: centuries of stone looking down on very contemporary sounds.
From there, the festival radiates through a network of spaces — Les Caves des Unelles, the Esplanade des Unelles, the Municipal Theatre, the Salle Marcel-Hélie, and the Magic Mirrors — each with its own atmosphere.
Street performances add another layer entirely. The Jardin des Plantes becomes a listening space. The Square de l’Évêché hosts the “Avis aux amateurs” stage, where emerging and amateur musicians confidently take their place.
And then there are the cafés, bars, and restaurants. 🍷🍽️
During the festival, live music spills out onto terraces all day and well into the evening. Bars and restaurants are lively and busy, tables fill quickly, and it’s perfectly normal to sit down for a drink and accidentally stay for a concert.
No one seems upset by this — in fact, it appears to be the entire point.
Food trucks also appear across town as if by magic, offering quick snacks and proper meals in equal measure. 🚚🌮
It’s a great atmosphere — but it can mean queues and packed tables at peak times.
One of the advantages we’ve really come to value about living just outside town is flexibility. We often dip into the buzz, then pop home for a calm meal when things are at their busiest, before heading back into Coutances later on.
Because the gîte sits in a barn right next to our main house, guests staying here have that same luxury — the ability to step away from the crowds, eat quietly, recharge, and then rejoin the festival without it feeling like an effort. 🌿
Artists Who Have Played Jazz sous les Pommiers
Over the years, Jazz sous les Pommiers has welcomed an extraordinary range of internationally recognised artists — here’s a small selection to give you an idea.
Curtis Mayfield (1990)
Herbie Hancock (1996)
Gregory Porter (2013)
Joshua Redman (2010, 2013, 2019 — and booked again for 2026)
Pink Martini (2025)
I adore Pink Martini. They’re one of my personal favourites, and seeing them play in our little local town was genuinely jaw-dropping — in the amazing, can’t-quite-believe-this kind of way. The last time I saw them live was at the Royal Albert Hall, so watching them perform in Coutances felt both surreal and completely brilliant. 😍
Artists return. Audiences do too. That continuity says a great deal about the festival’s reputation.
A Small Moment That Says Everything
One year, after an evening concert, we found ourselves on the free navette that runs between the main festival area and Coutances train station.
I sat next to an elderly gentleman who mentioned — very calmly — that he’d just seen an artist he first saw at the festival twenty years earlier, and twenty years before that as well.
He said it with quiet satisfaction, not nostalgia.
That, for me, sums up Jazz sous les Pommiers: loyalty, long memory, and deep respect for good music. ❤️
Why Staying Outside Coutances Makes Sense
During Jazz sous les Pommiers, accommodation in Coutances itself fills very quickly.
Staying in town suits some people. For others, it brings noise, parking gymnastics, and the feeling that the festival never really switches off.
We’ve found that staying just outside Coutances, in the surrounding Manche countryside, gives the week a very different rhythm.
From our gîte in Nicorps, Coutances is an easy drive. Daytime parking at Coutances train station is free during the festival, and a free navette runs continuously between the station and the main festival areas throughout the day and evening.
From the gîte, the station is less than a ten-minute drive.
Those navettes aren’t just practical — they’re part of the festival’s quiet rhythm.
It’s also worth mentioning accessibility, because it’s something we think about every year.
My mum can’t walk long distances, so we always bring her foldable wheelchair — and Jazz sous les Pommiers has proved far easier to navigate than you might expect for a festival of this size.
The navettes accommodate the wheelchair without fuss, and once in town we’ve never struggled to find places to sit, pause, and take things at a comfortable pace.
Because the centre is pedestrianised and movement is slower, it feels manageable rather than overwhelming — not just for her, but for all of us.
That said, pushing a wheelchair around Coutances is also excellent for my fitness. The cathedral has a habit of sitting right at the top of the hill, and insists you visit it several times a day. 😄
There’s also a small but surprisingly important weather advantage to staying close by. May in Normandy is generally kind, but it does like to keep you on your toes. 🌦️
Because we live just outside Coutances, we tend to check the local forecast in the morning, look at the sky, and pack for the day accordingly — layers if needed, sunglasses if we’re feeling optimistic, and a light waterproof just in case.
Guests staying here have the same luxury. You’re not carrying everything with you all day or tying a jumper round your waist “just in case”. You wear what suits the day, enjoy the festival, and if the weather changes its mind — as it sometimes does — you’re never far from home.
For many people, the difference really is this simple: you can enjoy world-class music in the evening and still sleep properly at night. 😴
A Festival That Works Best Without a Plan
For popular headline artists, we always recommend booking tickets in advance. Some names draw serious queues, and missing out entirely is rarely the goal.
That said, a huge part of how we enjoy Jazz sous les Pommiers is much looser than that.
We tend to go from bar to bar, drifting between free bands, catching half a set here, a surprise moment there, and discovering artists we hadn’t planned on hearing at all.
It’s sociable, relaxed, and very Coutances. No timetable. No pressure. Just following the sound and seeing where it leads. 🎶
Final Thoughts
Jazz sous les Pommiers is proof that a festival can be both major and humane.
It’s international without being anonymous. Busy without being brutal. Serious about music without taking itself too seriously.
It’s one of the reasons we still make space for it every spring. 🌸
If you’re planning a May stay in Normandy and want to anchor it around something genuinely special, this festival is a compelling reason to come.
And if you want to enjoy it without sacrificing space, sleep, or sanity, staying just outside Coutances turns an exceptional festival into a genuinely restorative break.
As with all good things here: book calmly — but not too late. 🎷
Our base rate comfortably covers up to 6 guests. Larger groups (up to 10) are welcome with a small nightly supplement.
Your total price is automatically calculated when you select your dates — no surprises.