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Sacha Boutros Celebrates International Jazz Day with Star-studded Event at Sunset Sunside Jazz Club
Jazz, liberty, and dialogue: three carefully chosen words titling a one-of-a-kind event in the heart of Paris, France this April. Dedicated to both UNESCO’s International Jazz Day and the 250th anniversary of the Franco-American Alliance, event organiser Sacha Boutros draws together the many geographies, collaborators, and musics through a central philosophy: jazz as a vehicle for peace.
Motivated by peace, community, and cultural connection, Sacha Boutros is an esteemed jazz singer, producer and composer. Boutros performs in 14 languages with her Coloratura voice’s four and a half octave range, blending sophistication, passion, and storytelling. Originally of Mexican and French-Lebanese heritage, she is based across her home town San Diego and Paris. In 2014, the vocalist founded “Sacha’s Supper Club”, designed to be reminiscent of 1940s New York café societies. The Supper Club has since collaborated with charity organisation Music Without Borders, demonstrating Boutros’ dedication to musical outreach. The April event is a collaboration between UNESCO, International Jazz Day (Journée Internationale du Jazz), the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, Women In Jazz Media, and Sacha’s Supper Club, all coming together at the Parisian venue Sunset Sunside Jazz Club for an unmissable evening of top-quality music.
The event embodies Franco-American friendship through its Transatlantic lineup, drawing not only on collaborations between European and American creatives but on a legacy of American jazz masters migrating to Paris throughout the last century. The meaning of Franco-American Alliance is broader than the signing of a singular document in 1778; France and the US have been interlinked through a sharing of jazz music for decades. Boutros harnesses this history, carving it into what she dubs a “living exchange between cultures”. The International Jazz Day’s themes of peace, dialogue, and mutual understanding arise in the musical conversations of the contrasting artists, while the Franco-American relationship engages diplomacy, respect, and freedom as core values that determine the event’s motivation. Crucially, the performers and contributors are linked by “a shared musical heritage”, utilising jazz as the community-building force it is known to be.
On the European side of the lineup, Vincent Bourgeyx represents France as a stellar jazz pianist from Bordeaux. Alike to many of the scheduled performers, Bourgeyx has experienced the invisible dotted line between France and the US first-hand. As heard in his fiery New Yorkian sound, he is very much established in the New York jazz scene. Having studied at Berklee College of Music in the 1990s, the pianist has since collaborated with the likes of Ravi Coltrane. Joining Bourgeyx as the only other contributor with “(France)” next to their name is Mélanie Dahan. A phenomenal and renowned yet perpetually curious vocalist, Dahan reworks French songs into jazz standards, performing repertoire that ranges from contemporary poems to chanson-style jazz. She is based in Paris, and gained critical acclaim with her album “Latine” in 2011. In congruence with the South American influences from other artists in the lineup, Dahan combines French, Argentinean and Brazilian music.
Mélanie Dahan by Jean Baptiste Millot
Beyond L’Hexagone, Russian saxophonist Dmitry Baevsky has intensely impressive jazz technique, apparent in his fluid and precise playing. Originally from St Petersburg but based in New York for the last twenty years, Baevsky has released countless successful albums over the last two decades. The UK is represented at the event by Women In Jazz Media founder and acclaimed vocalist, pianist, composer, and producer Fiona Ross. At the forefront of the British jazz scene, Ross’ style ranges from vintage, nostalgic jazz to the cusp of contemporary genres such as neosoul, mixing in latin jazz and ballads along the way. Long-time collaborator with Ross is bassist Derek Daley, who will also be performing. Daley is an integral part of British jazz as both a musician and as trustee of the UK’s National Jazz Archives.
The Sunset Sunside stage this April will also see remarkable contributions from the Americas. Two big names stand out: Michele Hendricks and Maxine Gordon. “Légende du jazz bebop”, as the event website describes her, Michele Hendricks is a renowned singer, songwriter, and lyricist. The American musician first stepped on a stage at the age of eight alongside her father, Jon Hendricks. Since then, across her prolific career, she has collaborated with jazz masters such as Count Basie, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter. Including jazz historian, writer, archivist, scholar, manager, and producer Maxine Gordon in the lineup is an exciting move from event organiser Sacha Boutros. Gordon is known for her landmark publication “Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon”, a biography of her late husband, and is currently a
Michele Hendricks by Bruno Charavet
Resident Fellow at Harvard University. Often, jazz scholars and writers are absent from live performances, besides lurking in the darkness of the audience with a notepad. By platforming Gordon in this way, Boutros artfully weaves together the practice, history, and critical thought of jazz.
Rounding out the American representation, bassist Darryl Hall and drummer Lukmil Perez Herrera have strong links to the Sunset Sunside venue, often frequenting its stage. Hall was born in Philadelphia but has resided in France since 2004. Winner of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Bass Competition in 1995, he has collaborated with American jazz legends such as Ravi Coltrane and Carmen Lundy. Drummer Herrera was born in Cuba, and is now based in France while performing across Europe. He specialises in a wide range of music from salsa to reggae to latin jazz. Joining them on piano is John Lander, who is a pianist, multi-instrumentalist, performer, producer, composer, arranger, musical director and film-maker from New York. Co-founder of the community art space called trippy.studio in Brooklyn, Lander is currently based between New York, Barcelona, and Paris. Outstanding, irreplicable vocalist from San Francisco and Paris Joan Minor will perform at the event—a slightly different environment from her experience conducting tours across the African continent on behalf of the State Department of the United States. As seen busking in Paris’ Metro stations, Marvin Parks will grace the stage with his soulful vocal sound. The vocalist is originally from Baltimore, and, despite gaining success and performing across Paris, he continues to sing regularly in the Metro.
With all of these varying musical and geographical influences, expect an eclectic and expansive performance that sprawls from the core to the cutting edges of jazz. Event organiser Sacha Boutros places her ethos of inclusivity and peace at the core of this event, forging positive relationships through a mutual appreciation of jazz music. Celebrating two landmark occasions, UNESCO’s International Jazz Day and the 250th anniversary of the Franco-American Alliance, through a showcase of worldwide, world-class musicians and scholars, this event will be nothing short of spectacular.
The event will take place on 30th April 2026 at Sunset Sunside Jazz Club.
Information can be found here: https://www.sunset-sunside.com/concert/sacha-boutros-michele-hendricks-melanie-dahan/
Last modified: April 10, 2026
