| Music Festival Name: | Montreux Jazz Festival |
| Location: | Montreux Convention Centre Grand-Rue 95 1820 Montreux Switzerland |
| Years Active: | 1967–present |
| Dates: | First fortnight of July |
| Genre: | Jazz, rock, pop |
The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual jazz festival in the world after Canada's Montreal International Jazz Festival.[1]
Initiator and head organizer Claude Nobs brought an array of artists to Montreux.[2] Mathieu Jaton has organised the festival since Nobs' death in 2013.
The Montreux Jazz Festival opened was founded in 1967[3] by Claude Nobs, Géo Voumard and René Langel[4] with considerable help from Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun of Atlantic Records. The festival was first held at Montreux Casino. The driving force is the tourism office under the direction of Raymond Jaussi. It lasted for three days and featured almost exclusively jazz artists. The highlights of this era were Charles Lloyd, Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, Bill Evans, Soft Machine, Weather Report, The Fourth Way, Nina Simone, Jan Garbarek, and Ella Fitzgerald.
Originally a pure jazz festival, it opened up in the 1970s and today presents artists working in various styles of music. Jazz remains an important part of the festival. Part of the festival's expansion was due to coproduction by Quincy Jones, who brought many international artists in the early 1990s. Today's festival lasts about two weeks and attracts an audience of more than 200,000 people.
In the 1970s, the festival began broadening its scope, including blues, soul, and rock artists; for instance, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Deep Purple, Canned Heat and many others. Towards the end of the decade, the festival expanded even more, including music from all continents (with an emphasis on Brazilian music) and lasting a full three weeks. Santana came to Montreux for the first time in 1970; Van Morrison played in 1974 and 1980. Other artists included B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, Weather Report, Don Ellis, Crossfire, Buddy Guy, Camarón de la Isla and Tomatito, Soft Machine, Chuck Berry, Peter Tosh, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Eric Clapton, Luther Allison, Bo Diddley, Stan Getz, Airto Moreira, Joe Henderson, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Ney Matogrosso, Charles Mingus, Etta James, Sonny Rollins, Son House, Count Basie, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Gilberto Gil, Ray Charles, James Booker, Hermeto Pascoal, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Rory Gallagher, Marianne Faithfull, Elis Regina, Les McCann, Eddie Harris, Pasadena Roof Orchestra, New Order, Jaco Pastorius, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Toto, Zucchero Fornaciari, André Geraissati, Korni Grupa, Jan Akkerman, Joe Satriani, Status Quo, Prince, and many more.
Since 1967, the festival has allowed a Swiss or international artist to design the official poster every year.[5] Swiss artist Pierre Keller was an art consultant to the festival. Keller recruited artists such as Jean Tinguely, Keith Haring, Niki de Saint Phalle, Shigeo Fukuda, and Andy Warhol to create artwork for the festival in the 1980s.[6]
The festival was originally held at the original Montreux Casino, which burned down in December 1971 during Frank Zappa's performance (as referenced in "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple). The festival was held then in other auditoriums in Montreux, until it could return to the rebuilt new Casino in 1975. The festival continued to grow, and in 1993, it moved to the larger Montreux Convention Centre. From 1995 through 2008, it occupied both the convention centre and the casino. Beginning with the 41st MJF in 2007, nightly performances of headliners were again moved mainly to the Montreux Musique & Convention Centre (though the Casino still hosts the odd one-off shows), owing mainly to logistics: the Casino is approximately 1km (01miles) from the Convention Centre, making it difficult for crew, artists and technical personnel (as well as fans) to travel easily through crowded streets from one venue to the other. (This is exacerbated by the presence of a large number of streetside vendors and artisans – as well as strolling crowds of tourists – on the lakefront walk that connects the venues.) As of 2007, the Convention Centre hosts two main stages, Auditorium Stravinski (capacity 3,500) and Miles Davis Hall (capacity 1,800), as well as the smaller Montreux Jazz Cafe, and several smaller open-air stages around the Centre. Additional themed shows (Bahia, Blues, etc.) are held on boats cruising the lake and train cars traveling the region, and various workshops and competitions are held at the nearby Montreux Palais and Le Petit Palais.
The Convention Centre closed for renovation in July 2023, and is expected to reopen in 2025. During its closure, major concerts at the Festival will be held on a specially built stage on the lake.[7]
| Venue | |
| 16–18 June 1967 | Montreux Casino |
| 12–16 June 1968 | |
| 18–22 June 1969 | |
| 17–21 June 1970 | |
| 12–20 June 1971 | |
| 16–29 June 1972 | Pavillon Montreux |
| 29 June15 July 1973 | Montreux Convention Centre |
| 28 June7 July 1974 | |
| 3–20 July 1975 | Montreux Casino |
| 25 June6 July 1976 | |
| 1–24 July 1977 | |
| 7–23 July 1978 | |
| 6–22 July 1979 | |
| 4–20 July 1980 | |
| 3–20 July 1981 | |
| 9–25 July 1982 | |
| 8–24 July 1983 | |
| 6–22 July 1984 | |
| 5–20 July 1985 | |
| 3–19 July 1986 | |
| 3–17 July 1987 | |
| 1–17 July 1988 | |
| 7–22 July 1989 | |
| 6–21 July 1990 | |
| 9–29 July 1991 | |
| 10–22 July 1992 | |
| 2–17 July 1993 | Montreux Convention Centre (Auditorium Stravinski/The New Q's) |
| 1–16 July 1994 | Montreux Convention Centre (Auditorium Stravinski/Miles Davis Hall) |
| 7–22 July 1995 | Montreux Convention Centre (Auditorium Stravinski/Miles Davis Hall) Montreux Casino Montreux Jazz Café |
| 5–20 July 1996 | |
| 4–19 July 1997 | |
| 3–18 July 1998 | |
| 2–17 July 1999 | |
| 7–22 July 2000 | |
| 6–21 July 2001 | Montreux Convention Centre (Auditorium Stravinski/Miles Davis Hall) Montreux Casino Montreux Jazz Café Scène Bleu |
| 5–20 July 2002 | Montreux Convention Centre (Auditorium Stravinski/Miles Davis Hall) Montreux Casino Montreux Jazz Café Montreux Jazz Young Planet Montreux Jazz Club |
| 4–19 July 2003 | Montreux Convention Centre (Auditorium Stravinski/Miles Davis Hall) Casino Barrière de Montreux Montreux Jazz Café Montreux Jazz Young Planet Montreux Jazz Club |
| 2–17 July 2004 | |
| 1–16 July 2005 | |
| 30 June15 July 2006 | |
| 6–21 July 2007 | Montreux Musique & Convention Centre (Auditorium Stravinski/Miles Davis Hall) Montreux Jazz Café Montreux Jazz Young Planet Montreux Jazz Club |
| 4–19 July 2008 | Montreux Musique & Convention Centre (Auditorium Stravinski/Miles Davis Hall) Montreux Jazz Café Montreux Jazz Young Planet Montreux Jazz Club MDH Club Studio 41 Music in the Park |
| 3–18 July 2009 | |
| 2–17 July 2010 | |
| 1–16 July 2011 | |
| 29 June14 July 2012 | |
| 5–20 July 2013 | Montreux Musique & Convention Centre (Auditorium Stravinski/Miles Davis Hall) Montreux Jazz Café Montreux Jazz Young Planet Montreux Jazz Club MDH Club Studio 41 Music in the Park Montreux Jazz Lab |
| 4–19 July 2014 | |
| 3-18 July 2015 | |
| 1-16 July 2016 | |
| 30 June – 15 July 2017 | |
| 29 June – 14 July 2018 |
The festival changed in the 1980s: it grew dramatically and included an even wider variety of music styles.[8] Jazz remained important, as did Brazilian music, but more rock and pop artists were also invited.
Miles Davis came to Montreux several times, British hard rock band Deep Purple were invited as headliners eight times, and Status Quo have headlined the festival twice. Other notable artists at Montreux were Sandra, Max Roach, James Brown, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Wynton Marsalis, Art Blakey, John McLaughlin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Wayne Shorter, Al Di Meola, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Cliff, Steel Pulse, Mike Oldfield, Brian May, Marvin Gaye, Rory Gallagher, Leonard Cohen, Nina Hagen, Eric Clapton, Queen, Phil Collins, Joe Cocker, Los Lobos, The Manhattan Transfer, Tracy Chapman, and Van Morrison again.
The expansion that began in the 1980s has continued since then – Montreux transformed from a jazz festival into a world music festival. Quincy Jones co-produced the festival from 1991 to 1993. By 1993, the festival had outgrown the Casino and moved to the larger Convention Centre. The number of visitors rose from 75,000 in 1980 to 120,000 in 1994, and an "Off-festival" developed on the lakeshore promenades and in the cafés of Montreux.
Many "regulars" returned, but many new artists also appeared on stage: Sting, Bob Dylan, Fats Domino, Deep Purple, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Johnny Cash, Cheap Trick, Cheb Mami, Youssou N'Dour, Marianne Faithfull, Ice-T, Jazzmatazz, ZZ Top, Simply Red, Marisa Monte, George Benson, Jazzkantine, Alanis Morissette, David Bowie, Paul Simon. In 1999, the festival saw more than 220,000 visitors.
The festival has also played host to some well-known and talented student groups, including big bands and vocal ensembles. Young, talented musicians are encouraged to take part in several competitions.
Three international competitions are organised by the Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation[9] every year: Solo Piano, Guitar, and Voice. Each competition has its own jury composed of professionals and chaired by a world-renowned musician (in 2008: Fazıl Say for the Piano Solo, Lee Ritenour for the Guitar, Patti Austin for the Voice competition). In addition, until 2016, a local competition, the Tremplin Lémanique, was aimed at jazz bands that are based in one of the regions of the Léman lake: the French departments of Ain and Haute Savoie and the Swiss cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Valais.[10]
See main article: List of performers at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Over 1300 artists have performed at the Festival from 1967 to 2016, with the most appearances by Herbie Hancock (27 times) and B.B. King (21 times).
Albums recorded at the festival