« The Montreux Jazz Festival’s 40 years old, so what ? Come back tomorrow, it’ill be 41 !” Claude Nobs chuckles.
The firework starts June 30th with a special tribute to Ahmet Ertegun founder of the Atlantic Records in the 50’s at the Auditorium Stravinski among others Solomon Burke, Chic & Nile Rodgers, George Duke, Kid Rock, Ben E. King, Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) (Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were forseen but missing) Steve Winwood (ex Traffic) Stevie Nicks (ex Fleetwood Mac) and The Atlantic Soul All Stars with Les McCann and Cornell Dupree, Ronnie Cuber, Jerry Jemmott and Buddy Williams.

The next day, July 1st, The Black Eyed Peas performed at the Stravinski Hall and The Clarke/Duke project and Klaus Doldinger Passport at the Casino Barrière.
Tribute to Nesuhi Ertegun (Ahmet’s elder brother who died unfortunately in 1989 in New York) July 2nd with Ornette Coleman, the controversial saxophonist who’s capable of everything even to play with Lou Reed…. He remains a legendary figure of the avant-garde. Joe Sample and Van Morrisson play at the Casino. Al Jarreau and David Sanborn too
B.B. King ans his friends, “he’s been in Montreux nineteen times but each time his kindness and the way he wants to share things with the public is amazing”.
Great success for Massive Attack Tuesday July 4th and the stunning performance of the ginger-haired Mick Hucknall, alias Simply Red, July 5th. Her charisma is 100% intact, her conviction even more so, Tracy Chapman’s back with her 3 musicians for an exceptional 17 songs performance at the Stravinski Hall.

From the mid-'80s to the mid-'90s, Canadian singer/songwriter and guitarist Bryan Adams was one of the most successful recording artists in popular music. He’s proved it at the Stravinski Hall July 6th while Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield and Larry Goldings have charmed the public after the solo performance of Abdullah Ibrahim.

And Brazil. Ney Matogrosso has already made a name for himself with his sensual and extravagant shows, Maria Rita, the only lady here this evening, Martinho da Vila the most popular samba star in the whole of Brazil, Gilberto Gil, familiar figure at the Montreux Jazz but also current Minister of Culture, Carlinhos Brown and his music patchwork all this was at the Stravinski while Chick Corea and his « Mozart Project » explores the four corners of the music universe at the Casino. Chick Corea is arguably best known for his work during the 1970s in the genre of jazz fusion. The word “fusion” is a symbolic part of his vocabulary although his contributions to straight-ahead jazz have been tremendous. He participated in the birth of the electric fusion movement as a member of Miles Davis’s band in the 1960’s and in the 1970’s formed Return to Forever.

July 9th, « Dance to the Beat of my Drum » Carlos Santana has developed an incandescent dialogue with performers from the African diaspora and the Brazilian singer and percussionist Carlinhos Brown with a large number of participants. These include Touré Kunda, Mory Kanté, Angélique Kidjo, Ismael Lô, the Kora Jazz trio. While Taj Mahal and Randy Newman did manage at the Casino.

July 10th “My Blues is Deep” in homage to the victims and the musicians who lost all they had during the terrible catastrophe that hit New Orleans. Carlos Santana invites Taj Mahal, The Neville Brothers, Irma Thomas et Zucchero while at the other side of the town, at the Casino, the drummer Aldo Romano, Victoria Abril and the french Bernard Lavilliers have organised a tribute to Claude Nougaro. A few minutes after the news of Sting playing in Montreux July 11th all tickets were sold out. Prior to starting his distinguished solo career, he was the principal composer, lead singer and bass player of the 1970s/1980s rock band “The Police”. This same evening Morrissey, singer and songwriter from Manchester (he rose to prominence in the 1980s as the vocalist of the English band The Smiths) sings at the Miles Davis Hall and some fabulous Jazz musicians at the Casino : Bob James, Larry Carlton, Harvey Mason, Herbie Hancock.

Santana’s third evening, July 12th, « Tower Power » is the burning breath of a brass section dnderlined by a brassy rhythm.There you could easily see Santana’s guitar pulling out all the stops. The evening was like a lucky dip, full of surprises with Eagle Eye Cherry, Paul Sean among so many others. Marcus Miller’s a magician of the string. They resonate with agility and precision. Not only that. He’s one behind « Tutu », Miles Davis’s memorable album (1986). Interesting world music with a trio composed of Zakir Hussain, tablas Master, Eric Harland. piano and percussions and Charles Lloyd tenor sax. Adventurous and in the footsteps of Coltrane.

July 13th Sean Paul (real name : Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques) born January 9th 1973 at Kingston, Jamaica. Dancehall music was Sean Paul's first love, and he became proficient at crafting rhythm tracks. He was closely connected to the reggae-pop band “Third World”.

Ask the 64-year-old soul singer Solomon Burke and he'll oblige lengthily and almost apologetically about the good fortune in his life, crediting it to God. He isn't just a singer, you see, he's a practicing bishop in the Church of the House of God for All People in Los Angeles, where he oversees a chain of mortuaries. For a man who does all that and sits on the board of the world's greatest soul singers, Burke is as humble as he is amiable. July 13th Casino Montreux.

July 14th was not only the French independence day but it was also the evening for Gotthard, the most well knowned Swiss rock band and Iggy & The Stooges the legendary punk group he started off with. Iggy Pop and the Asheton Brothers let it all out with “I Wanna Be Your Dog”. Deep Purple need no introduction as one of the all-time great British rock bands. Their association with Montreux goes back to the early seventies when their attempt to record their album “Machine Head” at the Montreux Casino was thwarted when it promptly burnt down forcing them to make the album in the rooms and corridors of the Grand Hotel instead. The story was of course immortalised in their classic song “Smoke On The Water” which was the climax of this 2006 concert. Not only was the repertoire near to perfect but many songs everybody remembered were performed during this evening. "Strange kind of woman", "Space truckin", "Highway star", "Pictures of home", "Hush", "Lazy, Black Night ".

See you this summer for the 2007 edition.