From July 4th to 19th 2008, the 42nd edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival - lasting only three days and concentrated exclusively on Jazz when it was first held in 1967 - has since grown into a gigantic international spectacle. Over 16 days, musicians – from newcomers to legends – from all over the world come and go. Musical forms other than Jazz have long since become part of the celebration, and now high-class musicians representing just about every musical form produce a colourful mixture of sounds.

Therefore, visitors to the Festival can expect not only some outstanding concerts, but also some unforgettable experiences. As every year, top acts have performed at the Miles Davis Hall and the Stravinsky Auditorium, but there were also over 300 free concerts by artists of all types, staged daily from noon until late at night at various venues. The " Festival Off" also includes the popular musical cruises on the Samba, Salsa, Gospel and Dance boats, which invite festival-goers to take part in a floating carnival.

The talented Erykah Badu, often compared to Billie Holiday for her languorous voice, was the last artist on stage at the 2000 Montreux Jazz Festival, mentions Claude Nobs. Nothing but normal that she opens the curtain of the 2008 Festival with her unclassifiable style. The inventor of Neo Soul comes back five years after the release of her last album. “N.E.R.D.” (No One Ever Really Dies) is a side project of The Neptunes, created by the two successful Pop producers Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams. “N.E.R.D.” is not the Neptunes. “N.E.R.D.” is the offspring of the Neptunes id, a fly-or-die, thrash-around, set-your-soul-on-fire alter-ego that subscribes to no rules, adheres to no agenda.” Mixing Hip-hop with Funk-Rock, their show was amazing and was not to miss.

Next day, July 5th, one of the most popular rockers of the ‘90s, Sheryl Crow, comes back 12 years after her last concert in Montreux followed by Joe Jackson who, despite his early image as dapper new-wave rocker, has never allowed himself to be limited in where he can go. At Miles Davis Hall no less than 9 Reggae band performed this same evening among which where Michael Rose and the Dubline Band, Chezidek, Prince Alla, Earl 16, Sylford Walker etc. Surprise at Stravinski Hall with the Grammy Award Canadian songwriter k.d. lang overwhelming the public with emotional force, and Joan Baez coming back to Montreux after so many years. Big surprise with the improvised concerts of 6 musicians from Ghana and their traditional instruments on stage of the Strav, just after Joan Baez’ concert: Claude Nobs having discovered them playing in the streets of Montreux brought them on stage – and the whole audience was just charmed! The next day brought a Blues Night with Otis Taylor, Buddy Guy, Gary Moore and John Mayall and his Bluesbreakers.

Star of the 2008 edition of Montreux Jazz Festival, Leonard Cohen, has been one of the most important and influential songwriters of our time.  Author of the song "Suzanne", Leonard Cohen, 73, has not been on stage for 15 years and has shared with the audience a very emotional evening. At the same time British band Madness, who were one of the leading bands of the Ska revival in the late '70s and early '80s, performed at Miles Davis Hall. July 9th, Paul Simon who is amongst the best and most popular songwriters of the Rock era stepped on stage wearing a Borsalino hat, greeting the audience and starting to play and sing in front of a packed full concert hall. They all came for Mrs Robinson of course or Slip Slidin'Away ... On July 10th performed a Rock band from Scotland, Travis, and the next day Roberta Flack showed up, a part of the musical and Montreux history. Her first Montreux concert was in 1968, followed by 1970 for the Golden Rose Festival, then in 1971 sharing the Festival with another great voice: Aretha Franklin. One of the most influent Pop and R&B saxophone players for the last 20 years comes back to Montreux. His name is David Sanborn, he did collaborate with Paul Butterfield, Gil Evans, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie or the Brecker Brothers, but also played with the greatest blues stars as Albert King. Later in the evening, one of the best American Jazz-Funk bands performed. No matter who you are, where you live, or what your taste in music is, Tower of Power will find you. And once that happens, it's all over. You will come to believe not only that soul music is the salvation of us all, but that Tower of Power is one of those rare bands who can claim to be the real deal, 100 proof, aged-to-perfection, ground zero Soul. While this was happening, Richard Galliano performed at the Miles Davis Hall. Who is Galliano? It can be said that he is actually simply the best Jazz accordionist in the world.

July 13th, Herbie Hancock, the Jazz keyboard genius, comes back to Montreux with great musicians such as Dave Holland, Lionel Loueke and Chris Potter, Chaka Khan shares the stage with Rahsaan Patterson and Ledisi, American Soul and R&B artist from New Orleans who started music when she was only 8. At the same time, at the Miles Davis Hall, the Brazilian Fever started with Joao Bosco and Milton Nascimento and the Jobim Trio.

Next day is a special evening. The next evening an exceptional night tribute to Quincy Jones: more than twenty artists performed at the Auditorium Stravinsky, celebrating the 75th anniversary of this music legend. They all were accompanied by the Swiss Army Big Band directed by Pepe Lienhard. Amongst the great artists on stage were Billy Cobham, Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau, Petula Clark, Angélique Kidjo, James Moody, Naturally 7, Lee Ritenour, Joe Sample, Larry Williams or Nana Mouskouri. Only 2’800 lucky people had the chance to grab a ticket for this exceptional night prepared by Claude Nobs for months. At the Miles Davis Hall, pure Hard Rock with the Scots Nazareth celebrating their 40 years of existence and Saxon, British band formed in 1977. July 16th, Joe Sample and the Crusaders take us all back to the '60's when they released their first albums. Mixing R&B, Memphis Soul and Hard Bop they were an attraction wherever they performed. Nils Landgren the man with the red trombone, author of many successful albums, performed together with the Crusaders. Later he introduced his own band, The Funk Unit, and they offered to the audience a solid Funk music. The evening ended with Mick Hucknall. After an illustrious career with Simply Red, this man decided to do something different: a tribute to Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland. “He’s one of the vocalists who influenced my singing style long before I became a slave to pop success”. A master class in soul, blues and R&B, Hucknall transforms the thoughtfully selected covers into his own. At the same moment the British poetic, chaotic rock band Babyshambles were performing at the packed full Miles Davis Hall. Babyshambles were formed in 2003 by Pete Doherty just as the Libertines were beginning to fall apart. Lenny Kravitz was on stage July 16th. Multi-talented singer-songwriter, who has sold an estimated thirty million albums worldwide. His unique style touched upon such genres as Soul, Funk, Reggae, Psychedelic Rock or Folk and was influenced by artists like Prince, Bob Marley or Jimi Hendrix. The next day, Nine-time Grammy Awards winner Alicia Keys is back in Montreux for a 90 minutes gig mixing old and new songs and titles from her 3rd album “As I Am”. Her 2004 show already seduced the audience at the Stravinsky Hall.

July 18th, the evening is focused on Marcus Miller. Grammy Award-winning Jazz musician, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist for more than 30 years, he has become a musical reference. Not only has Miller been involved in the continuing development of a technique known as "slapping", but his fretless bass technique has also served as an inspiration to many, and has taken the fretless bass into musical situations and genres previously unexplored with the electric bass of any description. The influences of some of the previous generation of electric bass players, especially Jaco Pastorius, are audible in Miller's playing. Marcus Miller collaborated on more than 500 albums. He recorded with artists such as Sinatra, Elton John, Jean Michel Jarre, Bryan Ferry, Bee Gees, etc.  His collaboration with Miles Davis between 1980 and 1990 gave him the fame for his particular style and virtuosity. "In my opinion, Miles is the greatest musician of this time because he could combine art and Soul. However the artistically degree of his various songs would be the audience was plugged in. He could experiment abstract without loosing the human dimension".  Marcus Miller had quite a large influence on Miles at this time as he became the musical director of his band.

July 18th is the return of a super Jazz Fusion band by name Return to Forever. Twenty four years after they separated, Chick Corea (keyboards) tells «What made me want to do it was just recalling how great the feeling was playing with these guys. Just the experience of playing, when I thought, Wow, yeah, that was an amazing period - fun, creative, exciting.'" Fabulous evening with Stanley Clarke on bass, Al di Meola on guitar and Lenny White on drums.

And to close this 42nd edition with a firework, Deep Purple, true institution of the British hard rock community, was formed in Hertford, England, in 1968. Their most enduring hit, “Smoke on the Water”, was inspired by the fire of the Casino in Montreux, during a live appearance by Frank Zappa in 1971. Steve Morse (former Dixie Dregs) has replaced Richie Blackmore some years ago.
This edition ended up with positive figures and the total of tickets sold for this 42nd Festival amounted to 87’000. This represents one of the most attended Festivals in its 42 years. More than 330 groups performed this year on the different stages, 209 of them on free venues, which let the visitors take full advantage of all the Festival’s spaces. See you all next year!