The 43rd edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival took place from July 3rd to July 18th, and it came along with a huge assortment of free events during this period, featuring workshops, concerts at the Jazz Café or at Parc Vernex, clubbing – the choice was up to the visitors!

“Sixteen days, 1’000 musicians, more than 1’000 hours of music” was the guiding theme of a meaty and eclectic program. The two principal stages were hosting about 90 concerts, within 60 as Swiss exclusivities. That’s nearly twice of what was given last year. There were namely Steely Dan, Dave Matthews and Mos Def, Black Eyed Peas, Lily Allen, Alice Cooper, Die Ärzte, Herbie Hancock & Lang Lang, Lauryn Hill, Grace Jones, Donna Summer, Grace Jones, McCoy Tyner, B.B. King and Prince.

“Given the difficult economic situation, and considering the stronger competition of other Festivals, we did not intent to haggle and bargain the artists’ fees”, says Claude Nobs. “Therefore, we had to focus on exclusivities”.

Some artists familiar to Montreux were here, also as Swiss exclusivities: David Sanborn and Steve Winwood performed the same day, July 9th, Monty Alexander and Angélique Kidjo on the 10th, BB King on the 12th, George Benson, Rachelle Ferrell, George Duke and Lee Ritenour the 13th, and Solomon Burke sang on the 14th. The global première of a concert gathering the Jazz pianist Harbie Hancock and the classic piano player Lang Lang was one of this year’s mayor events. The duo was accompanied by the National Orchestra of Lyon, on July 5th.
The opening of the Festival, on July 3rd, featured a Latino night and Cuban rhythms with namely Oscar D’Leon and the musicians from “New York Salsa All Stars”. On Monday, July 6th, a super band composed by the cream of the crop of Jazz fusion was there: Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke and Victor Wooten mixed the sound of their three basses to create a quite amazing harmony of sounds and rhythms.

Three nights were dedicated to Chris Blackwell who created, 50 years ago, the Island label, and who permitted the expansion of Reggae in the world. On July 13th, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and Marianne Faithfull were on stage. But Jazz was not forgotten, since Jazz concerts took place with the piano player and singer Jamie Cullum on July 7th, the McCoy Tyner trio with a special guest, the excellent guitar player Bill Frisell and Gary Bartz on July 14th at the Miles Davies Hall – whereas at the Stravinsky, Solomon Burke was on stage. This pioneer of R&B, looking backwards to more than 50 years of career, has definitely had a huge impact on the musical history. He is one of the biggest soul singers of all the time. On July 16th, the mythic Rock band Status Quo, put the Stravinsky on fire. This group exists since 1962, dominating the charts with more than 60 bestsellers in the UK – more than any other Rock band in history. There were back in Montreux after they played here in 2004, in a fully packed concert. The same evening, you could see on stage John Fogerty, a Rock legend, which got well known as the leader of the band Creedance Clearwater Revival. The day after, it’s Jeff Beck, one of the world most talented Rock guitar player performing at Miles Davies Hall. Claude Nobs made a good deal by announcing the non-expected performance of Prince for the last day of the Festival. Two concerts, at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., took place. The 7’000 tickets for the two concerts have been sold within 7 minutes and 58 seconds! In 2007 already, the American artist had aroused 4’500 persons in Montreux.

For the first time, there was no Brazilian night foreseen in the two venues. But outside, on Saturday July 11th, hot Brazilian music heated up the numerous visitors.
The ticket prices were between CHF 80 and CHF 300 (CHF 480 for the concert with Prince, on July 18th) for the Stravinsky concerts. At Miles Davies Hall, tickets were sold between CHF 65 and CHF 180. Prices quite similar to the 2008 edition.

Several events completed this menu, such as the musical cruises on the lake and the numerous free concerts. 95’000 tickets have been sold, and the organisers disposed of a 18 million francs budget.
See you next year!