July 2nd to 17th, 2010

Phil Collins opens up the 44th edition on July 1st by performing an exclusive concert called “Up Close&Personal: Phil Collins Plays 60’s Motown & Soul”. The subtle drummer of the prog-rock group Genesis offers us a musical journey throughout time: his execution of the most famous sixties R&B, soul and pop songs lists the big classics of the Motown label.

The day after, it’s up to Roxy Music, the mythical group of the seventies and forerunner of punk and glam rock, to take the Stravinsky stage in their original configuration, but without Eno. What a big surprise then is the appearance on stage of Billy Cobham and John McLaughlin, two of Miles Davis’ disciples and brilliant musicians, for a show of their talent. At the same time, at Miles Davis Hall, Beach House leaves the space to Air, an electronic French duo formed by Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin having already produced five albums.

On July 3rd, Norah Jones takes possession of the Stravinsky Hall with her 4th studio album “The Fall”. She could not miss the Montreux Jazz Festival while being on tour. She also declared: “Montreux is one of the most beautiful cities ever. It’s so beautiful; I wish I could live here sometimes when I’m stressed out”. After having appeared surprisingly beside Willy Mason performing the first part of the night, Norah inaugurates an evening marked by jazz, folk and country. Playing alternatively guitar and piano, she charms the audience with a repertory composed mainly of her most recent compositions without forgetting her classics. In the meantime, two groups, Black Box Revelation and  The Dead Weather register a huge success at Miles Davis Hall with their rock, which is not a common one, but a real rock garage, noisy in any order and decadent. Jack White, considered one of the world’s best guitar players, was performing within the group The Dead Weather as a drummer. The group included Alison Mosshart (The Kills) on vocals and the genius White for sure exploded the audience.

There was a big change at the Stravinsky the next day. Jesse Norman, for the very first time in Montreux, started singing gospel songs in a Baptist Church when she was four. She is one of the most admired contemporary opera singers. Claude Nobs and Quincy Jones introduce her to the audience. Wearing a black dress and an orange ribbon containing her abundant hair, she shows her fantastic voice and great presence on stage. Five musicians play incredibly, she starts with a Negro Spiritual and recalls that this kind of music is the origin of jazz, hip hop, R&B… of ALL the music! She introduces “Mac The Knife” in perfect German and continues with French chansons “Les chemins de l’amour” and “J’ai deux amours, mon pays et Paris”. Brilliant in all styles, she finally offers an opera aria from Bizet’s Carmen “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle”. The second part of her concert is dedicated to the jazz classics (Gershwin and others) that she sings with maestria.

July 6th is rocking with Billy Idol, unique survivor of Generation X, his British punk rock group he founded in the seventies. Then, Gary Moore speeds the sound with diabolic rock and blues. At Miles Davis’, it’s hurly-burly. Prince came to see Janelle Monae’s concert, the new American diva of soul. “He arrived at 5.30 pm at Geneva airport and reached Montreux an hour later” states a member of the festival staff. Wearing a sober outfit – purple tunic, of course – and mallow trousers, Prince joins the Montreux Jazz Café where three years before he performed himself. Take note that Prince just released a new opus on which we can find “Lavaux”, a song dedicated, as the name states, to the vineyard region of the Vaud canton. This new Prince album again was distributed without taking advantage of the standard outlets. Saturday July 10th, it was offered with the British newspapers “Daily Mirror” and “Daily Record” as well as included in the Belgian “Het Nieuwsblad” and “De Gentenaar”. On July 22nd, it appeared in the German “Rolling Stones” and the French “Courrier International”.

Associating soul, groove, funk and acoustic folk, the composer and singer Ben Harper is on stage on July 7th, meanwhile at Mile Davis, they prepare the scene for Pat Metheny, world’s famous guitar player and composer who showed his passion and faith for rock and his love for jazz. He performed with Lyle Mays amongst others.
Change of register again on the day after with Massive Attack, hip-hop pioneers being amongst the most innovative and influential groups of their generation.
Paco de Lucia plays flamenco guitar. He changed a marginal instrument into global phenomena by introducing the Cajun tambour, bass and percussion, which all his fans at Miles Davis greatly appreciate.

On July 9th, an African energy invades the already heated up Stravinsky Hall. A homage to Miriam Makeba offered by Angélique Kidjo gathers the biggest stars of contemporaneous African music, amongst them Youssou N’Dour who was 50 years old recently.

Vanessa Paradis started her career in 1987, at age 14. For her very first performance in Montreux, she presents her music in an acoustic way. Alone, or nearly alone on stage, eight musicians envelop the audience with quiet music. Vanessa Paradise charms the fans at Montreux Jazz Festival.

The Keith Jarrett trio played in 1967 at the former Casino in Montreux, when the Montreux Jazz Festival gave its first edition! Here we are at the highest level of musical performance, but also in the art of improvisation by these musicians who are a reference of excellence in jazz. Keith Jarrett, American piano player, former companion of Miles Davis, is now surrounded – like in 1967 - by Gary Peacock (bass) and Jack De Johnette (drums). Brilliant concert on this Sunday July 11th!

On the evening of July 12th, the Swiss Army Band conducted by Pepe Lienhard, shares the stage with international artists for the second time. The band plays with Marc Sway, Kirsty (Ernest Bertarelli’s spouse), Seven and Petula Clark who, in 1964 in Montreux, shared the evening with a rock group called … the Rolling Stones! Meanwhile, Chick Corea plays at Miles Davis with Kenny Garrett, Roy Haynes and Christian McBride and his Freedom Band, distilling pure jazz.

Diana Krall shows up to a fully packed Stravinsky Hall for one and a half hours of jazz. Later in the evening, her husband Elvis Costello surrounded by the Sugarcanes, makes the end of the evening a wonderful one. Considering the eclectic choice and the quality offered by the Montreux Jazz Festival, one sometimes forgets that the theme of this festival is jazz above all. Diana Krall is here to recall this “detail”. Tall, beautiful and rather distant at the first glance, the Canadian singer enters the Hall followed by a guitar player, a bass player and a drummer. The four musicians offer a concert of high quality.

No need to introduce Buddy Guy anymore, the one who was, at the end of the fifties, one of the most flamboyant ambassadors of the West Side of Chicago style. He influenced very deeply giant rock musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton and is definitely one of the big ones in music history. In Montreux, a flood of music notes comes out of his old Fender. No need to warm up the audience, Buddy Guy, the electric luminary of Chicago nights is already in trance and does not hesitate to start a voodoo solo, Hendrix style, absolutely stunning. Behind him, the orchestra has difficulty following him, but never mind. The legendary bluesman assures the show alone in front of an enthralled audience. Then, Joe Bonamassa from Utica, NY, who played blues long before being able to drive a car, performs. Discovering the music of Stevie Ray Vaughan at age 4, he immediately was fascinated by the incredible energy coming out of this musician. At age 8, he played his first parts of a B.B. King concert and at age 12, he was playing in New York on a regular basis.

This year, Mick Hucknall celebrates 25 years of uninterrupted dedication to the group he founded: Simply Red. It was influenced as well by pop, rock, jazz, reggae and blue-eyed soul and had huge success with that. In a packed full Stravinsky Hall and an audience already convinced, Mick Hucknall performs at his best. Meanwhile at Miles Davis, Sophie Hunger, a young Swiss German singer, opens her wings for the second time at the Montreux Jazz Festival, facing a charmed audience. Sophie Hunger is much brighter than she appears on her albums…

July 15th hosts certainly the main event of the festival: Mark Knopfler, genius singer and guitar player, composer and interpreter who released six solo albums since he split up with the mythical group Dire Straits in 1995, is nearly 62 but continues to handle his Fender Stratocaster like a god of swing and composes sweet ballads, rock, and blues with incomparable taste. His concert is a mix of his last album, “Get Lucky”, released in September 2009 and compositions of Dire Straits. He has no difficulties at all to heat up the fully packed Stravinsky Hall.

The day after, it’s “Quincy Jones And The Global Gumbo All-Stars”, a big concert performed at Stravinsky. Quincy himself conducts exclusively for the Montreux Jazz Festival a wonderful group of musicians. Then arrives on stage Herbie Hancock, the virtuouso piano player. Surrounded by top musicians, the artist joins the Montreux Jazz Festival for the 26th time! The magic of Jazz operates again with his “Imagine Project” with some musicians of a very high level (Vinnie Colaiuta at the drums, ex Frank Zappa, McLaughlin, Jeff Beck, etc. and Tal Wilkenfeld, a warm-blooded female bass player, 24 years old with an incredible talent).

For the very last night of this year’s Montreux Jazz Festival, SHE sings but HE’s the star. Triggering an effervescence out of control, Roman Polanski comes to hear his wife Emmanuelle Seigner singing. Invited at the last minute, he shows up in public for the first time after having been restricted to his Chalet in Gstaad for months. His wife, actress and singer, 44, performs surrounded by three musicians in front of 2’000 fans who are listening to the rock songs of her last album “Dingue” as well as to some of her older releases. Roman Polanski is sitting on the second floor of the concert hall, protected from the journalists.

This year again, the Montreux Jazz Festival showed its specificity. It is for sure not just another addition within the numerous music events taking place here. Thanks to it, Prince wrote a song about Lavaux. Phil Collins opened the event with his soul homage to Motown. The most famous of last year’s artists gave a concert: The Dead Weather, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Keith Jarrett, Vanessa Paradis… and the old stars like Roxy Music, Mark Knopfler, Billy Idol or Simply Red join Montreux with pleasure and have a nostalgic trip…

Those were the main events of the 2010 edition that on the figures side announces an 85% ticket sales with 14 sold out evenings out of 17 at Stravinsky Hall. Miles Davis got 9 sold out events. As in past editions, visitors have been able to listen to free concerts until daybreak. As Claude Nobs underlines, those concerts represent 2/3 of the MJF, he noted the festival gathers about 100’000 paying visitors and 130’000 non-paying ones.

Thank you, Claude Nobs, for this 44th edition – and see you next year again!