Right up to the end, Al Jarreau maintained an endless desire for sharing and openness. Today we pay homage to a major artist and friend of the Festival.
Love songs are timeless, and forge strong and lasting ties between artists and their public. Regardless of the musical style, these songs recall key moments in our lives and speak to something deep within us. Whether in a pop or jazz register, steeped in blues or soul, sung a capella or simply accompanied by a guitar, love songs are universal, and hearing them performed live is an experience rich in emotion. The perfect romantic playlist!
A procession of the greatest female jazz singers – of all ages and styles – have strutted their stuff on the Festival stage right from its very beginnings. From legendary figures like Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald to the new generation embodied by Lizz Wright and Melody Gardot and including Dianne Reeves and Dee Dee Bridgewater, festival-goers have had the privilege of discovering the most wonderful voices of Jazz. Whether the fragrance of Funk with Chaka Khan or steeped in Soul with Randy Crawford, Jazz ladies' vocal performances have marked Festival history.
Timeless musical compositions that have been steadily revived, Jazz standards have spanned many eras and continue to be essential and immediately recognizable elements of our musical heritage. Coming mainly from musical comedy repertoires and Broadway productions, they were composed by such artists as George Gershwin for « Summertime », Wayne Shorter for « Footprints », Cole Porter for « Love for Sale » or John Coltrane for « Blue Train ».
Throughout its history, the Festival has hosted the biggest rock stars, from the pioneers to today’s most dominant icons. From the protest rock of Patti Smith to the folk rock of James Taylor, every style has been represented at the Festival. The blues rock of Chris Rea has been alongside the punk rock of Lou Reed and the rock soul of Joe Cocker. From avant-garde David Bowie to Van Morrison, by way of Eric Clapton, the greatest legends of the genre have given unforgettable concerts in Montreux.
Coming from the U.S., the Blues is closely linked to the Festival history since it's been present in Montreux from the beginning. Audiences have enjoyed many famous great figures of this important genre: Buddy Guy and his Chicago Blues, the king B.B. King and his sophisticated lyrical guitar style or John Lee Hooker, the ambassador of the Detroit Blues. All of whom inspired the playing of English Blues Rock's big names like Eric Clapton and John Mayall.
Brazilian music comes out of a rich cultural heritage, and has always been influential through the representatives of its various musical styles and currents. From the bossa nova of Joao Bosco to the tropicalismo of Gilberto Gil, the principle incarnations of Brazilian music have punctuated the evenings at Montreux since the beginning. Festival-goers have been able to discover the historic ambassadors of the genre as well as the new generation, for example Maria Rita, the daughter of the great Elis Regina.
Over the past 20 years, the Montreux Jazz Festival stage has hosted the biggest names of hip hop. From the House of Pain Californians to the worthy representatives of East Coast Rap Run DMC and the Wu-Tang Clan as well as De La Soul and Naughty By Nature, all have given the Festival a big buzz. Whether solo like Q-Tip and Mr Lif, in duo like OuterSpace or in groups like La Coka Nostra, Suprême NTM and the Beastie Boys, Montreux has benefited from the genre's greatest practitioners' fabulous performances.
11 of the greatest Festival regulars talk about their most moving moments on stage in this exclusive web series.
As a rule, they don’t really like that. Memories, archives, concerts of yesteryear; they get dizzy from those years flashing past. Because they are living artists. They only think about the now, and the best concert is always the one coming up. And yet, with Al Jarreau, with David Sanborn, in the distant gaze of Dianne Reeves, in a certain movement of Carlos Santana’s head, with Quincy Jones and the others, something astonishing – and powerful – happens.
For in an instant they understand that they are looking at something quite distinct from the picture album of the world’s greatest festival: it was a segment of the memory of a century’s music that was on display in the recordings we show them. Of course, seeing musicians once again, remembering a magical evening or a detail about a concert that was on a razor’s edge, they laugh, and share. But they are at pains to repeat that what they experienced, and what they hope to experience again, in Montreux, would be possible nowhere else.
« Archives: when they tell their Montreux », a web series with Dianne Reeves, Al Jarreau, John McLaughlin, George Benson, Charles Lloyd, Angélique Kidjo, David Sanborn, Quincy Jones, Carlos Santana, Marcus Miler and Gilberto Gil.
The most renowned artists of American alternative Rock have played at Montreux Jazz, like Jack White, who gave a concert with The Raconteurs in 2008, or with The Dead Weather in 2010. The Festival has also hosted other emblematic groups like the New York MGMT, the Strokes, Interpol, Vampire Weekend and Nada Surf as well as The Kills, brought by Alison Mosshart, The National and the Californian trio the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Over its history, the Festival has scheduled concerts by the most famous representatives of Heavy Metal in sometimes very different styles. The symphonic Metal of Nightwish and Apocalyptica have rubbed shoulders, for example, with Korn's nu Metal, Slayer's and 69 Chambers' trash Metal or the legendary Motorhead's speed Metal. In the same Heavy Metal register, Saxon, Nazareth, Von Pariahs and the Chickenfoot and Heaven & Hell supergroups have also played at Montreux Jazz.
African music has always been characterized by its broad diversity of styles, some of which have earned worldwide fame like Afrobeat with its rythmic fusions or the irresistably dance-able Mbalax and its famous ambassador Youssou N'Dour. Whether it's Baaba Maal's World-beat, Salif Keita's Afropop or Songhoy Blues' Rock, the rich sounds of Africa have always built bridges with other musical genres – as reflected by Blur's Damon Albarn various collaborative ventures.
The most prestigious rock bands have played the stages of Montreux since its earliest editions. From the hard rock of Deep Purple or Nazareth to the progressive rock of Jethro Tull, the Festival has always offered a rich and varied line-up of rock music ranging from FM rock mainstays like Toto and Foreigner to punk rock pioneers like Iggy Pop and The Stooges. From the bluesy sound of ZZ Top to the boogie sound of Status Quo, every style of rock has always had its place at the Festival.
Born in Jamaica at the end of the 1960s, reggae, at first reserved for historic local artists like Jimmy Cliff, has become a universal musical genre represented equally well by the Ivory Coast’s Tiken Jah Fakoly and England’s Hollie Cook. From rocksteady to dub via sound system and new roots, reggae has produced numerous offshoots, as can be seen in the diversity of artists hosted at the Festival since the 1970s, from Bob Marley’s sons to California’s Groundation.
Derived from 70s Soul music and characterized by its Jazz, Funk and Hip Hop influences, Neo Soul appeared in the 80s. A constantly evolving multicultural movement, this genre brings artists from very different worlds together and allows us to rediscover the sounds of R'n'B with John Legend, of New Jack Swing with Raphael Saadiq, of Folk with Michael Kiwanuka or José James as well as Soul with Asa or Pop with Jessie J.
New versions of some titles by other artists have sometimes been so successful that they eclipse the original releases. Joe Cocker’s interpretation of the Beatles song “With a Little Help from My Friends” is the best example of this, with the single topping the charts in the UK. Numerous artists have shared their covers or versions of older titles with the audience at the Montreux Jazz Festival, in a wide variety of genres ranging from reggae to Brazilian music, and of course jazz.
Right from the start, Montreux Jazz has been a fantastic discoverer of new talents: many future musical stars played here at the very beginning of their careers before making it onto the international stage. Jamie Cullum, Adele, Paolo Nutini, Ed Sheeran, James Blunt and Kendrick Lamar perfectly illustrate the Festival's musical diversity and its ability to discover and reveal tomorrow's talents. Benjamin Clementine, Peter Cincotti and Jack Garratt are further examples of that.
Top Swiss artists, whether in the Rock, Reggae or Jazz registers, have performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The Festival has thus hosted Yellow's Dieter Meier, Erik Truffaz, the Moonraisers and Solange la Frange as well as The Two. Montreux Jazz has also revealed the new generation playing live and represented by such artists as Bastian Baker, Sophie Hunger and the Oy group, not to mention international stars like Stephan Eicher and Gotthard.
