Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland

When & Where The Montreux Jazz Festival occurs at Montreux in Switzerland. It usually takes place around in July. The dates for 2010 are July 2nd to 17th.

What to expect This is a legendary festival calling on some of the greatest performers ever including the genius Frank Zappa.

A bit of history Well known song "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple was about Frank Zappa who burned down the old Montreux Casino (original festival location) in December 1971 during a performance.

Getting there The closest airport to Montreux is Geneva, you can book budget flights here and Montreux is regularly serviced by train too.

Accommodation in Montreux There's lots of quality reasonable accommodation available in the area but expect to pay a bit more during this jazz festival, you can book budget accommodation here.

Montreux Jazz History

Founded in 1967 by Claude Nobs, Géo Voumard and René Langel. The festival was first held at Montreux Casino. It lasted for three days and featured almost exclusively jazz artists. The highlights of this era were Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, Bill Evans, Soft Machine, Weather Report, Nina Simone, Jan Garbarek, and Ella Fitzgerald. Originally a pure jazz festival, it opened up in the 1970s and today presents artists of nearly every imaginable music style. Jazz remains an important part of the festival. Today's festival lasts about two weeks and attracts an audience of more than 200,000 people.

Previous performers Sting, Bob Dylan, Fats Domino, Deep Purple, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Johnny Cash, Cheap Trick, Cheb Mami, Youssou N'Dour, Marianne Faithfull, Ice T, Jazzmatazz, ZZ Top, Simply Red, Eric Clapton, Marisa Monte, George Benson, Jazzkantine, Alanis Morissette, David Bowie, Paul Simon & The Wu Tang Clan.

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