Montreux Jazz Festival has been a must-see festival for jazz purists since 1967.

It is also a place that has hosted for over 50 years the biggest names in music (Bowie, Prince, Deep Purple, Nina Simone) It is a place that generates legendary performances recorded on video since the creation of Montreux Jazz part of the UNESCO heritage.

The first Montreux Jazz Festival was held in 1967 at the Montreux Casino overlooking Lake Geneva. It was a three-day event featuring the Charles Lloyd Quartet, an American group, alongside a dozen participants in a competition for European jazz artists. Staged again the following year, the festival was extended to five days to accommodate more guest artists—most notably the American pianist Bill Evans and the American vocalist Nina Simone—and increased participation in the competition. The Montreux Jazz Festival subsequently became an annual affair, and it continued to grow, both in duration and in scope. By the late 1970s it typically spanned two weeks in early to mid-July and encompassed not only jazz but an eclectic mix of blues, gospel, soul, rock, and other popular music genres.

20 emerging artists that will make a lot of noise in 2023, selected by Montreux Jazz Festival's booking team. With Cat Burns, DOMi & JD BECK, Dove Cameron, Ekkstacy, Ethan Bortnick, FLO, Gayle, Ilira, JVKE, Shenseea, Stacey Ryan, Tokischa, Uncle Waffles, and more.

In the 60s of the last century, the Montreux Jazz Festival was declared exclusively as a jazz festival, later the program was expanded.

Now on his stage you can also hear representatives of soul, blues and rock and roll. In recent years, the headliners of the music festival have been Carlos Santana, Lady Gaga, Lana del Rey, Lenny Kravitz, Leonard Cohen and ZAZ.

Chaque année et ce depuis sa création en 1967, le Montreux Jazz Festival laisse le soin à des artistes internationaux de réaliser son affiche officielle. Keith Haring en signait trois déclinaisons en 1983, puis en binôme avec Andy Warhol en 1986. David Bowie se prêtait au jeu en 1995, comme plus récemment Yoann Lemoine (Woodkid), Malika Favre ou Christian Marclay.

Affiche Silent Shores, Yoann Lemoine (Woodkid), 2020

Yoann Lemoine, alias Woodkid a également dessiné l’affiche de 2014.

En savoir plus sur l’artiste.

Pictured is James Brown in 1981: The first festival in Montreux, photographed by Dutoit.

Philippe Dutoit

Alexandra Loseva