Montreux International Jazz Festival

Montreux International Jazz Festival

July

The most widely known jazz festival in Europe is held in Montreux, Switzerland, for about two weeks in July. There are big band, blues, country and western, jazz rock, folk jazz, and avant garde jazz concerts, most of which are held inside the Convention Centre's Stravinski Auditorium and Miles Davis Hall. Other concerts and jam sessions are held on the terrace and in the gardens of the Casino and on boats cruising Lake Leman. Most of the bands, combos, and soloists who have appeared at Montreux are American: Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, and Buddy Rich, to name just a few. Attention is also paid to up-and-coming talent, sometimes from countries as far away as Japan and Brazil. The Montreux Festival has been an annual event since 1967 and inspired the Detroit International Jazz Festival, a sister jazz festival held every year over Labor Day weekend in Detroit, Michigan.

CONTACTS:
Montreux Jazz Festival
CP 126 Sentier de Collonge 3
Montreux-Territet, 1820 Switzerland
41-21-966-4444; fax: 41-21-966-4433
www.montreuxjazz.com/news/index_en.aspx
Detroit International Jazz Festival
660 Woodward Ave., Ste. 13
Detroit, MI 48226
313-879-1144; fax: 313-879-1145
www.detroitjazzfest.com

SOURCES:
GdWrldFest-1985, p. 170
MusFestEurBrit-1980, p. 145