The festival, the most prestigious in Europe, will see more than 1,000 performers from across the globe descend on the shores of Switzerland’s Lake Geneva July 3-18.
Founded in 1967 as a three-day, jazz-only celebration, the festival was held at the Montreux Casino until one fateful night in 1971, when the building burned to the ground during a set by Frank Zappa, an event immortalized a year later by Deep Purple in their classic tune “Smoke on the Water.”
In addition to shows at Montreux’s Auditorium Stravinski and Miles Davis Hall, music fans can enjoy lots of free events taking place around the city, climb aboard a boat for some tropical sounds, jazz and blues or hop a train to soak up some jazz, country, bluegrass or celtic tunes.
Other artists scheduled to appear on the festival’s eclectic lineup include Steely Dan, Dave Matthews Band, Underworld, Stanley Clarke, Jamie Cullum, Alice Cooper, Bloc Party, Derek Trucks, Steve Winwood, Q-Tip, Lauryn Hill, Grace Jones, Susan Tedeschi, George Benson, Marianne Faithfull, Blind Boys of Alabama, John Fogerty, Madeleine Peyroux, Seal, Jeff Beck, Ray Parker Jr., Simian Mobile Disco and Donna Summer, who will close out the 16-day shindig.
Complete info on tickets and other events connected with the festival is available at MontreuxJazz.com.
A detailed day-by-day schedule is available here.