The Montreux Jazz Festival: The Swiss Shore of Lake Geneva and the Legends It Made

The Montreux Jazz Festival (montreuxjazzfestival.com) is one of the most legendary music festivals in the world, held annually in July on the shore of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) in Montreux, Switzerland. Founded in 1967 by Claude Nobs (1936–2013), a native of Montreux who was then working as the director of the Montreux tourist office, the festival has grown from a three-day event into a two-week international gathering that presents over 400,000 visitors with some 300 concerts across multiple venues.

The festival's founding was the result of Nobs's friendship with the Atlantic Records producers Nesuhi Ertegün and Ahmet Ertegün, and with the jazz critic and producer Leonard Feather. The first festival, held from 18 to 20 June 1967 at the Montreux Casino, was a three-day event associated with a television competition, and featured Nina Simone, Bill Evans, and Charles Lloyd. The festival was an immediate success and grew rapidly, expanding its programme beyond jazz to include rock, blues, soul, and pop, while maintaining a commitment to jazz at its core.

Smoke on the Water

The most famous event in the festival's history — and one of the most famous incidents in rock history — occurred on 4 December 1971, when a fire broke out at the Montreux Casino during a performance by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. A member of the audience fired a flare gun into the ceiling, setting the building ablaze. The casino burned to the ground. Deep Purple, who were in Montreux to record an album at the casino (using the Rolling Stones' mobile recording unit), witnessed the fire from their hotel across the lake. The bassist Roger Glover looked out at the smoke rising from the casino and said 'the smoke on the water, fire in the sky' — the image that became the opening line of 'Smoke on the Water', one of the most famous rock songs ever recorded. The song's opening guitar riff, written by Ritchie Blackmore, is among the most recognised in the history of popular music. Reference: [Deep Purple — Smoke on the Water](https://www.deeppurple.org)

The Stravinski Auditorium

After the fire, the festival moved to other venues in Montreux for several years. In 1975, the festival found a permanent home at the rebuilt Montreux Casino, whose main hall — the Stravinski Auditorium (named after Igor Stravinsky, who lived in Montreux) — became one of the most celebrated concert halls in Europe. The auditorium, which seats approximately 3,500, has hosted performances by virtually every major figure in jazz, rock, blues, and soul: from Miles Davis (who performed at Montreux more than any other festival), Ella Fitzgerald, and Quincy Jones, to Prince, David Bowie, and Aretha Franklin.

The Claude Nobs Legacy

Claude Nobs remained the director and guiding spirit of the festival until his death on 10 January 2013, following a skiing accident. His extraordinary personal archive of over 5,000 live concert recordings — made with the permission of the artists, many of them never commercially released — is recognised by UNESCO as part of the Memory of the World Register (inscribed in 2013, the largest audiovisual collection ever to receive this designation). The archive is being preserved and digitised at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Reference: [UNESCO — Montreux Jazz Festival Claude Nobs Foundation](https://www.montreuxjazzfestival.com)

Mathieu Jaton, who had worked with Nobs since 1999, succeeded him as director in 2013 and has continued to guide the festival while preserving its distinctive character.

Practical Information

The Montreux Jazz Festival runs for approximately two weeks in early to mid-July. Most concerts are free, held on outdoor stages along the lakefront; the headline concerts in the Stravinski Auditorium and the smaller Montreux Jazz Lab are ticketed. The festival takes place along the lakefront promenade (Quai des Fleurs) in Montreux, which is transformed into a pedestrian festival zone. Montreux is on the main railway line between Geneva and the Valais, approximately one hour by train from Geneva Airport (GVA). Reference: [Montreux Jazz Festival Official](https://www.montreuxjazzfestival.com/en/)

Reference Links:

- Montreux Jazz Festival: montreuxjazzfestival.com/en/

- Claude Nobs Foundation: fondationclaudenobs.com

- Deep Purple Official: deeppurple.org

- Swiss Tourism: myswitzerland.com

- Montreux Tourism: montreuxriviera.com

- UNESCO Memory of the World: en.unesco.org/memoryoftheworld

- Swiss Federal Railways (SBB): sbb.ch