Soaking up the Sounds at the Montreux Jazz Festival

After all that excitement it was time to chill out with something a little less frenetic and head to the elegant lakeside town of Montreux for one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe. Established in 1967, all the greats have played at the Montreux Jazz Festival including Nina Simone, Keith Jarrett, Prince and Ray Charles.

We got there mid-afternoon, driving from Chamonix takes about an hour and a quarter (including a pit stop at one of the roadside vans selling fresh juicy apricots). Parking can be tricky but we found somewhere on a backstreet near to the lake and headed off for a swim before hitting the festival. The water here is super clear and pretty warm; despite its close proximity to the snowcapped Alps, Montreux seems to exist in a micro-climate with palm trees and exotic gardens flourishing alongside the lake.

After a refreshing dip we took a stroll along the waterfront, passing Freddie Mercury along the way, to enter the festival site. We’d not bought tickets to any of the paying concerts, but there is so much to see and hear that unless there’s someone playing who you really want to catch, then you don’t really need to. The lineup is usually pretty impressive though with this year including big names such as Lenny Kravitz, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennet and Mary J Blige to name just a very few.

The festival stretches out along the side of the lake, with some of the concerts taking place on the jazz boats that cruise up and down, channelling an old-time New Orleans vibe. The festival village is a bustling strip of food tents, pop-up bars, quirky market stalls and al fresco music venues. Every hundred metres or so you’ll find yourself drifting from a gospel choir to a swing band, or from African beats to Cuban salsa - just grab a drink and go with the flow!

As the sun sets over the water the headline acts start up in the concert halls, so the outdoor areas generally get a little less crowded. If you’re lucky enough to get tickets for one of the “official” gigs then you’re in for a treat, the venues are all significantly smaller than the usual concert arenas so you’ll get much closer to the stage.

There is also plenty going on outside of the festival site in the town of Montreux, and so we headed over to Funky Claude’s Bar to check out a Franco/Italian jazz band. Named after the founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, Claude Nobs, Funky Claude’s is a classy establishment that attracts a sophisticated crowd - they still let us scruffy oiks in though, so they’re not snobby… Not only was the band well worth the pilgrimage but we even had our first “celebrity spot” in the form of jazz legend Quincy Jones.

The festival site stays open until 5am, with after-show jam sessions providing a chance to see some amazing musicians hanging out together - big stars and lesser known talents playing side by side in the Montreux Jazz Club.

On this occasion we drove home afterwards but if you want to party (in the words of festival regular Lionel Richie) “all night long” then there are plenty of inexpensive camp sites within shimmying distance. The Montreux Jazz Festival runs until 18th July, so squeeze in a visit this weekend before it closes for another year - you can find the full programme on the festival website, click on the link at the top of this article.