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Montreux Through The Decades: Jazz Recordings, Part One


Bill Evans at Montreux Jazz Festival 1968
Verve
1968
This recording of a short-lived Bill Evans trio at the Montreux Jazz Festival would give the pianist another Grammy award, his first having come with Conversations with Myself (1963) a few years earlier. Captured by Radio Suisse Romande and released promptly by Verve in 1968, the one-hour concert is also notable for being

Jack DeJohnette
drumsb.1942

Charles Lloyd
saxophoneb.1938

Marty Morell
drumsb.1944
DeJohnette's empathetic animationon sticks and brushes alikein tandem with

Eddie Gomez
bassb.1944

Art Tatum
piano1909 - 1956
There's little of Evan's more customary introspection on these ballsy workouts, and even on the two balladic solo piano pieces, "Quiet Now" and a beautiful rendition of "I Loves You Porgy," Evans is in cheery, playful form. As Brian Priestly noted in his liner notes to a 1998 CD reissue, it was unusual for Evans to perform solo pieces in a trio setting, which make this Montreux set all the more special.
Puerto Rican bassist Gomez had only been with Evans for two years at the time of this Montreux performance but his muscular, guitar-like attack clearly excited Evans, who atypically devotes an entire number ("Embraceable You") to the bassist. Gomez also illuminates the Earl Zindar's "Mother of Earl," and "One for Helen," one of two Evan's originals along with "Walkin' Up" that bookend this memorable concert.

Cookin' with Blue Note at Montreux 1973
Blue Note
1973
Festival director Claude Nobs was partly right when he said by way of introduction to flautist Bobbi Humphrey's Montreux Jazz Festival appearance that there hadn't been that many female jazz artists in the history of jazz. Or at least, not that many in 1973 were given top billing at festivals or led bands. Humphrey had been spotted by

Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet1917 - 1993

Duke Ellington
piano1899 - 1974

Jutta Hipp
piano1925 - 2003
This concert features tracks from Flute In (Blue Note, 1971) and Dig This! (Blue Note, 1972), stretched to two or three times their studio length and showcasing Humphrey's undoubted virtuosity. Humphrey and guitarist Barney Perry's unison melody introduces

Alphonse Mouzon
drums1948 - 2016

Henry Franklin
bass
Keith Killgo
drumsHumphrey leaves substantial room for her sidemen to stretch out on

Stanley Turrentine
saxophone, tenor1934 - 2000

Kevin Toney
piano1953 - 2024

Dick Griffin
tromboneb.1939
The crowd's enthusiastic response during the performance, between songs and at the end is testament to the impact Humphrey made at Montreux Jazz 1973 and a ringing endorsement of her talent.

The Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 at Montreux Jazz Festival 1975
Pablo
1975
As part of a Pablo recording artists' package featured at the Montreux Jazz Festival '75, Dizzy Gillespie leads an all-star band of some of the most celebrated names in jazz of the previous thirty years. There are no real surprises in a set list that draws from the beboppers songbook and the music follows an unwaveringly predictable pattern of opening melody followed by a sequence of solos and then a return to the head. While the songs and the idiom border on the clichéd, the musicianship is unquestionably out of the top drawer.
The septet opens with the Sigmund Romberg/Oscar Hammerstein hit from 1928, "Lover Come Back to Me"; Gillespie's lyrical intro soon gives way to Niels Henning Orsted Pederson's fast-walking bass and Micky Roker's industry on the kit; the duo's up-tempo time-keeping stokes the fires of Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Milt Jackson, Gillespie, Johnny Griffin and Tommy Flanagan in turn, where free-wheeling individual virtuosity is the order of the day.
In spite of the all-star nature of the band the musicians are well familiar with each other. In the previous decade Roker had played frequently with both Gillespie and Jackson, while Davis and Griffin had recorded no fewer than ten albums together in their co-led group between 1960 and 1962 on the Prestige label. Orsted Pederson, the go- to bassist for all the great American musicians visiting Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s had recorded a couple of live recordings with Gillespie prior to this Montreux outing. Given the shared history of the musicians, the unadventurous arrangements and familiar bebop template of these well-known standards comes across as just a little stale, not matter how passionate the playing.
And the soloing is full of verve, from all concerned, though Orsted Pedersen only gets a run out towards the end of "I'll Remember April," another fast-temp workout. The first collective breather comes after half an hour, with a slow, bluesy rendition of "What's New?, Bob Haggart/Johnny Burke's 1939 hit. Davis sets the tone with a mellifluous solo and the measured improvisations that follow from Gillespienot without fireGriffin and Jackson receive soulful, nuanced support that's largely absent in the break-neck tempos elsewhere in the set.
"Cherokee" once again reignites the bebop juggernaut with extended closing statements from all bar Orsted Pederson. The music is exhilarating in places, to be sure, but twenty years after Charlie Parker's death it sounds like an anachronism.

Live at Montreux 1976
Eagle Rock
2007 (DVD)
Weather Report was always a band in transition and this 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival appearance finds the jazz-fusion pioneers led by

Joe Zawinul
keyboards1932 - 2007

Wayne Shorter
saxophone1933 - 2023

Alex Acuña
percussionb.1944

Manolo Badrena
percussion
Jaco Pastorius
bass, electric1951 - 1987
With digitally remastered sound and four cameras highlighting the intensity and emotion in the playingAcuna and Badrena's joie de vivre contrasting with Zawinul and Shorter's seriousnessthis is Weather Report captured at its most exhilarating. The tight arrangements of "Elegant People" and "Scarlet Woman" allow plenty of room for freedom, with the lines between comping and soloing from all thrillingly blurred. The sweat is literally pouring off the playersthe cool Pastorius apartfrom the get go, and so charged is some of the interplay from Acuna and Badrena that it made it would way onto the next studio album, Heavy Weather in unedited form as "Rumba Mama."
With the band touring Europe to promote Black Market, there were already signs of the way ahead, with Zawinul toying with the melody to "Birdland" the Grammy-nominated tune from Heavy Weatheron the intro to "Dr. Honoris Causa," before the band enters more loosely explorative terrain on "Directions," both Zawinul compositions from I Sing The Body Electric (Columbia, 1972).
The duets between Acuna and Badrena, and another between Zawinul on classically-influenced piano and Shorter are fascinating exchanges between virtuosic and imaginative musicians, but it's Pastorius' harmonically sophisticated solo bass piece, "Portrait of Tracey" that stands out as something out of the ordinary. Still, the greatest moments are when the quintet is firing on all cylinders on stonking versions of "Barbary Coast"complete with the familiar train horn intro"Black Market" and the "Gibraltar," which brings an unforgettable show, in turn lyrical and visceral, to a simply stunning climax.
Little wonder that Weather Report remains so influential to this day. One for the ages.

Live at Montreux 1976
Inner City Jazz
2012
This double CD is a visceral document of Sun Ra and his Arkestra, just over twenty years into its legendary musical odyssey. The twenty-one piece band, which includes three dancers, roars its way through a thrilling set that, stylistically, spans a broad arc of jazz history. Though undoubtedly influenced by bandleader

Fletcher Henderson
arranger1897 - 1952

Duke Ellington
piano1899 - 1974
The band dives headlong into avant-garde exploration on "Of the Other Tomorrow," where ecstatic polyphony is punctuated by wonderfully charismatic improvisations by Elo Omo on bass clarinet,

Marshall Allen
saxophone, altob.1924

Cecil Taylor
piano1929 - 2018

Count Basie
piano1904 - 1984
For all his virtuosity, Ra's true instrument, like Ellington and Basie, is his orchestraa simultaneously primal and sophisticated one at that. Take the breathless flow of ideas on "On Sound Infinity Spheres," which twists its way through dense free-jazz cacophony, Ra's moog-driven sci-fi impressionism and extraordinary solo spots by

John Gilmore
saxophone, tenor1931 - 1995

Danny Davis
flugelhorn1925 - 2008

Billy Strayhorn
piano1915 - 1967

Charles Mingus
bass, acoustic1922 - 1979
Following a terrifically uproarious free-for-all, vocalist June Tyson leads the Arkestraand the rhythmically attuned clapping audiencethrough the call-and- response mantra of the signature "We Travel the Spaceways."
The glorious sound of surprise indeed.

Live at Montreux 1982
Acrobat
2005
Carmen McRae was renowned for being a perfectionist, so the singer should have been pleased with this concert, which sees her give a masterclass in jazz standards delivery. With tasteful accompaniment from bassist

John Leftwich
bass
Donald Bailey
drums1933 - 2013

Marshall Otwell
piano
Norma Winstone
vocalsb.1941

Diana Krall
piano and vocalsb.1964
Following breezy renditions of "Nice Work if you can Get it" and "Do Nothing Til You Hear From Me," McRae hits her stride on the bluesy stroll of "Everything a Good Man Needs," her sassy delivery framed by short solos from her sidemen. The singer's stretching out of a single word, never mind a phrase, is seen to great effect on the brushes-led "Body and Soul," with the last utterance of the word "soul" drawn out into a nine-syllable delight. McRae, like her contemporary

Sheila Jordan
vocals1928 - 2025
McRae's penchant for Latin numbers brings mixed results. An English-sung interpretation of Brazilian singer-songwriter Djavan's "Flor de Lis" sees McCrae and trio negotiate a nifty change of tempo, with the singer carving out an effortlessly fluid scat. "Besame Mucho" is tackled in the original Spanish, though McRae's anglicized pronunciation detracts from her emotive delivery.
The band cooks on Paul Desmond's vampy "Take Five," with McRae reprising the role she performed on

Dave Brubeck
piano1920 - 2012
Vintage stuff from the ever-classy McRae.

Live at Montreux 1988
Jazznote Records
2011 (CD + bonus DVD)
It took persistence, but Claude Nobs finally got his wish when he persuaded Isaac
Redd Holt
drumsb.1932
Eldee Young
bass, acousticb.1936

Ramsey Lewis
piano1935 - 2022

Jeremy Monteiro
pianob.1960

John Stubblefield
saxophone1945 - 2005
Remarkably, this concert began at 5am, five hours later than originally scheduled, but rather than arriving jaded and tiredwhich would have been understandable instead Monteiro, Young and Holt come charging out of the blocks on an energized version of the standard "All the Things You Are," where Monteiro gives early notice of his outstanding chops with a solo of great melodic fluidity and rhythmic panache.
O'Levy brings bluesy bite to Luiz Bonfa's "Black Orpheus," in turn inspiring Monteiro, who then trades back and forth with the Baltimore guitarist in a thrilling exchange. Monteiro's elegant composition "Carousel in a Child's Mind" has the feel of a classic and features Stubblefield on soprano saxophone. A collaborator with the likes of

Anthony Braxton
woodwindsb.1945

McCoy Tyner
piano1938 - 2020

Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
The irrepressible Young holds centre stage with a sassy vocal on a mightily swinging "Storming Monday," where groove, chops and fun intertwine in an irresistible cocktail. To the roars of a sizeable crowd, the five musicians finish on a high, with a roaring jazz-funk version of Miles Davis' "All Blues," with vibrant closing statements from all.
One of the best live recordings from Montreux Jazz' extensive vaults. Unforgettable indeed.

Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux 1991
Warner Bros
1993
Only Claude Nobs, a close friend to both Davis and Jones, could have made this historic concert happen. To persuade these two iconic musicians to perform together on stage for the first time ever was already a major coup, but to convince Davis to revisit music he had recorded decades before was something really rare indeed. Davis, the musical chameleon par excellence, always finished with one project and moved on without a backwards glance, but for one magical evening, Davis turned back the clock to perform music from his famous collaborations with arranger Gil Evans. The recording was one of the last in Davis' lifetime, as he died a little over two months later.
Using Gil Goldstein's transcriptions of Gil Evans old charts, Jones conducts a large ensemble of nearly fifty musicians from the Gil Evans Orchestra and the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band through stirring selections from Miles Ahead (Columbia, 1957), Porgy and Bess (Columbia, 1959) and Sketches of Spain (Columbia, 1960). The sound quality is excellent, so too the playing of the ensemble and of the chief soloists, saxophonist

Kenny Garrett
saxophone, altob.1960

Wallace Roney
trumpet1960 - 2020
Davis features far more than was originally expected, given that his declining health had forced him to skip rehearsals in New York. His tone is warm and in turn tender, and his voice strong soloing on "Boplicity," which goes back to the 1949 Birth of the Cool session. Elsewhere his interventions are short but unmistakable, leading the way before handing the reins to Roney and Garret.

Maria Schneider
composer / conductor
Invitation to Illumination:Live at Montreux 2011 Eagle Rock
2013 (DVD)
This historic reunion of

Carlos Santana
guitarb.1947

John McLaughlin
guitarb.1942

John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967

Mahavishnu Orchestra
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1971
As you might expect, there are plenty of pyrotechnics from both guitarists, with an all-star band featuring

Dennis Chambers
drumsb.1959

Etienne Mbappe
bass
Bob Dylan
guitar and vocalsb.1941

Led Zeppelin
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1968

Sun Ra
piano1914 - 1993
McLaughlin replicates his incendiary playing on

Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
David K. Matthews
piano
Sonny Sharrock
guitar, electric1940 - 1994

Pharoah Sanders
saxophone, tenor1940 - 2022

Carla Bley
piano1938 - 2023

Tony Williams
drums1945 - 1997
Occasionally, the sense of nostalgia and homage that permeates the music threatens to take the edge off the collective force of the band, with the "Love Supreme" chant overstaying its welcome and

John Lee Hooker
guitar1917 - 2001
An extended version of the traditional gospel "Let Us Go Into the House Of the Lord," propelled by Paul Rekow's congas, has all the emotive intensity of the original Santana/McLaughlin collaboration from 1973, whilst "Black Satin," from Miles Davis' On The Corner (Columbia, 1972)an energetic, hard-driving rocker that leads into a spectacular Blackman solosees sparks fly.
A unique concert in the history of the MJF that captures two legendary guitarists in scintillating form.

Live at Montreux 2012Eagle Records
2012
In reviewing Displaced (Hide Inside Records, 2006), Neil Cowley Trios' debut, UK jazz provocateur Stuart Nicholson was pretty much on the money in 2006, he described composer/pianist Cowley as "the most exciting artist since the likes of F-ire Collective, Polar Bear and Acoustic Ladyland." Six years later, by the time of this Montreux performance, Cowley's trio was riding the crest of a wave, with multiple awards and rave reviews greeting each of its subsequent studio albums. For its fourth studio album, The Face of Mount Molehill (Naim Jazz, 2012), strings marked a significant departure for the trio. That album provided the guts of this enthralling performance in the Montreux Jazz Festival's Miles Davis Hall, complete with string quartet.
The gentle, warming romanticism of the piano solo number "Lament" is juxtaposed strikingly with the pulsating drama that follows. There's as much of the rocker in Cowley's aesthetic on a tracks like "Rooster Was a Witness" and "Fables" as there are elements of dance, pop, classical and jazz. Everywhere, Cowley's penchant for hypnotically circling motifs evokes the minimalism of Terry Reily, albeit executed with more searing intensity.
Violinists Miles Brett and Julian Ferraretto, cellist Alex Eichenberger and violist Helen Sanders-Hewett had already toured the UK with the trio and they provide a sumptuous carpet to Cowley's uniquely simple yet grandly epic compositions. The chemistry is pronounced on the splendidly riff-heavy "How Do We Catch Up," where Cowley marries orchestral gravitas with poppish flare, and on the spacious, melodically fine "Meyer," the sole track co-penned by bassist

Rex Horan
bass, acoustic
Evan Jenkins
drumsThere's tremendous collective energy in these powerful narratives, with Cowley's dancing left and right hand dialog steering the ensemble in his unique orbit. An inherent drama courses through the veins of the music, no more so than on the blistering trio number "She Eats Flies," an episodic tour de force that reaches a crushingly intense climax.
Tracks and Personnel:
Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival
Track Listing: One for Helen; A Sleepin' Bee; Mother of Earl; Nardis; Quiet Now; I Loves You, Porgy; The Touch of Your Lips; Embraceable You; Someday My Prince Will Come; Walkin' Up.
Personnel: Bill Evans: piano; Eddie Gomez: bass; Jack DeJohnette: drums.
Bobbi Humphrey: Cookin' with Blue Note at Montreux
Track Listing: Virtue; Sugar; Sad Bag; Ain't No Sunshine.
Personnel: Bobbi Humphrey: flute; Kevin Toney: electric piano; Barney Perry: guitar; Henry Franklin: bass; Keith Killgo: drums.
Dizzy Gillespie: Dizzy Gillespie's Big 7
Track Listing: Lover, Come Back to Me; I'll Remember April; What's New?; Cherokee.
Personnel: Dizzy Gillespie: trumpet; Milt Jackson: vibraphones; Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis: tenor saxophone; Johnny Griffin: tenor saxophone; Tommy Flanagan: piano; Neils-Henning Orsted Pedersen: bass; Micky Roker: drums.
Weather Report: Live at Montreux 1976
Track Listing: Elegant People; Scarlet Woman; Barbary Coast; Portrait of Tracey; Cannon Ball; Black Market; Drum and percussion duet; Piano and saxophone duet; Dr Honoris Causa/Directions; Badia; Gibraltar.
Personnel: Joe Zawinul: keyboards; Wayne Shorter: saxophone; Jaco Pastorius: fretless bass; Alex Acuna: drums; Manolo Badrena: congas, percussion.
Sun Ra and his Arkestra at Montreux Track Listing: CD 1: For the Sunrise; Of the Other Tomorrow; From Out Where Others Dwell; On Sound Infinity Spheres; The House of Eternal Being; Gods of the Thunder Realm; Lights on a Satellite; CD2: Take the "A" Train interlude); Take the "A" Train; Prelude; El is the Sound of Joy; Encore 1; Encore 2; We Travel the Spaceways.
Personnel: Sun Ra; piano, solar organ, moog; John Gilmore: tenor saxophone; Marshall Allen: alto saxophone; Danny Davis: alto saxophone, flute; Pat Patrick: baritone saxophone; flute; James Jackson: Ancient Infinity Egyptian Drum, bassoon; Elo Omo: bass clarinet; Danny Thompson: baritone saxophone, flute; Reggie Hudgins: soprano saxophone; Ahmed Abdullah: trumpet; Chris Capers: trumpet; Al Evans; trumpet; Vincent Chancey: French horn; Craig Harris: trombone; Stanley Morgan: congas; Clifford Jarvis: drums; Larry Bright: drums; Hayes Burnette: bass; Tony Bunn: electric bass; June Tyson: vocal, dancer; Judith Holten: dancer; Cheryl Banks: dancer.
Carmen McRae: Live at Montreux
Track Listing: Nice Work If You Can get It; Do Nothing til You Hear from Me; Everything a Good Man Needs; Body and Soul; Them There Eyes; My Funny Valentine; No More Blues; Everything Happens to Me; Upside Down; Take Five; Besame Mucho; New York State of Mind; Don't Misunderstand.
Personnel: Carmen McCrae: vocals; Marshall Otwell: piano; John Leftwich: bass; Donald Bailey: drums.
Monteiro, Young & Holt: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival
Track Listing: All the Things You Are; Black Orpheus; Carousel in a Child's Mind; Stormy Monday; All Blues.
Personnel: Jeremy Monteiro: piano; Eldee Young: bass, vocals; Isaac 'Redd' Holt: drums; John Stubblefield: tenor and soprano saxophone; D'Donel Levy: guitar.
Miles Davis & Quincy Jones: Miles and Quincy Live at Montreux
Track Listing: Boplicity; Miles Ahead Medley: Springsville; Maids of Cadiz; The Duke; My Ship; Miles Ahead; Blues for Pablo; Porgy and Bess Medley: Orgone; Gone, Gone, Gone; Summertime; Here Come De Honey Man; The Pan Piper; Solea.
Personnel: Miles Davis: trumpet; Quincy Jones: conductor; Kenny Garret: alto saxophone; Wallace Roney: trumpet; The Gil Evans Orchestra: Lew Soloff: trumpet; Miles Evans: trumpet; Tom Malone: trombone; Alex Foster: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute; George Adams: tenor saxophone, flute; Gil Goldstein: keyboard; Delmar Brown: keyboard; Kennwood Dennard: drums on "Orgone," percussion on other selections; The George Gruntz Concert Band: Marvin Stamm: trumpet, flugelhorn; John D'erath: trumpet, flugelhorn; Jack Walrath: trumpet, flugelhorn; John Clark: French horn; Tom Varner: French horn; Dave Bargeron: euphonium, trombone; Earl McIntyre: euphonium, trombone; Dave Taylor: bass trombone; Howard Johnson: tuba, baritone saxophone; Sal Giorgianni: alto saxophone; Bob Malach: tenor saxophone, flute, saxophone; Larry Schneider: tenor saxophone, oboe, flute, clarinet; Jerry Bergonzi: tenor saxophone; George Gruntz: piano, leader; Mike Richmond: bass; John Riley: drums, percussion; Manfred Schoof: trumpet, flugelhorn, Ack von Royen: trumpet, flugelhorn; Alex Brofsky: French horn; Roland Dahinden: trombone; Claudio Pontiggia: French horn; Anne O'Brien: flute; Julian Cawdry: flute, piccolo, alto flute; Hanspeter Frehner: flute, piccolo, alto flute; Michel Weber: clarinet; Christian Gavillet: bass clarinet, baritone saxophone; Tilman Zahn: oboe; Dave Segezzo: oboe; Xavier Duss: oboe; Judith Wenziker: oboe; Christian Rabe: bassoon; Reiner Erb: bassoon; Xenia Schindler: harp; Conrad Herwig: trombone; Roger Rosenberg: bass clarinet, baritone saxophone; Benny Bailey: trumpet, flugelhorn; Carles Benavent: bass, electric bass; Grady Tate: drums.
Carlos Santana & John McLaughlin: Invitation to Illumination
Track Listing: CD 1: Echoes of Angels/Introductions; The Life Devine; Medley: Peace on Earth/A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall/Stairway to Heaven/Our Prayer/SOCC; Right Off; Vuelta Abajo; Vashkar; The Creator Has a Master Plan; Naima; Lotus Land Op 47, No 1. CD 2: Downstairs; Venus/Upper Egypt; Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord; Black Satin; Cindy Blackman drum solo; A Love Supreme; Shake it Up and Go.
Personnel: Carlos Santana: lead electric and acoustic guitars, vocals; John McLaughlin: lead electric and acoustic guitars, vocals; Dennis Chambers: drums; David K. Matthews: keyboards; Tommy Anthony: guitar and vocals; Paul Rekow: congas, percussion; Etienne Mbappe: bass; Benny Rietveld: bass; Tony Lindsay: vocals; Andy Vargas: vocals; Claude Nobs: harmonica.
Neil Cowley Trio: Live at Montreux 2012
Track Listing: Lament; Rooster was a Witness; Distance By Clockwork; Slims; Hug the Greyhound; Box Lily; How Do We Catch Up; Hope Machine; Meyer; Fable; The Face of Mount Molehill; She Eats Flies.
Personnel: Neil Cowley: piano; Rex Horan: bass; Evan Jenkins: drums; Julian Ferraretto: violin; Miles Brett: violin; Alex Eichenberger: cello; Helen Sanders-Hewett: viola. .
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