The Festival celebrates its 35th anniversary! The poster of the Festival is designed by Mathias Winkler, an upcoming artist from Bern. The programme of the Festival contains something for everyone. The artists include Basement Jaxx, Fontella Bass, Beck, Calexico, George Clinton, David Gray, Alanis Morrissette, Tricky...
Back to the roots on this 35th anniversary! Four nights at the Casino of Montreux are organised in order to bring back the atmosphere of the old jazz clubs with performances by Jimmy Scott & the Jazz Expressions, Randy Weston and the Joshua Redman Quartet amongst others.
The Festival celebrates the third annual Solo Piano Competition. The workshops always make the music lovers happy, this year featuring Saul Williams, BB King, Joshua Redman, Jorge Ben Jor, Bobby McFerrin and Patti Smith amongst others. The Master Classes on the other hand are for young musicians and jazz school students that have already proven their talent.
But that is not everything! Every year people come back to Montreux to live the fabulous atmosphere at the Festival OFF. The whole town is bathed in music at the Montreux Jazz Café until the sun rises. To satisfy the younger music fans the "Scène Bleu" was created. This is a way to bring the taste of music to young people under 18 with breakdancing, hip hop and samba classes.