
Courtesy: Eagle Rock Entertainment
The annual Montreux Jazz Festival is going on despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The festival is scheduled to start Friday and to run through July 18. Since the festival will not take place in person this year, it has been moved online and will feature classic performances from famed artists, such as Nina Simone, Deep Purple, and Etta James. Additionally, it will feature the premieres of performances from performers and bands, such as John Lee Hooker, Tom Misch, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. One performance will stream daily over the course of that 16-day span.
The “festival’s” schedule is noted below.
“Summer Of Music” Line Up
John Lee Hooker (1983) — world premiere — Friday July 3
Charles Bradley (2016) — world premiere — Saturday July 4
Dimeh, Slimka, Makala et Varnish la Piscine (2016) — Sunday July 5
Suzanne Vega (2004) — Monday July 6
Rory Gallagher (1979) — Tuesday July 7
Charles Mingus (1975) — Wednesday July 8
Carlos Santana Plays the Blues (2004) — Thursday July 9
Bang Bang Romeo (2019) — world premiere — Friday July 10
Angelique Kidjo and Friends (2016) — world premiere— Saturday July 11
Nina Simone (1976) — Sunday July 12
Deep Purple Live with Orchestra (2011) — Monday July 13
Etta James (1993) — Tuesday July 14
BB King (1993) — Wednesday July 15
Kenny Wayne Shepherd (2019) — world premiere — Thursday July 16
Tom Misch (2019) — world premiere — Friday July 17
Marvin Gaye (1980) — Saturday July 18
Dubbed the “54th Summer of Music,” this year’s retrospective showcase will stream through the festival’s official YouTube channel. It was made possible through a partnership between Eagle Rock Entertainment and Montreux Media Ventures.
Montreux Festival CEO Mathieu Jaton talked about the upcoming festival streams in a recent interview.
“Since its beginnings in 1967, the Montreux Jazz Festival has been immensely fortunate to have built up, thanks to the visionary spirit of Claude Nobs, a rich and unique audiovisual archive,” he said. “This heritage has made the Festival famous and continues to make it shine through initiatives such as the 54th Summer of Music, made possible through our collaboration with the Claude Nobs Foundation, Eagle Rock and the NMAAM. This summer, this heritage is more essential than ever.”
Geoff Kempin added his own thoughts about the online festival.
“Marvin Gaye’s 1980 performance marked the inaugural collaboration between Montreux and Eagle Rock Entertainment, it paved the way for not only an exciting stable of ongoing releases, but also a fantastic line-up of artists at this summer’s Virtual Montreux Festival,” said Kemin. “We are delighted to be partnering with the Montreux Jazz Festival and YouTube in this summer Festival celebrating the diversity of artists that have performed at Montreux.”
Throughout the course of the “54th Summer of Music,” audiences will be able to donate to the National Museum of African-American Music, which is scheduled to open this fall in Nashville, TN. All advertising revenues raised through the two-week-plus online-only festival will also go to benefit the museum.
Tuwisha Rogers-Simpson talked about the fundraising efforts with her own comments.
“NMAAM is thrilled to partner with Montreux Jazz Festival for this year’s ‘Summer of Music’ virtual event,” said Rogers-Simpson. “In these uncertain times, music has been a beacon of light in a world of darkness, so we are excited that music lovers from across the globe will be able to share in this experience. Since the early 1600s, the influence of Black music and Black artists has spanned the globe, crossing race, age and even geography. We believe NMAAM to be a global destination where we unite people under a shared banner of music. Montreux is a titan in the popularization of Black music, not just in jazz but across genres, showcasing the wide-ranging impact of Black music and Black sounds. We look forward to what the ‘Summer of Music’ event brings to fans and we hope for a continued friendship and partnership”
More information on the “54th Summer of Music” is available along with all of the latest Montreux Jazz Festival news at:
Website: http://www.montreuxjazzfestival.com/en/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/montreuxjazzfestival
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MontreuxJazz
More information on the festival is available along with all of the latest Eagle Rock Entertainment news at:
Website: http://www.eagle-rock.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EagleRockEnt
Twitter: http://twitter.com/EagleRockNews
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