Azerbaijani musicians on the jazz festival in Montreux

Every year in the first half of July an International Jazz Festival, one of the most prestigious European music forums, is held in Montreux. During the 16 days the whole city turns into one huge musical ground and collects as the world's top stars, musicians and beginners.

    This year Azerbaijan will present several participants. In the program  are involved: the pianist Afghan Rasulov and vocalist Aysel Mammadova.

   As guests  are the pianists Jamil Amirov and last year's winner, Isfar Sarabskiy.

    The history of the festival began in 1967. Its founder was Claude Nobs. Currently, the festival has no rigid stylistic boundaries and covers music from all possible directions: from classic rock to electronic  and world music, although jazz  plays still a key role.

    The first stage of the festival became  the Montreux Casino. In December 1971 the Casino burned down (that event was the basis for the songs of Deep Purple "Smoke on the Water") and was rebuilt, but still could not satisfy the growing scale of the event. In 1993, the main concert area became  Congress Center. There are two main scenes: Auditorium Stravinsky and Miles Davis Hall, Jazz Club Montreux Jazz Cafe and a variety of different platforms.

    During the festival, the music can be heard not only  in the halls and jazz clubs: lots of free events, performances  of beginners  take place in parks and streets, as well as in cafes and restaurants in the city. Jazz bands play in special trains going to Gshtaat  and Roche-de-Nez, and on board ships, departing daily from the pier  for a three-hour musical Montreux cruise. In addition, during the festival, there are  numerous master classes by  renowned jazz musicians, contests of young performers, the most significant in the Montreux Palace and Le Petit Palais,  and archival performances. -0-