Montreux Jazz Festival

Montreux Jazz festival in Switzerland….
The oldest and most famous of all festies in Europe. Definitely an honor to play. As a record collector I just remember buying live albums of a lot of my heroes that were recorded at this venerable festival. I used to stare at those black and white photos of the band and crowd on the inside sleeve for hours wondering what it must have been like. Ain’t wonderin’ no more, Fam! I’m looking forward to one day being able to tell my children that Daddy tore that shit down in the Alps.

Woke up, hopped out the bus and, BAM! There were those beautiful mountains. I walked around the town a little, and was blown away. I can definitely see why Al B. Sure! would buy a house out here. I remember hearing that in Jr. High and thought, “Damn, Al’s a Baller!” Well, guess what? Taking a look around, he must’ve been. These people are breaded. Of course, this is my ignorant American generalization, but hey, anyplace they got Benz taxis, my assumption is that economy is robust, and I’m in a super-power nation.

The weather was hella hot! I’ve been to Switzerland before but never Montreux, and I didn’t realize it got so hot out here. After I walked around, the shuttle took me to the hotel, which had an incredible view. I was so inspired I hooked up the Ipod to my speakers right away, and just started writing. Nailed a couple I’m going to record as soon as I get home……whenever that is.
Like I told you I’m going to tell Junior, we tore it down. They definitely came to party. I thought it was going to be a bunch of old farts, but it was all young people. They definitely knew how to get down. After the show, they had a DJ come in and play what I call “Cover Band Funk”. Meaning, all the shit some band your company paid $20,000 for their convention would be playing at nite. Brick House, Play That Funky Music White Boy, KC and the Sunshine Band, etc. Kinda like what the band at Will Ferrell’s wedding on “Old School” would play, but without the “F” word. A little hard to take for long periods of time. You would have thought it being Montreux and all that maybe….
I can’t lie though, I’m a sucker for Bounce, Rock, Skate and Roll. That shit will forever slap to me.

I went out in the general area and it was crackin’. Tons of food, Merchandise booths, music, etc. There was a DJ playing salsa and merengue, where I saw a few Ethiopian couples tearin’ it up on the floor. That was hot. You see all kinds of shit in Europe. I stepped into the official Montreux merchandise shop where they did have a lot of cool shit. I asked for a T-Shirt but they wanted to charge me the equivalent to $80 or something. I told them I had just played, so they offered me a 10% discount. I promptly bounced.
Only a few more days left on this leg. I gotta say, the festival circuit is the shit. D and Joy get out here in a couple days and we start my club run, which I’m really looking forward to.
Maybe one more blog to go on this leg.

See you out there

LB