Mathieu Jaton
In 1999, Mathieu joined the Montreux Jazz Festival as head of Marketing & Sponsorship. By 2013, he was Director of the festival, its foundation and international business. Since then, Mathieu has guided the festival through 8 eventful years ensuring continuity in the values that make it a unique fixture in the global music calendar. He has also faced the challenges of a pandemic and the disruption this has brought to the music and entertainment industry. In the following interview, we discuss how one of the world's most prestigious music festivals lives on and is ready to come back stronger.
Since launching in the 1960s with globally acclaimed artists such as Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Jan Gabarek and Ella Fitzgerald, the Festival has showcased a wide variety of musicians and genres far beyond "Jazz".
Interviewed by:
Laurent Gagnebin Co-CEO of Wealth Management
Interviewed by: Laurent Gagnebin, Co-CEO of Wealth Management William Haggard, Head of Investment Insights
Can you tell our readers a bit about this evolution and how the Festival has managed to stay true to its values over time?
The values of the Montreux Jazz Festival lie in the spirit of Jazz music itself. We tend to forget in a world driven by labels that Jazz music was and is about the improvisation and sharing of music, about extending musical hospitality and intimacy to its audiences. When Claude Nobs founded the Festival in 1967, it was these values which shaped our trajectory. To this day, the festival gives artists and audiences an intimate and personal setting in which to enjoy world-class music, set against the backdrop of Montreux's breath-taking scenery and heritage in delivering hospitality.
In keeping with the spirit of Jazz, the Festival does not believe in boundaries but has from its earliest days sought to champion those artists seeking to break down barriers and draw on the spirit of Jazz in creating and delivering new music.
In keeping with the spirit of Jazz, the Festival does not believe in boundaries but has from its earliest days sought to champion those artists seeking to break down barriers and draw on the spirit of Jazz in creating and delivering new music. As early as 1971, the Festival drew on US-Latino musical roots by inviting Carlos Santana to perform in the same year as the "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin. Claude Nobs was criticised by the media who considered Santana's presence a departure from Jazz. Claude would go on with American record producer and artist Quincy Jones to challenge this archaic notion of Jazz as a pre-determined, stylised form of music. Defying its critics, the Festival's partnership with US record-label giant Atlantic Records, drew upcoming and established musical stars to Lake Geneva's shores keeping the experimental spirit of Jazz alive in new and innovative programming.
Several decades on and the Montreux Jazz Festival remains an intimate and world-class setting to see a wide variety of musicians and styles, from hip-hop's Run-D.M.C to glam-rock's Aerosmith, rapper Terrace Martin to neo-jazz pianist Robert Glasper. Uniting artists like this is their love of breaking musical boundaries whilst drawing on musical traditions which have gone before them, something we uphold and cherish at the Montreux Jazz Festival.