{"id":2036584,"date":"2026-07-10T11:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T08:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2036584"},"modified":"2026-07-10T11:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T08:55:07","slug":"montreux-jazz-festival-why-raye-sienna-spiro-and-more-feel-at-home-at-legendary-concert-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2036584","title":{"rendered":"Montreux Jazz Festival: Why RAYE, Sienna Spiro and More \u2018Feel At Home\u2019 at Legendary Concert Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/raye-alicia-keys-cr-emilien-itim-billboard-1800.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

The Elegance Of Time<\/em>, a glossy, 256-page coffee table book by Swiss-Iranian photographer Anoush Abrar, honors and illuminates the central tenet of Montreux Jazz Festival: this is an event for musicians to let go and collaborate spontaneously; to surrender to the moment.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tSienna Spiro\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the live business, what makes Montreux Jazz so different is the luxury of time that we\u2019re giving to artists,\u201d festival CEO Mathieu Jaton tells Billboard U.K. <\/em>\u201cThat\u2019s where the magic comes out. We want to give them time for creativity and inspiration, and for meeting people. When they\u2019re staying in Montreux for two or three days, we will accept the cost of the hotel and catering et cetera and give them the space to fully be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tReleased earlier this year to mark the festival\u2019s 60th anniversary, The Elegance Of Time<\/em> brings together more than 300 photographs spanning the past decade of performances and candid backstage moments, tracing the more recent evolution of Montreux Jazz through Abrar\u2019s lens. Published alongside a new exhibition based in the Swiss resort town, the book features intimate images of artists including Sam Smith, Jon Batiste, RAYE and Benson Boone, capturing a newer slate of acts that have revitalized the concert series\u2019 backstory; this year\u2019s event, which kicked off on July 3, runs through July 18<\/p>\n

\n\tJaton, who has led the festival since 2013, inherited the role from founder Claude Nobs, whose vision transformed a small jazz gathering into one of the world\u2019s most revered music events. Their shared backgrounds in hospitality are no coincidence. Before launching Montreux Jazz in 1967, Nobs worked as a fine dining chef, while Jaton began his career in Switzerland\u2019s hotel industry. It is a lineage that continues to shape the festival\u2019s identity today, with a particular emphasis on how artists are welcomed and cared for, treating them more like guests of the city.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen visiting Montreux, Jaton wagers, musicians \u201chave less stress and more fun\u201d; they are encouraged by the festival organizers to extend their trip and explore the surrounding locale, which is home to studios previously used by Queen and David Bowie and is recognized by UNESCO as a pivotal location for musical history. Montreux has a population of 27,000, and there is \u201cno fanaticism in Switzerland,\u201d Jaton says, meaning that audiences are appreciative but rarely intrusive, allowing artists to roam around with relative anonymity.<\/p>\n

\n\tBritish soul-pop star Sienna Spiro, who returned to the festival on Monday (July 6) to perform in celebration of her debut LP Visitor<\/em>, concurs. When Billboard U.K. <\/em>meets the singer backstage at the newly-reopened Montreux Music & Convention Centre, home to venues Auditorium Stravinski and the Montreux Jazz Lab, she opens her iPhone camera roll to show us a montage of memories here: swimming in Lake Geneva, watching old Nina Simone footage from the Montreux Jazz archives, walking along the town\u2019s cobbled avenues with her team at dusk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI feel at home performing here,\u201d Spiro says. \u201cI feel like the novelty of this festival doesn\u2019t wear off. If I do some other festivals a second time, I don\u2019t get that rush<\/em> or \u2018first time feeling\u2019, but I definitely still have that for this. I\u2019m so honored and grateful to be able to play this festival.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, what\u2019s the magic in the water? Originally launched in 1967, Montreux Jazz has grown into an annual, two weeklong extravaganza that now spans genres far beyond its original remit. Such is its mythology that it has inspired some of music\u2019s most enduring stories: Deep Purple\u2019s \u201cSmoke On The Water\u201d was written after a fire at the Montreux Casino in 1971, which broke out during a Frank Zappa performance; Prince made the town a recurring creative home throughout the 2000s, with impromptu festival appearances and \u201cLavaux,\u201d a song inspired by the breadth and beauty of the Alpine peaks. Ella Fitzgerald became a festival regular, while Miles Davis lent his name to a stretch of the lakeside promenade.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe question, then, is perhaps no longer whether the festival deserves its reputation, but how it continues to reinvent that legacy with every new generation of artists that passes through its site. Even a brief perusal of this year\u2019s line-up will throw up names from the worlds of dance (Danny L. Harle), alternative pop and R&B (PinkPantheress, Giveon, Kwn), hip-hop (The Roots, Loyle Carner) and jazz (Marcus Miller, Charles Lloyd, Billy Cobham).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRAYE, meanwhile, kicked off proceedings this year with a curated show on July 3 billed as Moments In Time<\/em>, inviting guests Alicia Keys and Mark Ronson to perform orchestral renditions of highlights from the London singer\u2019s catalog. Its exclusivity was testament to Montreux\u2019s unique pull: a festival powerful enough to bring global stars together for a one-off performance.<\/p>\n

\n\tOutside of the main bill, attendees can explore dozens of free pop-up shows, while the Montreux Jazz ecosystem can be felt at almost every turn. Opposite the conference center stands a merch shop stocked with football jerseys, serving plates, Keith Haring-style art prints, flip-flops and even an eco bike. MJF-branded Porsches cruise through the streets. There is a Montreux Jazz cafe at Geneva Airport and other licensing projects are in the works. Public transport is made free in order to extend the festival\u2019s reach into the neighboring villages, while colorful murals of the late Nobs adorn post boxes and pavement corners.<\/p>\n

\n\tAll of this serves to bring Montreux\u2019s history into the present, as Jaton explains: \u201cI\u2019m so proud, honestly, that we have some Swiss journalists questioning whether what we are doing is purely that to attract a younger audience,\u201d he says. \u201cNo, it\u2019s not a strategy, it\u2019s just that we have the opportunity to host some of the biggest artists that are making music today. When you have an artist like PinkPantheress recognized by The BRIT Awards as the first female act to win producer of the year, it means something. So, she simply has to play Montreux.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHaving played the previous year, and appeared at a Spotlight Sessions event in between editions, Spiro is a key ambassador for Montreux Jazz and her inclusion on the 2026 line-up is indicative of the festival\u2019s search for new torchbearers. It is \u201ca wild honor\u201d to brush up against decades of musical history, Spiro explains, and even more so to be part of the 16 British acts represented at this year\u2019s Montreux Jazz, the most of any nation from across the bill.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBritish music has just something special about it, our artists have a rare kind of honesty, grit and rawness to their work,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel like a lot of us are true <\/em>musicians too. RAYE uses a proper live band, as does Olivia [Dean] and Lola [Young]. It shouldn\u2019t be seen as \u2018old school\u2019 as this approach is obviously really connecting with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring her set at the Montreux Jazz Lab, Spiro aired her own take on the jazz standard \u201cAutumn Leaves,\u201d as well as a cover of Otis Redding\u2019s \u201cHard To Handle,\u201d giving two classics a fresh perspective. There was evidence of that same cross-generational connection throughout: in Kwn\u2019s set earlier in the evening, where an attentive, near phone-free audience revealed their surprise through their facial expressions as she joked that they \u201cdidn\u2019t realize I make sex songs\u201d, and in Nick Cave\u2019s rapturous performance the night before, when he shouted \u201cF\u2013king Montreux\u201d in delight over and over. Younger punters attending PinkPantheress lined buses towards the venue in tartan berets and fluffy stomper boots, with their parents in tow.<\/p>\n

\n\tThose moments \u2013 a young artist discovering the festival archives that inspired generations before them, or a secret special guest arriving in town \u2013 are what keep Montreux moving forward, Jaton affirms. He points to 2026 headliner Conan Gray as an example of the festival\u2019s approach to booking fresh faces. While the Gen Z-beloved singer is capable of selling out arenas in other European markets, he remains a comparatively new name in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen I announced Conan Gray at our press conference, people said, \u2018We don\u2019t know him,’\u201d Jaton recalls. \u201cMeanwhile, he sold 18,000 tickets in Paris in 10 minutes this year, and sold out The O2 in London.\u201d Many young Swiss fans are already traveling abroad to see artists like Gray, he says, making it all the more important to bring them to a domestic audience. That may mean attracting smaller crowds as awareness builds, or putting more resources into marketing output, but, for Jaton, it is a worthwhile investment in the festival\u2019s future. He adds: \u201cWe have to bet on the potential of a new artist each time, but I\u2019m happy to take that risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Jaton\u2019s view, the artists who define and expand Montreux Jazz today may not be the ones audiences expect, but the festival\u2019s principles remain the same as they were six decades ago: create the right environment for both artists and fans, and the history will take care of itself.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe always have to look to the future. It\u2019s good to have the past, the history, the patrimony of Montreux \u2013 that\u2019s essential. But it\u2019s even more essential to think about the future and the next generation,\u201d Jaton concludes. \u201cSo when I\u2019m criticized for booking an act because \u2018it\u2019s not jazz\u2019, I actually find it interesting. My answer is simple: I don\u2019t care what you think \u2013 I know it\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Billboard<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/features\/montreux-jazz-festival-2026-sienna-spiro-raye-kwn-1236290646\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/raye-alicia-keys-cr-emilien-itim-billboard-1800.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard The Elegance Of Time, a glossy, 256-page coffee table book by Swiss-Iranian photographer Anoush Abrar, honors and illuminates the central tenet of Montreux Jazz Festival: this is an event for musicians to let go and collaborate spontaneously; to surrender to the moment. Explore Kwn RAYE Sienna Spiro See latest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2036584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2036584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2036584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2036584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2036584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2036584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2036584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}