Montreux Casino was built in 1881 and was modified in 1903. Throughout the 20th century, the site hosted many great
symphony orchestras and well-known
conductors. By the late 1960s,
jazz,
blues and
rock artists began to perform there. In 1967, the casino became the venue for the
Montreux Jazz Festival, which was started by
music promoter Claude Nobs. The three-day festival was held there annually and featured performers such as
Keith Jarrett,
Jack DeJohnette,
Bill Evans,
Nina Simone,
Jan Garbarek, Etta James and
Ella Fitzgerald. Originally featuring almost exclusively jazz artists, in the 1970s the festival began to include blues,
soul, and rock artists such as
Black Sabbath,
Pink Floyd and
Deep Purple.
1971 fire On December 4, 1971, Montreux Casino was destroyed by a fire that began during a concert by
the Mothers of Invention after a fan, suspected by Swiss police to be Zdeněk Špička, a
Czechoslovak refugee living in
Épalinges, had shot a
flare gun. A recording of the outbreak and fire announcement can be found on a Frank Zappa bootleg album titled
Swiss Cheese/Fire! English rock group
Deep Purple, who had planned to record
Machine Head at the venue, were forced to seek an alternate recording location. Their song "
Smoke on the Water" was written about the incident: Frank Zappa calmly urged the concert attendees to evacuate. Mothers vocalist Mark Volman, cracking a joke in the process, added "Fire!
Arthur Brown in person." Zappa continued, "If you'll just calmly go to the exits, ladies and gentlemen." The fire brigade was on scene in less than five minutes. The fire quickly spread out of control but, due to the orderly evacuation and the swift assistance of firefighters, no one was killed in the incident. The casino was rebuilt, and until the venue reopened in 1975, the Montreux Jazz Festival was held in other auditoriums in Montreux. The festival continued to be hosted there until 1993, when it moved to the larger
Montreux Convention Centre located approximately one kilometre from the casino. From 1995 through 2006, the festival occupied both the convention centre and the casino. Beginning with the 41st festival in 2007, nightly performances of headliners were again moved mainly to the convention centre, although the casino still occasionally hosts shows. Within the newly rebuilt casino was
Mountain Studios which recorded the Jazz Festival's live performances. In 2013, the studio was replaced by exhibit
Queen: The Studio Experience. == See also ==