Marcia Dunscomb, Music teacher and promoter

Every July from 1988 to 1998, it was my privilege to work with the Montreux Jazz Festival. The festival began in 1967, as a project of the Montreux Tourist Office, under the direction of Claude Nobs. From a one-weekend event to three weeks of concerts, today, the success of the festival is obvious.

For 49 weeks of the year, Montreux is a quiet village on the shore of Lake Geneva at the base of the Alps. During the festival, the population swells from 26,433 to 200,000. Some of the permanent round residents might have preferred the calm and serenity but I felt welcomed and appreciated every year.

My role with the festival was minor but I loved every minute of it. By the time I was involved, there were two festivals occurring simultaneously.

The internationally famous artists performed on the main stages with high-priced tickets. Throughout the village, a number of outdoor stages featured lesserknown musicians in concert, free to passersby. This series was known as the Montreux Festival Off. I was on the panel that selected the groups from audition tapes submitted months ahead to perform on the Off stages. They were listed in official Montreux Jazz Festival programs and provided luggage stickers that said “I performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival.” As a function of the tourist office, the goal was to bring in as many people as the town would hold.

During my eleven years, we showcased university bands, high school bands, community bands, big bands, combos, and duos. There were groups with big names in their home town but obscure, internationally. They paid their expenses and performed for free. They purchased tickets to the main stage events. Many brought a big name like Clark Terry or Randy Brecker as their guest soloist. Each year, two big bands were selected to appear on the main stage for Big Band Night. This main-stage performance included a state-of-the-art recording. Groups came from the United States, Scotland, England, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Austria, and Russia. The Russians brought lots of vodka!

When a group arrived, I was on the welcoming team. We showed them to their stages, hotels, and suggested where to get affordable meals. Many wanted to get a Swiss Army Knife. At concert time, I was an emcee. The difficulty was ignoring the reverb of my words. Since there were several Off venues with performances happening at the same time, the team was scattered. Each venue had sound equipment and a sound engineer. Since something going wrong was highly probable, I could call for help on my walkie talkie.

My compensation was back stage passes, tickets to main stage events, a meal allowance, invitations to VIP events and cocktail parties at Claude Nobs’ mountain-top chalet, a poster and a staff tee shirt. The real compensation seeing live performances of my heroes Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, Clark Terry, Ed Thigpen, Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby McFerrin, Quincey Jones, Rachelle Ferrell, Monty Alexander, and Natalie Cole. Sound checks were my

favorite, watching the interactions as they rehearsed key spots and tested sound levels. That was magical.

Most of the big names were gracious and easy to be around. A funny memory involves the ego of a second-tier musician, who shall remain nameless. He performed on the main stage. His hotel was across the street from the concert hall. Now, it’s a village and the streets are narrow. Everyone was waiting for him to begin sound check. Someone called the hotel to inquire about his expected time of arrival. They reported that he would not come to the sound check unless the limousine picked him up. The limo drove to hotel door, he got in, and the limo made a U-turn to park in front of the concert hall. He exited the limo and walked into the sound check. Of course, this maneuver had to be repeated for his return to the hotel and other trips for his performance.

Another amusing story involved the sound check for one of the famous pianists. I was passing through the hall, a couple of hours before the sound check, and noticed that the concert grand was not on stage. It had been there the night before. Concert grand pianos are not easy to hide. When I checked with the festival producers, everyone went into panic mode. The piano was rented from a piano dealer in Geneva who mistakenly picked the piano up a day early. Fortunately, the glitch was discovered in time to get the piano back. My Montreux Jazz Festival experience is just one in a series of “being in the right place at the right time” in my life. I cannot help but wonder what’s next!

Editor’s Note: Marcia and her team brought the bands they worked with in Montreux to Brienz, where Monique Werro produced Montreux Meets Brienz for 20 years. Marcia and Monique have fond memories of those concerts.