Festivals & events
Montreux Jazz Residency
- Type
- Autumn festival (jazz residency)
- Address
- Petit Palais, Fairmont Le Montreux Palace, Montreux
Each autumn, the Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation (MJAF) runs its residency, an event quite separate from the two weeks of July. For a few days, emerging young talents, the residents, work with accomplished jazz musicians, the mentors, through playing sessions, workshops and mentoring. In the evening, the public is invited to concerts, showcases, encounters and the famous jam sessions, free of charge. In 2026 the seventh edition runs from 14 to 17 October, in the intimate setting of the Petit Palais of the Montreux Palace.
The autumn residency of the Montreux Jazz
A week of transmission
The festival is no longer only two weeks in July. Since 2014, the Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation (MJAF) has extended it each autumn with an intensive artistic residency, built on transmission, exchange between generations and cultures, and freedom of creation. For a few days, young emerging talents, the “fellows”, are brought together in one place and coached by renowned mentors.
Every evening, the residency opens free of charge to the public: showcases, themed workshops, concerts and the famous jam sessions follow one another, up to a final concert where each band presents its own compositions, rearranged during the week. Recent editions have revealed artists such as Maya Delilah and Jasmine Myra.
From the Montreux Jazz Academy to the Residency
The residency first went by the name of Montreux Jazz Academy. Since 2020 it has been held during the foundation’s Autumn of Music; in 2023 the event took the name Montreux Jazz Festival Residency, a way of clearly tying the residency to the festival’s brand.
Over the editions, the fellows have been coached by international heavyweights. As early as 2019, trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah directed the Academy, surrounded by arranger Jacob Collier and Wolfgang Flür, a founding member of Kraftwerk. In 2020, direction was entrusted to the band Snarky Puppy, with guitarist John McLaughlin, drummer Anne Paceo and singer China Moses as mentors.
The following years brought together saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings (2021), Chico Freeman, Gilles Peterson and the Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba (2022), drummer Billy Cobham, percussionist Trilok Gurtu and pianist Ray Lema (2023), as well as Angélique Kidjo, Jeff Mills and Moses Boyd (2024). The final concerts have been held in turn at the Montreux Jazz Club, the Fairmont Le Montreux Palace, and then the Petit Palais.
The Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation
The MJAF is a recognised public-interest foundation. It pursues two aims: to discover and support young talents at the start of their careers, and to give everyone access to music. These projects are led by Viviane Rychner Raouf and Stéphanie-Aloysia Moretti, respectively secretary general and programmer.
The residency extends the spirit of the festival beyond the summer, as do the MJF Spotlight Sessions, which spot new artists in winter. It takes place at the Petit Palais, the Belle Époque pavilion of the Montreux Palace, a few steps from the Montreux Jazz Festival.