Lifetime Contribution Award

Winner: Claude Nobs

Sponsored by Yamaha Commercial Audio

Anyone who has ever attended the Montreux Jazz Festival will tell you that apart from its unique atmosphere and environment, it is also an idyllic meeting point for music fans and professionals. Claude Nobs made this happen.

    Born in Territet in 1936, Claude was passionate about music from an early age. It was on an assignment in New York whilst working for the Montreux Tourism Office that he visited Atlantic Records and invited Roberta Flack to perform in Montreux for the Rose d’Or television contest. Other artists would follow.

    When the Montreux Jazz Festival first saw the light of day in 1967, Claude continued networking to try and persuade the artists he loved to come and play. There is no doubt that he deeply loves the artists and respects their crews immensely.

    Forty-two years after the inaugural Montreux Jazz event, the Festival continues to go from strength to strength for three weeks every July, acknowledging musical fashion but never being led by it. Few, if any, other festivals can claim to consistently attract the quality and range of musical artists — and the leading-edge technical production infrastructure — offered annually in Montreux.

    Claude refuses to accept limits, while still keeping his feet on the ground, and without his magic, the Montreux Jazz Festival wouldn’t be what it is today. Bravo, Monsieur Nobs!