Claude Nobs

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Nobs during the Montreux Jazz Festival (2006)

Claude Nobs (born February 4, 1936 in Territet ; † January 10, 2013 in Lausanne ) was a Swiss cultural manager . He was co-founder and long-time director of the Montreux Jazz Festival .

Life

Nobs initially trained as a chef. In the early 1960s he worked for the Montreux tourist office . The neighboring town of his birthplace, Territet, was already known for the television award Golden Rose of Montreux . Nobs traveled to New York on business and spontaneously decided to visit Nesuhi Ertegün , the president of the record label Atlantic Records . In the corridor to his office he met Roberta Flack and, like Aretha Franklin later, invited her to Montreux for her first visit to Europe. In 1964 he hosted the Rolling Stones' first concert outside of Great Britain.

At the age of 31, Nobs was Deputy Director of the Montreux Tourist Office when he organized the first jazz festival there in 1967 with Géo Voumard and René Langel . The first edition of the festival already featured prominent musicians - including Charles Lloyd and his quartet ( Keith Jarrett , Ron McClure and Jack DeJohnette ), which immediately attracted national attention. Nobs quickly expanded "his" festival into an internationally acclaimed event, traveled extensively in the musicians' home countries (especially North and South America) and established close ties with numerous world-famous musicians , producers and promoters .

In 1971 , through Nobs, the rock band Deep Purple came to Montreux to make recordings. These should take place in the Casino of Montreux, whose hall in the basement was also used for concerts. The evening before, Frank Zappa was giving a concert there when a fire broke out and the entire building burned down. The members of Deep Purple were eyewitnesses to the event and dedicated the later world hit Smoke on the Water to it , in which Nobs is mentioned as "Funky Claude". The rock band Queen also used the location, made famous by nobs as a genius loci for jazz, pop and rock musicians of all styles, for several recordings.

In 1973 Nobs became Swiss director of the record company WEA ( Warner , Elektra , Atlantic). Legendary artists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sonny Rollins and many others were under contract, especially at Atlantic , who from then on made pilgrimages to Lake Geneva in the summer to give their concerts. In addition, the musicians came together - under more or less gentle pressure from nobs - in unusual constellations for much- noticed jam sessions .

In the 1990s, Nobs shared the management of the festival for some time with the American musician, composer , arranger and producer Quincy Jones . Miles Davis was a regular guest during this time .

Claude Nobs (EPFL - 2006)

For his contribution to tourism , Nobs was awarded the tourism prize of the Swiss Edition Salz & Pfeffer on September 25, 2004 , the laudation at the award ceremony in the Lake Side Casino in Zurich was given by Alexander Pereira , the then director of the Zurich Opera House . Also in 2004 he was awarded the Prix ​​du Rayonnement by the Vaud Art Foundation in “recognition of his services to music” . In 2006, Nobs was director of the festival he founded for 40 years, which attracts around 200,000 visitors to western Switzerland every year . Since 2008 he has been a patronage member of Zermatt Unplugged . He owned over 200,000 records, which he enjoyed listening to in his Chalet Le Picotin in Caux high above Montreux. From 2006 until his death he lived in his newly built Chalet Le Grillon 200 meters away, while his long-term partner lived in Le Picotin . In 2011, Nobs and Quincy Jones were recognized by the United States for Lifetime Achievement. At the award ceremony it was said that they were "America's true ambassadors". In 2012, the Jazz Foundation of America in New York awarded Nobs with the Dr. Billy Taylor Humanitarian Award for his work.

In April 2010, Nobs announced that he was handing over the operational management of the Montreux Jazz Festival to his team and in particular to his designated successor Mathieu Jaton due to health problems with his back . The strategic direction remains with him.

Nobs had an accident on December 24, 2012 while cross-country skiing in Caux and had to undergo an operation. After the procedure, he remained in a coma until his death on January 10, 2013 .

Trivia

  • Claude Nobs made the legendary announcement among Jethro Tull fans: "... a warm welcome to Festhalle Bern!" on the live album Jethro Tull live - Bursting Out .
  • In the Deep Purple song Smoke on the Water he is mentioned by name as "Funky Claude" (referring to his help in the evacuation of the burning casino in Montreux in 1971):
    Funky Claude was running in and out
    Pulling kids out of the ground
  • In 2006, "Funky Claude" accompanied Deep Purple during their Montreux Jazz Festival appearance with the encore "Black Night" with the harmonica

Web links

Commons : Claude Nobs  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tina Uhlmann: A chalet makes music history. (PDF; 2.2 MB) In: Top Events of Switzerland 4/2012, accessed on January 12, 2013
  2. ↑ Claude Nobs receives US award. In: Tages-Anzeiger .ch / Newsnet from July 5, 2011
  3. ↑ Important award: Claude Nobs honored. ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Video in: glanz & gloria from May 18, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.srf.ch
  4. ^ Aargauer Zeitung: Montreux Jazz Festival: Claude Nobs no longer wants. Article of April 29, 2010
  5. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger of January 7, 2013: Claude Nobs is in a coma. Accessed January 11, 2013
  6. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger of January 10, 2013: Claude Nobs died.Retrieved January 11, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Nobs, Claude
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss cultural manager
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Territet
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 2013
Place of death Lausanne