Meyer Sound News : Montreux Jazz On Tour

Montreux Jazz On Tour

"The Meyer people have been a great help all along the way. They provided in-person assistance at some concerts, and they made all the right connections whenever we needed extra equipment for a show."

- Harry Tucker
tour production manager

Every summer, thousands of American jazz buffs make the transatlantic flight to Switzerland for the Montreux Jazz Festival - for 34 years widely regarded as the world's most prestigious convocation of popular and avant garde musicians.

But this year, for the first time, tens of thousands of American jazz buffs enjoyed a generous sampling of the festival without boarding an airplane, as the Montreux Festival On Tour touched down in 21 US cities between August 4 and September 6. The closing concert at the Chateaux Ste. Michelle Winery near Seattle was televised on cable pay-per-view.

Artists selected for the premier Montreux Festival On Tour were George Duke, Roberta Flack, Al Jarreau, David Sanborn and Joe Sample. All five were featured in individual and ensemble performances during the single night's performance in each city.

Meyer Sound has been the exclusive loudspeaker system supplier to the Montreux Jazz Festival since 1987, so it's only fitting that the inaugural Montreux tour should travel with it's own all-Meyer rig. Core components traveling with the tour included 24 MSL-4 mid-high, ten DS-4P mid-bass, four CQ-1 down fills, and four UPM-1P front fills. For deep bass, the touring system provided eight PSW-6 cardioid subwoofers and a pair of 650-P powered subwoofers. Because of the diverse size and acoustics of the tour venues, the house arrays were reconfigured on a regular basis, with some additional loudspeakers supplementing the system for particular dates.

Meyer components have been in such demand recently that two sound companies had to collaborate to assemble the complete system. Blackhawk Audio of Nashville supplied the self-powered FOH speaker system and the PSM-2 and UM-1P monitors, as well as the FOH console, while Toronto-based Westsun/Jason Sound provided the PSW-6 subs, monitor console, racks and cabling, and also handled final packaging and checkout of the system prior to the tour.

"The Meyer people have been a great help all along the way," says tour production manager Harry Tucker. "They provided in-person assistance at some concerts, and they made all the right connections whenever we needed extra equipment for a show."

Contacted five days prior to the tour's closing performances, Tucker admitted that he would be hard pressed to come up with one show that was a particular favorite. "It's a great concert, and we've been drawing good crowds every night," he says. "I guess one memorable evening was in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the Altell Pavilion, when George Duke walked out into the audience with his 'Dukie Stick' [wireless portable keyboard] and really got the whole place jumping."

Front-of-house mixer for the Montreux Festival On Tour was Trip Khalaf, assisted behind the Yamaha PM4000 by FOH technician Rod Hanson from Blackhawk Audio. Carlton Brown mixed the stage monitors on a Soundcraft SM24 with technical backup from John "Bone" Scheffel of Westsun/Jason Sound.

The Montreux Festival On Tour was produced under the auspices of the Montreux Jazz Festival, with USA coordination and production resources provided by Bug Music and TBA Entertainment. Corporate sponsor for the tour was Oldsmobile Aurora.

September, 2000