Among the latest headlines from the Montreux Jazz Festival is news that actor Johnny Depp will join Jeff Beck, a guitarist with jazz connections, in a performance at the Lake Geneva event. The duo will perform at the Auditorium Stravinski on Friday 15 July after a set by Van Morrison, the soul singer who plays some saxophone and touched on jazz with the swing line of his tune Moondance.
Jeff Beck previously collaborated with Johnny Depp in April 2020 on a cover of John Lennon’s Isolation. The song featured Depp as a singer and Beck on guitar. The duo release a studio album together this summer, the launch date scheduled for the same day as their concert in Montreux.
With this collaboration, Johnny Depp adds to his CV as musician, having done a concert at the festival in 2018 as part of the Hollywood Vampires, featuring Alice Cooper.
As for the 77-year-old Jeff Beck, this will be his first appearance at Montreux in 13 years. A former member of the Yardbirds, Beck is one of the most influential guitarists of his generation, a specialist in the use of the vibrato bar.
Other jazz candidates appear at the festival, the full line-up on the event’s website.
