At the Montreux Jazz Festival in December 1971, on the quiet shores of Lake Geneva, a blazing fire consumed the casino during a performance by Frank Zappa, inspiring Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water." The moment is one of thousands captured in Live from Montreux [A Publishing), a massive, four-volume set compiled by art director Marc Balet and editor Perry Richardson for the festival's 40th anniversary. The collection, clasped by two sets of red plastic applauding hands, contains 1,600 glossy pages' worth of posters, concert photos, and backstage high jinks. "It's really the couture of book publishing," says Balet, former creative director at Andy Warhol's Interview. Founded in 1967 by Claude Nobs, the son of a local baker, the festival grew in size and scope to attract the biggest names in music, billing jazz legends such as Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald alongside Eric Clapton, Queen, and even Kid Rock and the Black Eyed Peas. The volumes—one for each decade—include such diverse shots as Dizzy Gillespie plodding on the tennis court and David Bowie skiing down alpine slopes. Balet sums up the books—and the times—in four words: "Sex, drugs, and jazz."

JULIAN SANCTON