Jazz musicians

I grew up thinking that all jazz was jarring to the ears and a musical genre that was best avoided. Now that I’m a bit older and have more experience of the different forms of jazz, I really enjoy its softer side. I don’t know if I’ll ever learn to appreciate or love the noisier stuff though.

It might be worth giving it another go, however, because along with fado and classical music, there’s rather a lot of jazz in Portugal. 

Image courtesy of MaAtE http://www.flickr.com/photos/tothmate/

Jazz ao Centro

Every May, Coimbra hosts an International Jazz ao Centro (Jazz in the Centre) festival with a series of concerts scheduled in different venues around the city.

Salão Brasil, with its big arched windows and creaky wooden floors, is one of the main indoor venues and you’re likely to spot some arty black and white photos of jazz musicians on the walls.

The acoustics may not be the best but it draws in people wearing black and looking serious as they appear to appreciate the random pluckings of the double bass player and the flurries of notes from the other musicians. Other people go there too, so don’t feel you have to wear dark clothes.

The Jazz ao Centro organisers also set up a stage in the ancient cobbled street of Quebra Costas. Just a few rows of chairs on a gentle slope in the warm May dusk and an air of expectation makes for a very atmospheric setting.

Another Jazz ao Centro highlight is usually the concert in the recently renovated Santa Clara a-Velha Convent. I can just imagine the romantic effect of soft lighting on the golden sandstone walls. 

Jazz in the schist villages of central Portugal

Candal schist village, Central Portugal
Candal schist village, Central Portugal

Talking of stone walls and ancient venues, you may want to look out for the jazz concerts that are planned around the network of central Portuguese schist villages. The schist villages I’ve been to are a mixture of abandoned homes that have disintegrated into piles of multicoloured stone and rotten wood and tiny houses that have been lovingly restored.

Tucked away in the hills, these pretty villages will make great venues and are worth the drive even if the music turns out to be not to your taste. 

If you can’t make it to any of these jazz festivals in central Portugal, not to worry. As a musical genre, jazz’s popularity has increased enormously in this country over the last twenty years and there are many jazz events and clubs springing up all over the place. 

I’m not likely to become a fan of fado music any time soon but I think it might be time to give jazz another chance.

11 Comments

  1. a very superficial view on jazz music. Might as well not have mentioned it. Whatever text there is was CTRL+C, then CTRL+V from other sources.

  2. You are evidently a well travelled person. However i found your views on jazz music to be uniformed and surprisingly dismissive. Jazz music has never been a ‘make it up as you go along’ stuff …….. musical form. It has a rigid framework. Within that framework there are a set of rules understood by the jazz musician. The framework allows for improvisation at a very high level which is understood by the musician, their fellow players and their audience For example we could have a conversation using the English language. However If i were to address you in a local dialect you it would be impenetrable to you. You would not be able to understand me. All dialects have a framework and as you know with languages they evolve. Would you be dismissive of a local dialect?

    We understand that you are not a jazz lover. But i found your views on the music to be an unnecessary distraction.

    Apart from that i have just stumbled across your blog and have found it to be very informative with some very good content.

    I spent a month in Portugal twenty-five years ago and looking seriously at buying / relocating to Portugal. By the sound of it you seem to be enjoying your time in the country.

    Keep up the good work!

    1. Thank you, esquire, for your informative comments. Glad you’re finding some useful information on my blog, even if this post irritated you 🙂

  3. Yeah I’m with Piglet. I try to like jazz but get bored after a while. Maybe not found the artist for me yet, but I love Fado.

    1. Author

      I only like the mellow stuff when it comes to jazz. I can’t cope with the ‘make it up as you go along’ stuff as I think you have to be one of the musicians involved in the creative moment to get real pleasure from it. To the uninformed, like me, it’s just unpredictable and not necessarily pleasant noise.

  4. I didn’t know that the jazz was so popular in Portugal, it’s good to know! Have a nice day Julie

    1. Author

      It’s really taken off in the last decade, apparently. Have a great day too 🙂

  5. If I’m not wrong, the oldest Jazz Festival in Portugal is the “Estoril Jazz”. Now there’s a lot of Jazz events around Portugal.
    HOT CLUB de Portugal is THE jazz club to visit, at Praça da Alegria, Lisbon. Every Thursdays jam sessions. Very fine Portuguese jazz musicians sarted to play there.

    1. Author

      Thanks for the extra info, Ana. Do you know when Estoril Jazz takes place?

      1. It took place from 11th to 20th May. 🙁 It was recent.

  6. I love fado music, but not really experienced jazz in Portugal as yet

Over to you. Please share your thoughts in a comment.