The Jazz ao Centro Festival returns for its 21st edition, which takes place between the 6th and 21st of October, in various spaces in the City of Coimbra.
Over the course of three weeks, 50 musicians from various latitudes will visit the Visual Arts Center, Convento São Francisco, República Solar dos Kapängas, Salão Brazil and Teatro Académico de Gil Vicente.
The fundamental premises of the programming remain in line with what has been the practice of recent editions, assuming the diversity of approaches that mark today’s Jazz.
For José Miguel Pereira, director of the non-profit Association Jazz ao Centro Clube, “Among an intense regular program in the context of the vast universe of Jazz ao Centro Clube initiatives, the Coimbra International Jazz Meetings have a special place, as a founding project of the Association itself. We concentrated in three weeks on proposals from various geographies that allowed us to take a pulse on the current reality of this music. It is, therefore, a time to sit under the leafy century-old tree of Jazz and imagine the future!”
The Festival is co-produced by the Coimbra City Council, so the President of the Coimbra City Council, José Manuel Silva “congratulates the return of the Jazz Festival to the Center for its 21st edition, highlighting the path of affirmation and continuity that this festival has traveled, being today a reference in the national cultural panorama and an unavoidable event – with international reach – when it comes to jazz music. The Municipality of Coimbra intends to continue supporting the Associação Jazz ao Centro, which has greatly contributed to the city Coimbra becoming more cosmopolitan and a reference when it comes to musical programming.”
During the Festival there will also be a moment of celebration: the 11th anniversary of Salão Brazil under the management of Jazz ao Centro Clube.
CONCERTS
Sven-Åke Johansson & Jan Jelinek, Lakecia Benjamin, Lotte Anker & Gabriel Ferrandini, Chão Maior, and João Mortágua AXES are some of the names on the program for the 21st edition of the Jazz ao Centro Festival, which will take place between October 6th and 21st.
Sven-Åke Johansson & Jan Jelinek | Friday – October 6th, 9:30 pm Gil Vicente Academic Theater
Lantana | Saturday – October 7th, 10pm | Brazil Hall
Lakecia Benjamin and Phoenix | Sunday – October 8th, 6pm | Brazil Hall
The opening of the Festival is in charge of Sven-Åke Johansson & Jan Jelinek, who perform on October 6th at the Teatro Académico de Gil Vicente. On the following two days, the concerts take place at Salão Brazil. On Saturday, October 7th, the sextet Lantana (Saturday, October 7th), a collaborative group that includes Anna Piosik (trumpet and voice), Carla Santana (electronics), Maria do Mar (violin), Maria Radich (voice), Helena Espvall and Joana Guerra (cellos). On the afternoon of Sunday, October 8th, it is Lakecia Benjamin’s turn to present “Phoenix”, her quartet formed by Zaccai Curtis (piano), Ivan Taylor (double bass), and EJ Strickland (drums).
Sven-Åke Johansson & Jan Jelinek by Joshua Eckstein
Sven-Åke Johansson drums
Jan Jelinek electronics
There’s a kind of tension that Johansson and Jelinek seem interested in lingering over, rather than resolving. “Puls-Plus-Puls” is the title of their two albums released to date, both recorded live, and the fact that they maintain the same title in two records separated by 3 years (the first is from 2017 and the second from 2020 ) indicates that, more than a possible solution or perfectly final result, it is the “question” that moves them. After all, we are talking about “pulsation + pulsation”, not a confrontation or an annulment of the differences between the rhythms produced by humans and machines. It is the play of differences and common ground that produces the fascination of this work.
Fortunately for us, the music never sounds like we’re watching an investigative show. There are starting issues, this seems obvious, but Johansson and Jelinek are committed to allowing the game to run freely, aware that even when exercising control over their gestures, other layers emerge live, the difference in repetition which, however small, opens up the spaces that interest them, and which are those unknown territories for which they will have to think, in real-time, about possible cartographies.
Support:
The presentation by Sven-Åke Johansson & Jan Jelinek is made in partnership with Out.Fest (Barreiro, Portugal)
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€8.00 | Normal
€6.00 | Discounts < 25, student, > 65, UC community, group ≥ 10, unemployed, entertainment professional, partnerships
Anna Piosik trumpet and voice
Carla Santana electronic
Maria do Mar violin
Maria Radich voice
Joana Guerra, Helena Espvall cellos
LANTANA, a sextet of experimental/improvised music, is composed of Helena Espvall and Joana Guerra on cellos, Maria do Mar on violin, Carla Santana on electronics, Maria Radich on vocals and Anna Piosik on trumpet/vocals. In 2022, Lantana released her debut album, “Elemental”, on Cipsela Records – a mesmerizing collection inhabited by a thousand sonic creatures, created by the hands of ghosts, micro-dusts and evocations.
The album had an amazing reception from specialized critics, which resulted in the award for “Group of the Year” at the Jazz Festival 2022 (CCB, Lisbon) and, equally, in the choice of Lantana, by the Annual International Critics Poll ( which brings together 64 international critics) from the publication El Intruso, as “Grupo Revelação”.
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Lakecia Benjamin by Elizabeth Leitzell
Lakecia Benjamin alto saxophone
Zaccai Curtis piano
Ivan Taylor double bass
EJ Strickland drums
Only two years have passed since Lakecia Benjamin was involved in a very serious accident, in which she suffered a broken collarbone and jaw. He was returning from a concert to promote his third album, dedicated to John and Alice Coltrane, and was already one of the biggest promises in jazz, having been, for example, chosen “Rising Star” (alto saxophone) by the most influential jazz magazine in the North -American, Downbeat Magazine, in 2020.
Everything led us to believe that we were facing another story of a successful career interrupted by tragic circumstances, but what happened in the following months, with a painful but complete recovery, was so extraordinary that it led to Lakecia Benjamin calling it “Phoenix ” his fourth album, released in January 2023.
Such a phoenix reborn from the ashes, Lakecia Benjamin has not stopped performing live, on both sides of the Atlantic, presenting the album that, most likely, will be at the top of the “best of the year” lists of much of the specialized press..
Given Lakecia’s brilliant trajectory, and her predictable future place in the world of contemporary Jazz, seeing and hearing her on the Salão Brazil stage will be one of those opportunities not to be missed!
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Jam at the Hall with the Artistic School of the Coimbra Conservatory of Music | Thursday – October 12th, 9:30 pm | Brazil Hall
Mário Costa “Chromosome” | Friday – October 13th, 10pm | Brazil Hall
Chão Maior | Saturday – October 14th, 9:30 pm | Gil Vicente Academic Theater
Lívia & Fred | Sunday – October 15th, 6pm | São Francisco Convent (Sala D. Afonso Henriques)
Luís Vicente / William Parker / Mark Sanders | Sunday, October 15th, 9pm | Brazil Hall
After a short break, Jazz ao Centro returns, on the 12th, with a jam session at Salão Brazil, highlighting the partnership work with the Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra and with an emerging community of dedicated musicians. The following day (October 13), the Salão da Baixa de Coimbra welcomes the quartet led by drummer and composer Mário Costa, who will present “Chromosome”, a work that features the services of the French Benoît Delbecq (piano) and Bruno Chevillon (double bass). ), as well as the American trumpeter with Vietnamese roots Cuong Vu. On Saturday, October 14th, another visit to the Teatro Académico de Gil Vicente, for the first presentation of the album “Snakes & Thunder” (scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2024) by the quintet Chão Maior, a collaborative project headed by the trumpeter and composer Yaw Tembe, flanked by João Almeida (trumpet), Norberto Lobo (guitar and bass), Leonor Arnaut (voice) and Ricardo Martins (drums). On the last day of the second weekend of the festival, Lívia Nestrovski and Fred Ferreira will present, at the end of the afternoon, a program designed especially for this presentation at the Jazz ao Centro Festival at Convento São Francisco. In the evening, I return to Salão Brazil, for a concert by Luís Vicente / William Parker / Mark Sanders, who meet here for the first time in a trio format.
Nuno Rodrigues trumpet
Rui Alvarez’s double bass
Paulo Silva drums
With the aim of creating a fortnightly meeting point for all those interested in jazz, reinforcing the connection between musicians from the Coimbra Region (and beyond), Salão Brazil and a group of musicians and teachers from the Professional Jazz Course at Escola Artística do Coimbra Music Conservatory, which includes Mauro Ribeiro and João Mortágua, started jamming at the Hall in September.
Support:
– Coimbra Music Conservatory (CMC)
– CMC Professional Jazz Course
Free entry (subject to room capacity)
Mário Costa drums and composition
Cuong Vu trumpet
Benoît Delbecq piano and electronics
Bruno Chevillon double bass
Chromosome, in a direct reference to Mário Costa’s composition, was designed specifically for the DNA of each of the musicians who now accompanies him. It is this feeling, of themes prepared with care to allow each element to explore its qualities, that enhances the brilliance of an album as captivating as it is unexpected in its nine songs. If we remember that Cuong Vu’s trumpet is usually heard in projects by Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny, David Bowie, or Laurie Anderson, that Bruno Chevillon’s double bass often appears alongside Louis Sclavis, Michel Portal, or Daniel Humair, and that the piano by Benoît Delbecq, in addition to his own projects, he has played with people as diverse and special as Evan Parker, Mark Turner or Mary Halvorson, you get a faint idea of the meeting that takes place here. But because this music is much more than the sum of its parts and because each composition works like a red carpet that Mário Costa extends to each of his accomplices, it is also much more that, like a miracle, reveals itself in the union of these four musicians. And therefore, everything remains unsaid. Only music can speak for the dazzle and explosion of creativity that releases Chromosome.
Support:
GDA Foundation
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Yaw Tembe composition, trumpet, and electronics
João Almeida trumpet and electronics
Leonor Arnaut’s voice and electronics
Norberto Lobo’s guitar, bass, and electronics
Ricardo Martins drums and electronics
On his debut album Drawing Circles, released in 2020, Chão Maior incorporated a process linked to visual practices and psychogeography, drawing a parallel to the work of Richard Long. A music capable of crossing territories was idealized, thought through wanderings and that was prone to the practice of drifts and deviations.
Chão Maior now returns to publishing with the second album, titled Snakes and Thunder. This series of pieces is based on the ideas of equivalence and balance as a way of crossing and intersecting systems in various dimensions and instances.
How to create space for dialogue when balancing between different value systems? What results from this overlap?
These are the premises for Snakes and Thunder, an album that will only be released in 2024, and which, at the Jazz ao Centro Festival, will have its first public performance.
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Lívia Nestrovski Voice
Fred Ferreira Guitar
Classic and contemporary, popular and erudite, from Brazil and the world, as experimental as it is welcoming, the path traced by Lívia and Fred is subtle, unexpected, and inspired. With songs by Kurt Weill, Zé Miguel Wisnik, Benjamin Britten, Arrigo Barnabé, Maurice Ravel, Milton Nascimento, and names from the new generation, the duo builds narratives and governs affections. After six years on tour with his first album, having visited the USA, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, England, Germany, Czech Republic, Estonia, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Lebanon, and Syria, in addition to all regions from Brazil, are preparing their second album.
Luís Vicente trumpet
William Parker double bass
Mark Sanders Drums
What happens when we bring together one of the most surprising instrumentalists in Portuguese Jazz today with two unavoidable figures in the recent history of Jazz?
Let’s find out, on the night of October 15th, on the stage of Salão Brazil, in a concert as part of the 21st edition of the Jazz ao Centro Festival.
Over the last decade, Luís Vicente has built his own space in European Jazz, the result of tireless work in establishing international bridges: in France, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, and the United Kingdom. This work allowed him to be a constant presence at concerts, festivals, and artistic residencies all over Europe, being requested by numerous musicians and programmers, nowadays perfectly aware of his uniqueness as an instrumentalist and his profile as a human being.
It will come as no surprise, therefore, that we see him, in this edition of Encontros, side by side with two of the most respected musicians on the jazz scene: the venerable double bassist William Parker and the notable British drummer Mark Sanders.
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João Mortágua AXES | Thursday – October 19th, 9:30 pm | Brazil Hall
Orè | Friday – October 20th, 6pm | Solar Republic of the Kapängas
Per Zanussi with Vestnorske Jazz ensemble | Friday – October 20th, 10pm | Brazil Hall
Lotte Anker & Gabriel Ferrandini | Saturday – October 21st, 6pm | Visual Arts Center
The last weekend of the Jazz ao Centro Festival has space for four concerts. On the night of Thursday, October 19th, João Mortágua’s sextet AXES takes the stage at Salão Brazil to present their brand new album “Hexagon”, and to help celebrate the house’s 11th anniversary under the management of Jazz ao Club Center. With the saxophonist and composer residing in Coimbra, there will be Tomás Marques (alto saxophone), Hugo Cirático (tenor saxophone), Rui Teixeira (baritone saxophone), Filipe Louro (electric bass) and Pedro Vasconcelos (drums). On Friday, October 20th, the Solar Republic of the Kapängas will host the Orè project, which brings together, under the leadership of Brazilian double bassist Pedro Ivo Ferreira, Portuguese saxophonist José Soares, Uruguayan guitarist Miguel Petruccelli, José and Dutchman Onno Govaert. In addition to the relevance of this multi-national group based in the Netherlands, the aim is to draw attention to the fragility of the current situation of the Republics, which in some cases, such as the Solar Republic of the Kapängas, threatens their own continuity. All box office proceeds go to the Kapängas Solar Association’s legal support fund. At night, the festival moves from the top of Santo António dos Olivais to downtown Coimbra, where Per Zanussi performs with Vestnorske Jazzensemble. Double bassist and composer Per Zanussi is accompanied by an ensemble of 11 musicians formed by Kjetil Møster, Heidi Kvelvane, Elisabeth Lid Trøen and Kristoffer Alberts (saxophones), Didrik Ingvaldsen, Simen Kiil Halvorsen (trumpets), Thomas Dahl (guitar), Gro Austgulen (violin), John Derek Bishop (electronics) Børge Fjordheim and Øyvind Skarbø (drums and percussion). For the finale, on October 21st, a single concert is planned, taking place at the Visual Arts Center. The music will be provided by the duo Lotte Anker & Gabriel Ferrandini, who will conclude a week of creative work in Coimbra (at the invitation of Teatro do Bairro Alto, in Lisbon).
João Mortágua composition and soprano saxophone
Tomás Marques alto saxophone
Hugo Ciriaco tenor saxophone
Rui Teixeira baritone saxophone
Filipe Louro electric bass
Pedro Vasconcelos drums
Constituting one of the main creative focuses of saxophonist João Mortágua over the last few years, this sextet released its debut album in June 2017, immediately affirming a bold, transversal, and eclectic compositional aesthetic.
After performing at festivals such as Spring On! (Casa da Música), 8th Porta Jazz Festival (Rivoli), KM.251 (Ponferrada) or the Internationales Jazz Festival (Muenster), were also present at the jazz festivals of Sudtirol and Belgrade, in addition to Angra Jazz and the festival Antenna2.
In “Hexagon”, which came out in June 2023, Mortágua definitely takes a step forward in the band’s history, building on its identity foundations a whole new geometric construction, based on the narrative of angles and polygons. Starting from this architectural premise, the music of this new album reveals itself to be firm and impactful, seeking in the balance between strength and emotionality the burden of its meaning: a permanent joint construction on the blank canvas that is our passage through this world.
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Pedro Ivo Ferreira double bass and composition
José Soares alto saxophone
Miguel Petruccelli guitar
Onno Govaert drums
The Orè Quartet, formed by Pedro Ivo Ferreira in 2021, is a musical group that explores the rich tapestry of rhythms and melodies from northeastern Brazil, combining them with free improvisation.
With members of four different nationalities – Pedro Ivo Ferreira (Brazil), Miguel Petruccelli (Uruguay), José Soares (Portugal), and Onno Govaert (Netherlands) – the band creates a soundscape, capturing the simplicity of the Brazilian backlands and the spontaneity of music improvised.
The music is a captivating fusion of cultural influences, resulting in an authentic and immersive musical experience.
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Voluntary contribution whose proceeds will go, in full, to the legal support fund of the Associação Solar dos Kapängas.
At bol.pt, the suggested contribution will be €10.00 or €5.00. On the same day, at the local box office, interested members of the public will be able to contribute the amount within their means.
Per Zanussi double bass and composition
Kjetil Møster, Heidi Kvelvane, Elisabeth Lid Trøen and Kristoffer Alberts saxophones
Didrik Ingvaldsen, Simen Kiil Halvorsen trumpets
Thomas Dahl guitar
Gro Austgulen violin
John Derek Bishop electronics
Børge Fjordheim and Øyvind Skarbø drums
“Li and the Infinite Game” piece composed by Per Zanussi for Vestnorsk Jazz ensemble mixes the composer’s different musical interests in a beautiful, energetic, and rhythmic journey through 10 different musical landscapes.
In recent years, Zanussi’s music for large ensembles has focused on composition for improvisers who engage in a rather free form, where the sound has led the mind to contemporary music. In this work for VNJE, a little of that can still be found, but also inspiration from futuristic funk, prog-Afrobeat, Korean shaman ballads, and North African free jazz.
“Li” in the title alludes to the Chinese name for patterns in nature, which has long been an inspiration for Zanussi’s music: fixed and dynamic patterns, in time and space, cyclical, asymmetrical, and ordered at the same time. Clouds, trees, dunes, flow, and chaos.
The last part of the title, “The Infinite Game”, is about the other important aspect of the piece, namely the relationship with the musicians from Bergen and Stavanger who meet and bring the compositions to life. In this match, an “infinite game” is set up where the objective is not to win, but to be able to continue in the game.”
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Lotte Anker & Gabriel Ferrandini
Lotte Anker tenor saxophone
Gabriel Ferrandini drums and percussion
Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker and Portuguese drummer Gabriel Ferrandini meet, at the invitation of the Teatro do Bairro Alto theater, for an artistic residency that will culminate in a concert, the day before this show at the Jazz ao Centro Festival.
Lotte Anker has a solid career that spans four decades. Throughout this period, he maintained an enormous diversity of collaborative projects, from the quartet shared with Mette Petersen (expanded to a quintet with the inclusion of Nils-Petter Molvær), through the Copenhagen Art Ensemble (which he co-led together with the composer and trombonist Tire Larsen), the fantastic trios with Marilyn Crispell and Marilyn Mazur and, already in this century, with pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Gerald Cleaver. She has also maintained collaborative projects with Fred Frith, Tim Berne, Ikue Mari, and Sylvie Courvoisier. Tom Rainey and Phil Minton, among many others.
In turn, Ferrandini has maintained an intense activity in writing for the performing arts, either at the invitation of directors such as Tiago Rodrigues or even taking risks himself in creations such as Rosa. Thorn. Dureza (with actor Frederico Barata). In music, he broke new ground with the album Hair of the Dog and the solo show Casino.
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€10.00 | Normal
€8.00 | Discounts < 25, student, > 65, unemployed, arts and entertainment professional
PARALLEL PROGRAMMING
The Festival will also have a program dedicated to children with the show O Jazz é Fixe! and young students from the Professional Jazz Instrumentalist Course at the Artistic School of the Coimbra Music Conservatory will present their work in the context of the Festival, as well as for Rui Miguel Abreu’s djset.
Tickets for the Festival Jazz ao Centro – Coimbra International Jazz Encounters are now on sale, in the usual places, and their prices vary between 6 and 15 euros.
ABOUT THE JAZZ FESTIVAL TO THE CENTER
The inaugural concert of the Festival Jazz ao Centro – Encontros Internacionais de Jazz de Coimbra took place on January 18, 2003, at a time when Coimbra was preparing to launch the program that celebrated it as the National Capital of Culture. It was the culmination of the efforts of a wide group of people who, in several meetings, outlined the general lines of what would become the festival, having also served to promote the creation of the Cultural Association that would organize it in the future: Jazz to the Club Center.
Jazz ao Centro – or the “Encontros” (as many call it) – has seen several models, and the format we know today only emerged in the last third of the Festival’s life, when in 2016 it began to be held in October.
Regardless of the formats, there is a set of characteristics that have remained unchanged and among which it is worth highlighting, on the one hand, the privileged place of creation, with more than 20 albums having been edited and recorded in its context (on labels such as Clean Feed, Cipsela, and JACC Records) and, on the other, the heterodox vision that allows space for “all jazz”, from those most indebted to tradition to those that challenge the boundaries of the genre.
TECHNICAL SHEET
Artistic Direction: José Miguel Pereira
Technical Direction João P. Miranda
Production Director Adriana Ávila
Press office Alexandra Neto Ferreira
Social Media Adelaide Martins
Graphic Design Joana Monteiro
Photography João Duarte
Co-Organization Coimbra City Council & Jazz ao Centro Association
Always confirm with the concert hall or promoter the conditions of access, confirmation of the date or time, ticket place of sale, price, and availability.
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