Estoril Jazz :: For more than 44 years on the International Jazz Route
Photo credits Rosa Reis
Back in 1971, an enthusiastic audience of 10.000 people was converted to Jazz, at the time of the recent building of Dramático de Cascais in the very first large jazz festival organised in Portugal. Since then, history has been made. Since 1982 Jazz moved to a new setting at Palmela Park auditorium. At this new location, it embraced “Jazz on a Summer Day”, produced by Duarte Mendonça. In 1989, through invitation from Estoril Sol, it was renamed “Estoril Jazz”, still in Pamela Park until 2008. After that year it moved to Estoril Casino.
Duarte de Mendonça is an important name in the Portuguese Jazz scenario and in particular in the festival’s history.
Discover the most emblematic details from this event, famous and renowned by the most famous names of worldwide jazz.
Since the beginning of the last century, the Estoril-Cascais coast has been distinguished for being the stage for one of the most emblematic art, cultural and sports events in Portugal. Due to the fact that this is a sought and appreciated area by the aristocratic and entrepreneurial elite of the time, especially during their leisure and holidays, Cascais and Estoril in particular, gathered the ideal conditions for great and exuberant parties where glamour and elegance were dominant notes. Music, of course, couldn’t miss out. As a result of the unique combination of this location’s heritage, a welcoming climate that is practically constant throughout the year, the shows and outdoor sports gained a special focus, determinant for this generation’s lifestyle. For all these reasons we shouldn’t be surprised to find out that many sports genres, currently practiced in Portugal, were born here. Even less strange is the fact that, until today, this Municipality has been the main stage for different musical events, with a long story to tell, and Estoril Jazz is, without any doubt, the most emblematic among them.
Who better than Duarte Mendonça to reveal us every detail of this annual event? His 84 years of life, 70 of them dedicated to Jazz music, as a collector and investigator and 42 years with a career as a professional in producer and production of festivals and concerts related to this musical genre.
It was through the hands, commitment, dedication and passion of Duarte de Mendonça that many of the biggest Jazz artists stepped for the first time onto a Portuguese stage, between Cascais and Estoril. Diana Krall was one of them, as registered in the picture below, dated back to 1996, next to Duarte Mendonça, on her premiere in Portugal. Purist in his vision for this musical genre, to which he surrendered during his adolescence, when his father acquired a short-wave radio to listen to the 2nd World War news, Duarte and his sister took over the radio every time they could to listen to the Boogie-woogie transmissions from Voice of America, the master of Portuguese Jazz culture, keeping faithful to the mainstream, socio-cultural and acoustic heritage from the musical style which revolutionised the world during the crazy years of the 30s.
Duarte Mendonça’s life spanned decades with the most notable jazzmen of all times. It’s also with these appearances that Estoril and Estoril Jazz had greatly benefited, over luxury and innovative billboards that have been successfully present, for many years. The audience, faithful, aware and demanding is the first to recognize it. Also due to this fact, Cascais Municipality and Estoril Casino provide great attention to their cultural agenda and artistic production and have been, together with Turismo de Portugal supporting this initiative, the great engines of maintenance, promotion and production from this festival. Not even Cascais’ cultural agenda would be the same if this festival weren’t included.
This year, the billboard included names such as Roseanna Vitro and Kenny Werner, Sean Jones Quartet, the young and promising national talent Ricardo Toscano and Opus 5.
Throughout 34 years, non-stop, Estoril Jazz has created not only a national reputation but also international, promoting the name of Estoril and Cascais’ municipality in the jazz environment, attracting real fans and connoisseurs from Portugal and abroad. This is not an event for the masses and therefore the reach of its audience is only justifiable for one reason: Cascais recognizes and bets on the quality of culture and artistic promotion.
If you didn’t have the opportunity to visit us this year and see this festival, stay tuned to our cultural agenda for 2016. The program and cast from next year’s agenda is already flourishing in the backstage of our next edition.
Photo credits Rosa Reis
Photo credits Rosa Reis
Photo credits Rosa Reis
Photo credits Rosa Reis
Photo credits Rosa Reis
