By Josef Woodard
Upon hearing of my impending trip to Portugal, someone grinned knowingly and muttered, “Ah, the California of Europe." What seemed an odd, glib statement has a new meaning, having been there, eaten and drunk and experienced that, in this remarkable, mighty, and compact country. It's true: Portugal's clement climate, beach-hugging towns, and vegetation (they too have the familiar, unstoppable ice plant) will remind Californians of home. And they even have chronic wildfire troubles, although we're far ahead of them in that department so far this summer.
A primary reason for the trip was culture-business, attending the almost 30-year-old Estoril Jazz Festival, in greater Lisbon, and its brand new offshoot festival on the south coast, the “Allgarve Jazz Festival" (a market-wise misspelling of the tourism haven in the southern Algarve region). In another Portuguese-California connection--especially in a place like Santa Barbara--the Algarve struggles with tensions between promoting tourism and preserving the natural beauty that nurtured that tourism in the first place. The Allgarve Festival is a work-in-progress, a moveable feast that included soul-jazzy Lucky Peterson in a modest soccer (football) stadium in Portimao, the currently kinder, gentler, and more commercial Herbie Hancock in Loule (with Chris Potter and Dave Holland; he was sounding better than his too-poppy Campbell Hall show last fall), and the stunning and innovative Portuguese vocalist Maria Joao in Sagres.
Upon hearing of my impending trip to Portugal, someone grinned knowingly and muttered, “Ah, the California of Europe." What seemed an odd, glib statement has a new meaning, having been there, eaten and drunk and experienced that, in this remarkable, mighty, and compact country. It's true: Portugal's clement climate, beach-hugging towns, and vegetation (they too have the familiar, unstoppable ice plant) will remind Californians of home. And they even have chronic wildfire troubles, although we're far ahead of them in that department so far this summer.
A primary reason for the trip was culture-business, attending the almost 30-year-old Estoril Jazz Festival, in greater Lisbon, and its brand new offshoot festival on the south coast, the “Allgarve Jazz Festival" (a market-wise misspelling of the tourism haven in the southern Algarve region). In another Portuguese-California connection--especially in a place like Santa Barbara--the Algarve struggles with tensions between promoting tourism and preserving the natural beauty that nurtured that tourism in the first place. The Allgarve Festival is a work-in-progress, a moveable feast that included soul-jazzy Lucky Peterson in a modest soccer (football) stadium in Portimao, the currently kinder, gentler, and more commercial Herbie Hancock in Loule (with Chris Potter and Dave Holland; he was sounding better than his too-poppy Campbell Hall show last fall), and the stunning and innovative Portuguese vocalist Maria Joao in Sagres.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
