Jane Monheit, a singer "in the top 5 of current jazz voices" and the trumpeter Tom Harrel, both Americans, or the French Virginie Teychené are the artists chosen for the international festival Algarve Jazz Gourmet Moments, which will take place in Albufeira, from the 12th to the 14th of May.
The program «is for those who are curious», guarantees Hugo Alves, director of the Orquestra de Jazz do Algarve and responsible for the production of the festival, which will have its first edition here.
And because the event promises to combine good jazz music with good gourmet food, there will also be the gastronomic aspect. But those who thought they could dine to the sound of jazz are disappointed: at this festival, you'll first have dinner at a group of restaurants in the municipality of Albufeira that have joined the concept and will have special menus, and then you'll go to the concert , scheduled for the auditorium of the Hotel São Rafael Atlântico, on the beach with the same name.
Even so, Hugo Alves promises that the gastronomic element will be very present: «we created this concept of joining the good gourmet food to jazz so that there is another element here besides music”, in a way of “also showing the gastronomic richness of the Algarve”.
The concert program, by itself, will already be a very big attraction, due to the quality of the chosen names. Trumpeter Tom Harrell, who opens the festival on May 12, "is one of the oldest and with the longest history in jazz," explained Hugo Alves. The American will play, at the concert in Albufeira, with the 17 elements of the Orquestra de Jazz do Algarve, for which, Hugo Alves guarantees, «this will be a moment of great pleasure».
The following night, May 13th, follows «one of the greatest European jazz figures», Frenchwoman Virginie Teychené, who will be accompanied by her quintet. The singer, who already has a ten-year career, will bring to the Algarve her latest album «Encore», where she presents «almost ethnic aspects, even with Mediterranean sounds». He will sing in English, French and Portuguese with a Brazilian accent, on his forays into Bossa Nova.
Hugo Alves admits: bringing Virginie Teychené to the Algarve for the first time is a good proposition for the national and international public, but it is also «a wink of the eye to the many Frenchmen» who are now choosing the region for their holidays.
Finally, on the 14th of May, it will be the turn of the “extremely lyrical, without ever ceasing to be popular” voice of Jane Monheit, considered one of the best jazz voices in the world and who “has not been many times in Portugal”. The American will perform, at the concert in the auditorium of the Hotel São Rafael Atlântico, with a quartet «most classic in jazz».
With these concerts, the festival production Algarve Jazz Gourmet Moments he is not just “looking for the jazz audience”, guarantees Hugo Alves. «We want to reach out to others», to the general public, who are not knowledgeable in this type of music, but who will enjoy a concert program with a «more classical» jazz. «Jazz is music of the XNUMXth century, it is dance music and entertainment».
But don't think that, after dinner in one of the restaurants that will join the festival and the high quality concert and lots of fun, the music and the party will stop here. «During these three days, there will be a jazz club, a kind of jam sessions, with a quartet playing for an hour to finish each night of the festival». These late sessions they will also have “autograph sessions” with the artists, which, with names like this, “is not at all normal”.
Tickets for the concerts, which will take place in the auditorium of the São Rafael Atlântico congress centre, with 500 seats, cost 15 euros and are already on sale at Bol's online box office.
As for the strand good gourmet food, which is not yet fully closed, will participate in «five to ten restaurants» from all over the municipality of Albufeira, which will offer a special menu, «with regional products highlighted». Reservations can be made through the festival website. For now, the restaurants "O Marinheiro", "O Alagar", "La Cigale", "A Casa do Avô" and "Venice" are confirmed. as you can see on the festival's website.
One of those already known to participate is the Mediterranean Restaurant of the Hotel São Rafael Atlântico, whose director Bruno Silva announced that the menu will link «jazz with regional and national products».
The festival, which will cost 50 euros and has been in production since October, is the result of a proposal by the Orquestra de Jazz do Algarve to the Albufeira Town Hall, whose president, Carlos Silva e Sousa, confesses to being "a jazz lover" and therefore “very enthusiastic” about this new cultural event.
Hugo Alves explained that the project was presented «in exclusive» to the Câmara de Albufeira, «with whom we were already in talks for other events, before the 365 Algarve appeared».
Is that these Jazz Gourmet Moments they have the financial support of the 365 Algarve program, whose commissioner confessed that the proposal surprised her. «Something that influenced the choice of this festival, among the countless proposals that came to us, was the quality and history of the Orquestra de Jazz do Algarve and its director and conductor, Hugo Alves», said Dália Paulo.
It turned out to be "a very easy choice," he admitted. It is about bringing big international names, capable of attracting national and foreign audiences, «but with this aspect good gourmet food, linked to regional products, to maintain the connection to the earth», added Dália Paulo.
The mayor of Albufeira, as already mentioned, is an open jazz fan. But he argues that this festival goes further, by «associating the timelessness of jazz with something that is also timeless, which is our gastronomy and wine».
Carlos Silva e Sousa underlines: «no one goes on vacation to sad places. And joy is an attribute of the Algarve, especially the Algarve. At a high tide in tourism, we cannot run the risk of disillusioning the tourists who have chosen us, we have to offer them strong programs and this is one of them».
Alexandra Gonçalves, regional director of Culture, on the other hand, underlined the importance of creating, in a tourist destination and also in terms of cultural offer, «marking experiences». «Whoever experiences this festival, will leave Albufeira and the Algarve and will spread the word, will create very important emotional and memory bonds».
This festival, guaranteed by the president Carlos Silva e Sousa, «has a matrix that surprises those who visit us and who are here». Therefore, concluded the mayor, the Jazz Gourmet Moments has everything to become a reference in the cultural programming of the mid-season tourism in the Algarve.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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