Gregory Porter, Diane Reeves and Terrence Blanchard fire-up Funchal Festival

Every summer at the lovely outdoor stage in St. Catherine´s Park at the wonderful Funchal Jazz Festival, music fans can hear top jazz, mainly from the US, for three nights in the heart of Funchal. This year the first night was packed as never before. The reason: Gregory Porter (pictured top) was back in town. He’d already won the hearts of the audience four years ago, at his first visit to the festival. This time he was even more touching, with his unique voice and emotional songs with their deep mix of soul, jazz, blues and gospel.  

Saxophonist Ben Wendel and his Seasons Band – with pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Brewer, guitarist Gilad Hekselman and drummer Kendrick Scott – also shone especially with their interactions and music that was free from any stylistic borders. Trumpet player Terence Blanchard and his E-Collective, with drummer Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts as special guest, were announced to play a tribute to Art Blakey´s Jazz Messengers. In the end they served a very nice balanced between fine arrangements of Blakey material and powerful tunes from the more electric E-Collective.  

Dianne Reeves (above) also performed in Madeira, her voice still on top form, decades into her illustrious career. A new name to look out for was accordion player João Barradas, who is one of the rising stars of a very interesting young Portuguese jazz scene. He likes to experiment with sounds and electronics on his instrument and brought an international band to the festival, which included vibraphone, double bass, drums and saxophone. His music offers structure and freedom, freshness and exciting waves of melodies and rhythms. As well as the whole island of Madeira and its Funchal Jazz Festival. 

(Photos by Renato Nunes)