In 2017, we welcomed Silje Nergaard as a guest for the first time, at the inaugural edition of the Algarve Jazz Gourmet Moments Festival. Since then, there was a strong desire to invite her again, now fulfilled within the framework of Algarve All Jazz'24, its fourth edition. Silje proposed a selection of the mosticonic songs of her career, mostly her own compositions, giving rise to this programme, presented in three concerts held in Loulé, Lagos, and Lagoa.
The delicate voice of Silje Nergaard requires special care, even more so when integrated with a Jazz Orchestra. Great attention-was given to every detail so that this fusion could occur in the most balanced way possible, adding new colours without disturbing its essence.
From her "first" song Tell Me Where You're Going, marked by the irreverence that led to her 6o laboration with Pat Metheny, to the more recent Cocobello, this programme revisits a career firmly established as one of the most important voices on the European scene.

My thanks to Silje for accepting our invitation - a true honour.

To DArtes, RTCP, and the Municipalities of Loulé, Lagos, and Lagoa for their support, within the co-production of Algarve All Jazz.

To the orchestra musicians, the arrangers, and the entire staff, without whom-nothing would have been possible.

Special thanks to Michael Scott Hartung for his collaboration in sound engineering. And to the audiences, for almost always filling our concert halls. Thank you: this record is, once again, yours.

Jane Monheit is one of the biggest names in the World of Jazz, a sublime singer who deliveres goosebumps with every note. Endowed with an extreme swing, enormous energy, without ever disturbing a gentle delicacy, in the way she treats each theme, each phrase, each note. A swing that flows without end. The words that could characterize Jane Monheit would be immense,endless.

Invited this year, to two Concerts, in Lagoa and Loulé, it was with great pleasure that we saw the challenge accepted to also record this album with us, which became a reality, with the Support of DArtes, RTCP, and Municipalities of Loulé, and Lagoa, as part of the Algarve All Jazz production, Bohe ars trh estrio sa no o th so mosa te accompany her throughout her career. And this is how this recording was born, in a Swing style, or classic, as some might classify it.

A special thank you to Jane Monheit, for accepting and collaborating in this challenge. To the Orchestra's musicians, our Staff, the orchestrators, who collaborate here. Also to everyone at the City Councils, who make this project move forward, increasingly consolidated. To DArtes / RTCP. To the Public. Everyone is needed. 

This year we invited Vânia Fernandes to the International Jazz Day Concert, which took place in Faro, at Teatro das Figuras. A debut with our Orchestra, a memorable Concert, which revealed a great symbiosis between Vânia and the Orchestra. An old desire, turned into success. There was no way not to pair her with Rick Margitza, already our previous guest in 2017, for this production of the Algarve All Jazz concerts, supported by RTCP – DGArtes and the Municipalities that gave the stages: Loulé, Lagoa and Lagos.

The two guests were left to choose the repertoire, which we discussed, prepared, presented, and recorded on this album. In one hand Vânia had some desire to record these songs, on another, Margitza made a selection of those that he had never recorded. The orchestrations were commissioned with total freedom from their authors, causing a mix of surprise and challenge, in making them sound, always in close contact with the authors.

A huge thank you to Vânia and Rick, for accepting and collaborating in this challenge. To the musicians of the Orchestra, to our Staff, to the Orchestrators.

To everyone in the Municipalities who make this project move forward, increasingly consolidated. To DGArtes / RTCP. To the Public. Without everyone, it wouldn't be possible. 

Liberdades (Freedom) comes out of a challenge from the Municipality of Tavira, at a time when many people forget what Freedom is, the values it represents, its limits, what implies, after all, in all our lives. The 25th of April 1974 is the most recent date in the History of Portugal, of the most recent Freedom of our Country, but, because the concept is much broader, we decided to make a bridge and a fusion at various levels. If, on the one hand, we have the unavoidable national songs "E Depois do Adeus", or "Pedra Filosofal", we also have "Bella Ciao" or "Blowing In The Wind" from around the world. 

This way, we explore several authors, from Zeca Afonso, Manuel Freire, José Calvário, Bob Dylan, John Lennon or Bob Marley, among others, all gathered here in their own views on Freedom. The guests for this record, singers Ana Lains and Cherry (Ana Caldeira), are two voices that we respect very much, and to whom we send a huge thank you for accepting this challenge. The orchestrations come from various authors spread across the globe, a way of listening to different views otthis music, without, however, detracting what they I are originally.

We would like to thank Ed Puddick, Steian Stefansson, Ferdinand Von Seebach, Bobby edina, Pablo Elorza, Paulo Loureiro, Antonio Ciacca, Rolf Johnson, Guto Lucena, Ted Davies and Conrad Medina, who so well knew how to keep Jazz as a Universal language in their arrangements.

Finally, we would like to thank the entire team of this Orchestra, the Public that increasingly acompanies us and sells out venues, and to our Sponsors, without whom our work would not be possible: DArtes - Ministry of Culture (Portugal), and the Algarve Municipalities. 

Algarve Jazz Orchestra Invites The Ladies is a new project that brings together four female voices, both emerging talents and established artists. Clara Buser and Sara Miguel represent the new generation, while the renowned Maria Anadon and Sílvia Donati (Italy) lend the prestige of their solid and distinguished careers.

These four singers have frequently performed as guest artists with the Orchestra in recent years and truly deserved to be featured in a recording — a project that has now taken shape in this album.

The challenge was extended in several directions, resulting in a repertoire that includes celebrated works such as Windows (Chick Corea), The Man I Love (George Gershwin), as well as original compositions like Apaixonada (Massimo Greco) and Entre Barcos (João Belchior and Sara Miguel).

The result is both a concert program and an album of great variety, with contemporary sounds enhanced by top-level orchestrations — among the finest currently produced in Portugal — by Luís Cunha, Telmo Marques, Johannes Krieger, and Hugo Alves, who also directs the project.

2019 is a landmark year for the Algarve Jazz Orchestra. It is the year in which most of the Algarve’s municipalities began actively participating in the project. This Orchestra will always belong to the Algarve, to all Algarvians, and necessarily to all its municipalities — something we have never forgotten. It is also a national project, with all the recognition it rightfully deserves.

In the year marking the centenary of the birth of the poet Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, the joint initiative of the municipalities of Loulé and Lagos, at the outset of this major undertaking, was to create an original repertoire in tribute to the occasion — an idea that quickly began to take shape. If Sophia spent part of her life in Lagos, to which she dedicated odes, in Loulé the Municipal Library bears her name.

Each municipality and each appointed team undertook the demanding task of selecting poems and texts, which then had to pass through my own modest filter — simply because not everything can be set to music within the stylistic goals outlined. In fact, every selected text posed its own challenges once put into musical practice, influencing both the composition and, later, the orchestrations.

It was also necessary to choose a voice flexible enough to meet the musical variety proposed. The choice of Ana Rita Inácio — already well known to us — was an easy one, to give body and expression to this project. Ana worked extensively on the texts, the melodies, and the music, and the final interpretative form presented here is always the one she chose, imbued with her voice throughout this recording.

Although the music is entirely original, I must also acknowledge the pen of Luís Cunha, who patiently — and in record time — shared the orchestration work with me, completing most of it. The dedication of the Orchestra’s musicians and staff is also captured in this album; they are the ones who give it its sound, day after day, year after year, in an Orchestra that has grown through its own effort and through the commitment of all the musicians who form it and who have passed through it.

A special word of thanks is due to the Municipality of Lagos, particularly the team led by Councillor Dr. Sara Coelho, and to the Municipality of Loulé, to the team led by Dr. Dália Paulo and Dr. Paulo Pires — also for the challenge they presented us with, which we hope will serve as an example for future initiatives. We work for the Algarve and for all its municipalities.

We also extend our gratitude for the Sustained Support granted by the Directorate-General for the Arts. There was no way such an extensive creative process could go undocumented, and it is through this support that this recording came into being. I simply hope it lives up to the texts of Sophia and honours her name and her work even further.

The Algarve Jazz Orchestra project is rooted in the formation that inspired it: a full traditional Big Band. However, since its founding in 2024, the project has been designed to be as versatile and sustainable as possible, particularly through the use of its approximately 20 musicians in different ensembles and initiatives.

Several groups were therefore created: The Messy Band (Traditional Jazz), the OJA Saxophone Quartet, and the AJMMA All Stars (the ensemble that brings together the teachers of the Algarve Jazz and Modern Music Workshop, usually performing repertoire with an educational and pedagogical focus).

The ensemble heard here is the Algarve Jazz Orchestra Redux, in a sextet version. It is not unusual to see it expanded with additional musicians, and it typically performs vocal and instrumental arrangements in the so-called Mainstream style, where the sound of the Messengers and other Hard Bop groups can easily be felt, with particular emphasis on the jazz sounds of the 1960s.

On this album, however, I chose to take a different approach—more contemporary, while still remaining faithful to the roots that guide us. The result is a collection of original compositions, shared between myself and Pedro Rijo.

Finally, my thanks and appreciation go to all the musicians involved, with special recognition to Pablo Romero, who agreed to join us at the piano for this recording. I would also like to extend my gratitude to all those who support us day by day—the public and the institutions, particularly DGArtes.

This is the first audio recording of this Orchestra, formed in 2004, achieved during one of the most challenging years of its existence. It represents the work of the musicians—not only those heard on this recording, but all those who, over the years, have been part of this Orchestra. It is therefore dedicated to all of them, and each of them should be able to hear themselves in it.

I would also like to dedicate this work to all the people and collaborators who, over the years, have contributed to this project and to its existence. One name I cannot fail to mention is Dr. Joaquina Quintans de Matos, the patron of this entire project, which many consider unique in the country. And to the audience who have so warmly supported us, and to the Fan Club they created for us, we also extend our gratitude: thank you and bless you all !

A special word goes to Caixa de Crédito Agrícola Mútuo de São Bartolomeu de Messines e São Marcos da Serra, for the person of its current President, Dr. Carlos Vargas, and the rest of the Board, for the support they have given us and for granting us the use of the Auditório Francisco Vargas Mogo, where the recordings took place.

Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to three musicians who have been part of my musical career, and who are also dear friends, and who wished to be present on this recording. They generously allowed us to record their music: Antonio Ciacca, Bobby Medina (who also appears as a soloist on his own piece) and Bruce Cassidy.