Cécile McLorin Salvant and Marcus Miller make moves at Madeira and Canaries jazz festivals

Island hopping in terms of jazz - if you like Portugal and Spain and also islands, you will experience a lot of jazz of all kinds with this combination. And in a dreamlike ambience, because both the island of Madeira, which belongs to Portugal, and the Canary Islands, which are almost around the corner, are not among the most popular destinations in Europe for nothing. The fact that discovering these islands in July can also be combined with a passion for jazz is simply wonderful. Especially when you can also experience musical surprises. 

For example in Funchal, the capital of Madeira, where the Funchal Jazz Festival is starting up again this year after the forced break from Corona, with a slightly different concept. For before the illustrious names take place in the large Santa Catarina Park, festival organiser Paulo Barbosa has come up with something new. In the smaller, but also very beautiful city park in the city centre, he first presents several evenings with regional musicians and young talents from mainland Portugal. And then Sofia Almeida stands on stage and dares to do something. She grabs John Coltrane's ‘Resolution’ and makes the song explode with her singing. The young singer from Madeira, currently studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, has power in her voice, which certainly still must be developed, but is already showing courage and taste in the composition of her programme, with an excursion to Brazil or her own songs. 

On the big stage, the festival focuses primarily on exciting, young US jazz artists. Saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins is one such name. His performance with his audibly well-rehearsed quartet was an example of how cleverly a band can play with advanced harmony and rhythm structures they achieve spiritual freedom and musical ecstasy. Someone follows the tradition of John Coltrane and sounds quite exciting. This also applies to vibraphonist and pianist Joel Ross and his band Good Vibes as well as to singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, both of whom show themselves in Funchal as original and spiritual voices of contemporary jazz. How the latter sings about Kurt Weill or the ‘St. Louis Gal’, with great creative power, never exhausting her outstanding vocal possibilities, and how Ross' rhythmically lush arrangements lead to simply beautiful sound images, which saxophonist Godwin Louis sharpens with emotional, blues-soaked alto sax lines: magical. As, by the way, was the concert by the Orquestra de Jazz do Funchal with music by top Portuguese pianist Mário Laginha.

Not a note has been played yet, but when the star of the evening enters the stage of the packed Teatro Cuyás in the heart of the beautiful old town of Las Palmas, the hall is already raging. Marcus Miller is a cult figure, and the Spaniards celebrate the master of funky playing on various electric basses in advance. And the American and his class band deliver. Lots of songs with show-off potential for the band leader, Miles Davis' ‘Bitches Brew’ and at the end an extended groove version of the Beatles classic ‘Come Together’.

After such an evening, Miguel Ramírez, director of Canarias Jazz & más, beams. Because then he knows that all the efforts have been worthwhile. He founded the impressive festival 31 years ago, which this year lasts a full 24 days and takes place on all eight inhabited Canary Islands, with the most concerts on Gran Canaria and Tenerife. Ramírez is a jazz musician himself and a passionate jazz fan. You can sense that immediately when talking to him. Someone here is creating an event out of passion.

And that is also the feeling of the packed programme. There is music for body and soul. And bands to discover. For example, the quartet Barencia. The band's name is a play on words, as the participants are based between Barcelona and Florence (Florencia in Spanish). The Spanish pianist Xavi Torres and his two Italian colleagues on bass and drums play flamenco-oriented jazz, to which the Mexican dancer Karen Lugo dances, somewhere between flamenco and modern dance. An interesting synthesis of the arts! Another great work of art is the refreshing project Olas y Arenas by the Cuban pianist Pepe Rivero and the Spanish singer Ángela Cervantes, who, in a quartet setting in Las Palmas, transfer boleros by the popular Puerto Rican singer and songwriter Sylvia Rexach, who died early and long ago, into jazz in a refined and virtuoso manner.

A special venue is Santa Ana Square in the heart of Las Palmas' enchanting old town. Framed by the town hall on one side and the city's cathedral on the other, there is plenty of space for a large audience. And they flock to the three open air evenings there this year with free admission. The performance of the Pokaz Trio from Odessa was particularly touching. The three musicians around pianist Andrew Pokaz create a contemporary jazz influenced by classical music, but also noticeably rooted in Eastern Europe, from beguiling, ear-catching melodies. They are currently only allowed to leave their home country for short concert tours and then have to return immediately. A newly composed piece vividly reflects the current situation in Ukraine, beginning and ending with a loud wail of sirens. 

The open-air venue in Tenerife's popular holiday destination Puerto de la Cruz is also impressive. The stage is framed by palm trees and the sea is within sight. This is the perfect way to enjoy music. For example, Big Vicious, the band of the Israeli trumpeter Avishai Cohen, with its cool sounds between jazz, post-rock and electronica. Or the convincing Afrojazzsoul of Tumaini, the current project of New York-based saxophonist Berta Moreno from Madrid and her band with charismatic singer Alana Sinkëy from Guinea-Bissau. If you then take the time and leisure to discover the beauties of the islands during the day, you can hardly spend more beautiful jazzy weeks in summer.