The Jazz Travelogue: Portugal

The jazz songs that evoke the feeling of being in Portugal

Portugal. The land of Pessoa, Cristiano Ronaldo, and pastel de nata. It’s a country with charm, sun, and colour; full of vibrancy, culture, and history. I first added Portugal to my must-visit list after reading through Antonio Tabucchi’s books. Tabucchi was an Italian author who fell in love with Portugal, so much so that he taught Portuguese at university, wrote some of his books in the language, and spent more than six months a year in Lisbon.

The atmosphere Tabucchi captured in his books, from Pereira Maintains to Requiem: A Hallucination and Indian Nocturne, is so rich and vivid that it was enough to inspire me to add it as a stop on my trip to Europe in 2023. If there’s only one recommendation you take from this post, let it be Tabucchi; pick up one of the novels mentioned above and be swept away.

I think it’s important here to take a moment to mention the concept of ‘Saudade’, which is a word that can’t quite be explained or translated, but it means something along the lines of longing or melancholy. In fact, it’s less of a concept and more of a feeling, and it’s incredible how evocative this sentiment is when you’re in Portugal. You feel, you long, but you don’t really know why. Is it the sun? The hilly terrain? The ocean? Who knows. But it’s an important thing to consider when thinking about Portugal.

With this feeling in mind, I set off to explore Portugal, curious to see how much of that longing I would experience firsthand. I only managed to fit in visits to Porto and Lisbon, spending four days in each city, including one day trip out to Sintra. I can’t say I came away feeling the same way Tabucchi did, but there’s lots to like in these two cities.

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Porto

I really liked Porto. It’s a laidback and relaxing city where you can enjoy a glass of local wine facing the Douro and not have a care in the world. It’s a place that feels foreign and yet vaguely familiar and I can’t quite put my finger on why that is.

First things first, you can’t visit Porto without spending an afternoon drinking port. And that’s exactly what I did, with a cellar door tour and tasting at Sandeman, a label that was founded in 1790! I had lots of fun and highly recommend it.

What else? See a traditional Fado show, check out Livraria Lello, which was apparently an inspiration for Harry Potter and is considered one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world, and taste some local cuisine at the Mercado do Bolhão. Oh, and the Imperial McDonald’s is unreal. Do take a walk through if you’re in the area.

Just like any city in the world, there are things to see, things to do, and things to eat. But what sets Porto apart, and more importantly for the purposes of this post, what jazz song does it sound like?

Where most of the others came to me almost instantly, I had to really think about this one. It had to be something relaxing, but not in a lazy way. Something a little rugged with charm aplenty and an almost reflective atmosphere that would suit stretching out with a book and a glass of port. All roads led to Bill Evans.

I’ve chosen “You Must Believe in Spring” from the 1981 posthumous album of the same name. Something about matching a song from a posthumous album with Portugal, a country like ghosts of the past walk alongside you, just feels right. The song was originally composed by Michel Legrand for the Jacques Demy film, The Young Girls of Rochefort (it’s a masterpiece! Add it to your watchlist if you’ve never seen it). Today, it’s a jazz standard and Evans’ version is one of the most famous renditions.

It’s the type of track you might listen to in the dead of night with a glass of port by your side as you slowly fall asleep. Or perhaps in the early morning, walking through the narrow cobblestone streets on your way to grab a coffee and a pastry. It’s wistful, gentle, but also deep in the way that Evans plays. The bittersweet feeling, as well as that of saudade, is more than evident on this track and it mirrors the sense of strolling through Porto perfectly.

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Lisbon

Being in Lisbon feels like stepping into the past. It’s a place of poetry, history, and literature. There’s a very specific atmosphere in the city; it’s slow, but considered. While perhaps I didn’t vibe with it as much as I was expecting to, I find myself thinking of Lisbon quite often. It’s more like a lingering feeling of the place that someone attached itself and still exists inside of me. Maybe that’s how Tabucchi felt which ensured that he kept returning.

That being said, I spent roughly four days in Lisbon and found plenty to love. Firstly, the Jazz Messengers jazz store that occupies the top back corner of Ler Devagar, an incredible bookstore, is just one of the best places I’ve ever been to. Seriously, if you love books and/or jazz and find yourself in Lisbon, don’t leave without spending at least an hour or so here. While it’s quite readily available now, even here in Australia, I first came across the Tokyo Jazz Joints book, which wasn’t readily available at the time, here at Jazz Messengers and ended up lugging it throughout Europe for over a month.

Speaking of bookstores, there’s also Livraria Bertrand, which is the oldest bookstore in the world. This is one of those places where you can feel the weight of history just by standing outside. It’s a beautiful corner spot that can’t be missed.

There’s plenty more. Visit Belém to check out the Belém Tower and grab a Pastéis de Belém, the original pastel de nata. Alfama is a beautiful part of the old town that gives you the most stunning views of the ocean and surrounding area, and take a break at Beher, which has the best Jamón ibérico that you’ll ever have. Paired with a beer and that’s an afternoon gone. I also enjoyed seeing a film at Cine Society, a rooftop cinema with a view of Lisbon that is unmatched.

All that being said, I knew immediately which jazz song brings me back to Lisbon: Paul Desmond’s “A Taste of Honey” from Glad to Be Unhappy. The song was originally written as part of a play which later became a film. It’s a standard that’s been recorded by The Beatles, Herb Alpert, and Barbara Streisand, but it’s this version that I love most.

Desmond’s version sounds like he found a way to bottle up melancholy. It’s a transportive song, one that just takes you away to another era. For me, it sounds like what I imagine the 60s might have been like (I was born in the early 90s, those who were around in the 60s can confirm!). Either way, the song is meditative, poetic, and breezy, with Jim Hall’s effortless guitar just adding to the weightlessness of the track as it feels like it could sweep you up and take you off somewhere new. This is a song that lingers with me, and I think of it often, much like Lisbon.

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Thanks for reading! My recommended album of the week is Nocturno by late Portuguese pianist and composer, Bernardo Sassetti. This record from 2002 is simply beautiful. Having been inspired by Bill Evans, Sassetti composed film scores, but it’s his jazz records that really shine for me. Particularly this one, which is made up of entirely original compositions.