Funchal Jazz Festival 2018
Santa Catarina Park
Madeira, Portugal
July 12-14, 2018

A stunning tableau greets visitors to the Funchal Jazz Festival entering by the main gate, at the top of Santa Catarina Park. The first thing that catches the eye are the spectacular trees that define the park's boundaries. African, Asian, South American and Mediterranean trees, with names as exotic as their forms, are bathed in purple and green light. The park's well-kept grass, bedecked in rows of seats, slopes gently down a hundred metres or so to the stage. Beyond the stage, stretching far into the distance, the hills of southern Madeira are aglow with the countless orange lights of villas and apartments—a striking constellation against the black backdrop. To the right, the Atlantic Ocean.

Under the directorship of Paulo Barbosa these past five years, the Funchal Jazz Festival has drawn sizeable crowds to this idyllic location. For many, sat in clusters at the back of the arena and within easy reach of the bars, the festival is a place to be seen and a place to relax with friends in the cool of the summer nights. The jazz, it seems, is background music. The majority of the twelve hundred or so attendees, however, are there year after year because of the quality of the music, which sees six double bills over three nights. Previous editions have featured heavyweights like