Although it is a round number, the 40th edition of Jazz em Agosto, which runs from August 1 to 11, "will not be a commemorative edition, it is more a part that will join the whole" and that will bring together in the festival the musical choices that the executive and artistic direction considers "the most striking and challenging in jazz and in the less accommodated creative music in the present time", says the organization in a statement sent to the Lusa agency.

This year, the festival begins on the 1st with the Red Lily quintet, by saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who will recall the role of gospel singer and civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson.

The saxophonist returns to the stage the following day, August 2, as part of the project led by the "prodigious guitarist" Ava Mendoza and bassist Davin Hoff, "inspired by the love they share for references as diverse as the hardcore of Black Flag and the jazz-funk of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time".

In this project, "played by 'punk rockers' with a serious talent for improvisation and a deep sense of jazz", drummer Ches Smith also participates.

Guitarist Bill Orcutt performs on August 3 in quartet format, with three other guitarists: Ava Mendoza, Shane Parish and Wendy Eisenberg.

"In one of the most beautiful and unusual albums of recent years, Bill Orcutt recorded himself playing four guitars, assembling a puzzle of various circular and minimalist registers on the electric guitar. (...) The desire to bring the album to life on stage led Orcutt to assemble a magnificent quartet with which he recreates his compositions and ventures into totally unknown territory", says the organization of Jazz em Agosto.

Drummer Lucas Nigli brings to the festival, on August 4, the Sound of Serendipity dectet, summoned for "a composition operated by a card game, always on the border between written music and improvisation, always on the edge of the razor".

In this group, "the drums command, without fear of the 'groove', and flute, voice, accordion, tuba or organ orbit in a spectacular whirlwind around Niggli".

The trio Move, which brings together drummer João Valinho, saxophonist Yedo Gibson and bassist Felipe Zenícola, in whose music "there are pieces of jazz, funk, kuduro, punk, frevo, heavy metal and breakbeat in a hurry, all suggestions that never settle down, in a practice of constant stylistic swings and permanent dissatisfaction", perform on August 5.

For the following day, August 6, the performance of the trio The Selva is scheduled, which brings together "three of the most original and creative Portuguese musicians": Ricardo Jacinto, on cello and electronics, Gonçalo Almeida, on double bass and electronics, and Nuno Morão, on drums and percussion.

The trio, which makes "chamber music in total freedom and with hypnotic potential", will present their most recent album, "Camarão-Girafa".

On August 7, the trio led by Brandon Seabrook, who "works with hallucinatory landscapes, a cutting humor, recurring aesthetic and register changes" will perform. "Accompanied by Gerald Cleaver (drums and electronics) and Pascal Niggenkemper (double bass), Seabrook explores unusual areas on the guitar and, above all, on the unusual banjo he brings to this formation", says the festival organization.

On August 8, "fLuxKit Vancouver" is presented, "an amazing composition by saxophonist Darius Jones, divided into four movements and resulting from a commission from the Western Front arts center in Vancouver, Canada".

On the 9th, it is the turn of "a special project dedicated to the life of [composer and saxophonist] Anthony Braxton", The Locals, by pianist Pat Thomas.

The organization of Jazz em Agosto states that, "although Braxton's work has a recognized rational and complex personality, Thomas' arrangements for the quintet The Locals, while maintaining the rigor of Braxton's writing, give it a playful dimension, many voices on the border with rock and funk".

Trumpeter Peter Evans, "one of the most inventive, original and challenging musicians today", takes the stage on August 10, with the band Being & Becoming, which also includes Joel Ross (vibraphone and percussion), Nick Jozwiak (double bass) and Michael Shekwoaga Ode (drums).

Jazz em Agosto closes on the 11th with the Fire! Orchestra, a 16-element super-formation, which includes, among others, saxophonist and flutist Mats Gustafsson, double bassist Johan Berthling, guitarist Julien Desprez, trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and saxophonist and clarinetist Fredrik Ljungkvist.

The aforementioned shows all take place at the Open-Air Amphitheater of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in Lisbon.

The Great Auditorium will host three performances: on August 3, Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" is celebrated, in a version for two pianos by Sylvie Courvoisier and Cory Smythe; on the 9th, DJ, composer and videographer dieb13 takes the stage, "leading an armada of 14 musicians skilled in experimental environments"; and on August 11, Black Duck perform, "a product of Chicago's immense and vibrant creative fertility".

Auditorium 2 hosts a meeting between the "magnetic guitar" of Norberto Lobo, the "wide-ranging cello (from folk to avant-garde jazz)" of Helena Espvall, and "the violin that walks on the tangent between classical and experimental music" of Maria Rocha, on August 2; the duo Ava Mendoza, with her "untamed guitar", and Gabby Fluke---Mogul, and her "disruptive violin", on August 4; and Made of Bones, "a Portuguese sextet that explored with great creativity the connection to cinematic music and the assumed heritage of an implosion of genres in the line of John Zorn's Naked City", on August 10.

Ticket prices for Jazz em Agosto concerts range from seven to 20 euros. In addition to individual tickets, passes are available (which include five, six or 14 concerts), whose values vary between 65 and 130 euros.

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